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As some of you might know, I am sponsoring since very recently a 16-year old girl from Guatemala. She wrote me in her letters that she is studying for a vocation in medical field (I am not sure if she means for nurse or doctor). I read all info from CI website about education offers, Hope scholarship etc. but I was wondering where can I find particular info on what kind of school the sponsored child attends? For example, if she wants to continue to study at university after she leaves the program (I think 19 is still young age to stop the education), can this be arranged with CI?   (EDIT: I see in other posts that this was possible few years ago on a case-to-case basis)

Hi Ines, the youth in Guatemala select a "career tract" to study in high school that lasts either 2 or 3 years, depending on the tract. When they graduate high school they have a certificate and can get a job. Once your youth completes high school, she will be a nurses aide. If the youth wanted to become a nurse, she would need to attend university and earn a degree.

Sometimes the tract chosen is not necessarily the one that the youth might want, rather it's the one available to them based on their test scores, or availability in the school(s) in their community, so their area of study in university does not always coincide with their high school tract. 

We do have scholarships in Guatemala and because school is so expensive there, they are awarded to youth between the ages of 8-19 to ensure that they are able to complete their basic education.

Once the youth graduates from high school, we do offer sponsors the opportunity to help fund the youth's university experience. What that looks like depends on if your sponsored youth has also graduated from our program when they complete high school. 

Your sponsored youth attends a school in her community, and when there is not a pandemic and schools are open, it's about a 15 minute walk from her home.  I hope this info helps!

Hi Debbie! Wow thank you for so much useful information!! I have much better idea of how things are organised now. So I understand that she is not attending the vocational high school to become a nurse (such school here in Europe is 4 years long but on a high school level), instead she is doing a 3 year track (3 year high school?) to become nurse's assistant. And this program she should finish by age 19? I mean, does it correspond to age of graduation from CI program or does it happen earlier? 

Are scholarships awarded to all talented youth or do they have to "compete" somehow? 

I think now it is still too early to say, but when the time comes and if she wants to pursue nursing degree, I would strongly consider helping in this, if she really wants it.

And it is so nice to know that she walks only 15 min tu her school :) Actually I had the same situation, I only lived 10-15 min away from my high school and it was great not having to waste time on commute :) 


Sorry can I ask you just one more question that I was trying to understand more about (I was searching through the whole forum but found different answers to this from different members). I understood that all your children attend CI programs even if they are not sponsored at the moment, and I also understood that if the sponsorship stops you do not tell this to a child until the new sponsor appears, to spare their feelings. Is then the only difference between sponsored and non-sponsored children just symbolical (in receiving letters etc.) but all of the children are allowed to attend CI programs, get scholarships, etc.? (I know other people asked this already but I found different answers, and I am confused)

I don't know about the college and high school stuff, But as far as sponsors, kids can continue attending CI programs after they've had at least one sponsor. There are kids on the site who have never had a sponsor so they aren't attending CI programs yet. I am the first sponsor for my 2 in the Philippines and they were both 10 when I started sponsoring them.

Youth in Guatemala typically graduate high school prior to their 19th birthday. Generally speaking, youth can graduate high school around 17 or 18 depending on whether or not their career tract is 2 or 3 years. And to answer your question about the scholarships, yes—HOPE Scholarships, for post-secondary school, are competitive.  Those given in Guatemala are based on need and consist of various types of assistance (school fees, uniforms, transportation,textbooks, etc.) to help youth to complete their education through high school.

When children and youth are in between sponsors, CI does not make any changes to their level of participation.