Meet Gobsuran. He is an 11 year old student from one Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Through the Asian Outreach-run Literacy Project, Gobsuran has finally been given a chance to have an education, helping to break his family’s poverty cycle.

Gobsuran lives with his mother and younger brother and sister. Seven years ago his family was rocked by the murder of his father, leaving them grieving and without a stable income. Gobsuran’s mother began cleaning their apartment building entrance in return for free lodging and an income that provides food for the family, but not enough to send her son to school. Gobsuran never went back to school after his father died. He finished 1st grade, but then had no motivation to continue on in the government system.

After several years of no schooling, Gobsuran’s mother, Enkhnaa was worried about her son’s future and met with the director of the Enlightenment Centre, the government ministry responsible for education for those who fall through the gaps. Here Enkhnaa heard about the Literacy Project, and Gobsuran was enrolled at 11 years of age, with 5 years of missed schooling to make up.

Now after just two years in classes, Gobsuran is looking forward to starting 7th grade and has a completely different attitude to school. His mother says the individualized training and the authentic care of the teachers in the Literacy Project is so good that it has made her son want to learn. Enkhnaa is forever grateful to Asian Outreach Mongolia (AOM) for providing the school supplies for her son and for the opportunity he now has. Gobsuran has made many good friends in the program and especially enjoys math classes. Gobsuran wants to be a policeman when he gets older. The Literacy Project has given him the chance to dream this dream.

Gobsuran’s case is not unique. There are tens of thousands of Mongolian children that drop-out of school, or are unable to ever go to school, mostly due to poverty and illness. These children will stay in the poverty cycle into adulthood unless they have the chance to change their future through education.  By partnering with us, you have the opportunity to give a child a 2nd Chance at life.