In rural Zimbabwe, students at Khumbula Secondary School take a break from afternoon classes to sing, dance and read poetry for parents, community members and MCC visitors. Global Family funding provides scholarships for tuition, room and board for students and helped finance needed improvements to the school. In turn, students say they will pass on the opportunity they have found. “If I get educated,” says 19-year-old Milton Moyo, a scholarship student at Khumbula, “I am also going to educate my family. They are waiting for me.” Read more about Moyo and Khumbula.

In Honduras, programs for children with learning disabilities are rare. Youth who struggle often end up dropping out of school. The Center for Tutoring and Reinforcement in Asentamiento Seis de Mayo, Honduras, provides students with hope, helping them finish school and preparing them for jobs in the future. Delia Esperanza Paredes works out a math problem in one of the center’s classrooms. Global Family supports the center through a partner organization, Proyecto Mujeres Amigas Millas Aparte (MAMA), which began in 1987 as an institution of the Honduran Evangelical Mennonite Church. Learn more.

Teacher Bassam Harby teaches a music class at Kids House in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil. The school, run by the Chaldean church’s Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is open to 3- to 5-year-olds and draws students from all ethnicities and groups. Many families have fled to this region, seeking safety from violence elsewhere in Iraq. MCC’s Global Family funding makes it possible for the Sisters to accept students who cannot afford to pay tuition fees. MCC also has supported the school through the work of Joanna Hoover, of Greencastle, Pa., a participant in the 2010-2011 Serving and Learning Together (SALT) program. “The strength of the people I’ve met here never ceases to amaze me,” says Hoover. “Nearly everyone has lost someone to violence and has fled from that violence. Their perseverance and faith is truly inspiring to me.” Read more about how Iraq’s ancient Christian church is seeking to reach out, despite violence and threats. Learn more about Kids House.

Students such as Kenia Maria López, foreground, and Maria Escarleth Miranda enjoy books from one of the new school libraries formed through a Global Family effort in Nicaragua. Through the program, which started in April, four school libraries have opened, three in traditional schools and one in a preschool and tutoring center. They bring storybooks into the hands of many pupils who may not otherwise have access to children’s books at home. A collection of books rotates among the libraries, ensuring that each school has new material without needing to buy books. Read more in the Fall 2011 issue of A Common Place magazine, which will be online in October, or on the Global Family website.

Through Global Family, MCC supports a school in Dhading, Nepal. Many children attending the school are part of families that work in the stone quarry. Young people such as, from left, Laxmi Subedi, Chanita Lama and Radhira Subedi often join their parents in pounding rocks into small pieces. Watch a video about how this program is making a difference. Learn more.

Sarah Lucas is among children and teachers who play a game during a training at the preschool on the grounds of the Anglican Church in Chimoio, Mozambique. The Global Family Anglican Church Education project helps communities organize preschools and understand the value of early childhood education in building a foundation for learning. The effort also provides adult literacy classes for parents and funds teacher training, school supplies, food for healthy student lunches and the church worker who resources the preschools. Learn more.

In Ukraine, Tomorrow’s Leaders scholarships funded by Global Family empower young people such as Iryna Galkovskaya to prepare to serve the church and their communities as leaders. MCC and The Mennonite Center in Zaporozhye provide university scholarships to 10 students who exhibit financial need, are actively involved in their local churches, and commit to working with a partner organization during and for a period after their studies. The government provides scholarships for a few top students in the education system, but beyond this Global Family-assisted program, no scholarships are available. Learn more.

At Guarderia Samuelito, a Global Family-supported day care on the outskirts of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, director Yuneth Vargas entertains Lizeth Aguilar by spinning her. The daycare, which is an outreach of the Bolivian Mennonite Church, was established because many families in the area have little income, and parents were forced to leave their children alone or with older siblings while they worked. MCC’s Global Family education sponsorship program helped provide funding for equipment to begin the day care and provides ongoing to support to it. Learn more.

Shoroq wa-Amal ("Sunrise and Hope") Children's Center in Khan Younis refugee camp, Gaza, provides a safe and nurturing space in a community that experiences 80 percent unemployment and widespread violence. Through summer camps and the Child to Child program hosted at Shoroq wa-Amal, the women's group Culture and Free Thought Association offers leadership training and healthy self-expression for children ages 6 - 16 through creative writing, arts, music, theater, handcrafts, cooking and field trips. Global Family funds benefit more than 1,500 children through this partnership. Learn more.

MCC supports Amal Primary School, run by the Syrian Orthodox Church, through Global Family funding and by providing a service worker to teach in the school and to teach afterschool English classes at a nearby community center. As a participant in MCC’s 2010-2011 Serving and Learning Together (SALT) program, Jordan Michelson of Maple Valley, Washington, worked with students at a community center in Al Hassake, Syria.

In Zambia, Global Family supports five Brethren in Christ schools, including Frances Davidson Secondary School, which provides a secondary education to students such as Christeter Muvwende. Muvwende, shown in her aunt Grace Sakala’s shop, rents a room from her aunt and helps out with chores to pay rent. Through Global Family, Frances Davidson Secondary School sponsors the school fees of 43 vulnerable students in Macha, Zambia. Learn more.

Nilima Dawa, left, and Ronjita Doffo read books in their dorm room at Baromari Mission in Bangladesh. Global Family supports a school run by the Salesian Sisters of Mary Immaculate on the grounds of St. Raphael's Orphanage, Baromari, in eastern Bangladesh. Eighty girls and 20 boys, most from the Garo and Koch ethnic groups, live at the orphanage at Baromari Mission. Some have been orphaned or abandoned. Others have families in the region, some in areas too far away to make a daily trip to school. Global Family funds assist with school supplies and fees, as well as expenses connected with providing a home for the students. The school also educates about 150 girls and boys from the community who come from a mixture of Muslim, Christian and Hindu families. Read more in the Spring 2011 issue of A Common Place magazine or on the Global Family website.