Mika's lunch email format

Mika's Lunch is a non-profit group dedicated to providing malnourished Haitian and Dominican children living in Batey Fao, the capital of the Dominican Republic, a hot nutritious meal. The Haitian people, often living as squatters, are now day laborers, hustling to get work wherever they can find it. In a good day, they might make the equivalent of two American dollars. The conditions in Haiti are so much more horrific, however, that the Haitians remain in the Dominican as they seek to make new lives for their families. In the village, there is a Christian school named the Jerico School. This school has grades one through eight, and its students are mostly Haitian children. Many families struggle to make the tuition payments, even at ten dollars a month. The parents see the Jerico School as a hoped-for “ticket out” of the village for their children. In the school, the children learn Christian values, learn to read and write, learn arithmetic, geography, and other subjects. If they can make it through the eighth grade, and better yet high school, they have a real chance to earn Dominican citizenship, thus opening the doors to employment, health care, and a new life. Students at Jerico School wear uniforms, and often siblings go to school half a day, then return home to their shack and give up their uniform to their sibling so he or she can attend the other half of the day. There is typically little or no food in the home for a mid-day meal. Mika’s Lunch is named after a little girl named Mika, now an adult, we have gotten to love Mika, her family and the whole village. Mika is from a family that has little but even so has a great faith that the Lord will provide. The aim of Mika’s Lunch is to give a noon meal to the students at not just Jerico School but many other schools as well, so the children can better focus and learn. There is a story similar to Mika’s at every school and in every village that we serve.