The English High School Sankofa Service Trip is headed to Belize to help build a home for a family in need!

Students as well as chaperones of the trip will participate in a series of lessons that introduce them to the unique history and culture of Belize.

The students will primarily spend their time building a home with the Hand in Hand Ministries. Over the last 10 years, the Building for Change Program has built houses for over 180 families, and our students will be working to add to this number during their trip. In addition, we will capitalize on the other outreach initiatives of Hand in Hand Ministries, including the Outreach Center for Children, and the Mobile Outreach. These programs provide day care, medical care and educational services for marginalized children and their families. It also has program elements that monitor medications, provide opportunistic infection medications, as well as meals and support groups in the homes of people living with AIDS.

This service learning trip will impact the personal development of the students. They will have a greater appreciation for the manner in which a country’s history affects its current socio-economic and health care situation. Seventy-seven percent of the EHS students qualified for Free or Reduced Lunch in the 2011-2012 school year, and therefore are classified as poor in context of the United States. The students on this trip will have the opportunity to leave this context and visit a country where poverty is on a completely different level in terms of access to medical care, education, and basic needs. Many of the students who would participate in this experience have never traveled outside the greater Boston area.