At LUV, we envision a world where vulnerable children and women are empowered and, through them, war-torn nations are transformed. Education is critical in reducing key factors that make someone vulnerable to the horrors of human trafficking. However, in South Sudan, over 70% of school-age children are not receiving an education. In these conditions, it’s more likely for a 13-year-old girl to die in childbirth than learn to read and write.
Our education empowerment programs are at the core of how we believe long-lasting transformation will take place and are directly protecting children from forced labor, sex trafficking, child soldiery, and childhood marriages.
Almost all of the students in our pre-K through high school programs would not have access to education, food, clean water, school supplies, or preventative medical care without the free services our partners make available. Our efforts include community outreach, providing opportunities to a wide range of people that have been identified as at high risk of exploitation and would not otherwise have access to education or economic development. This includes providing job training and skill-building programs for many women in the community.
It costs only $70/student to ensure each child has a new uniform and school shoes. Local women make the uniforms as part of a skills development and community empowerment program.