Principal, teacher to donate money, supplies to school in El Salvador
Posted on 10/11/2019
Principal Walsh in El Salvador(SPS) -- Liberty Elementary STEM Academy principal Tom Walsh and second-grade teacher Kimberly McCallum will travel to a school in El Salvador to deliver supplies and present a check that will cover the expenses to sponsor an orphan student in the country.

The pair leaves Oct. 12 and will spend the week at Shalom Home Orphanage in Santiago Texacuangos.

“We’re going to work as teachers in the school, we’re actually staying on the orphanage’s grounds, and we’ll be working alongside the teachers and the school,” said principal Walsh.

Follow the journey on Liberty Elementary's Facebook page. 

Last month, Liberty students held a coin drive to raise money for 6-year-old orphan Jose Ernesto (Neto) Ramirez. The goal of the drive was $420 which would provide a full-year sponsorship of Neto. The money will go towards Neto’s school tuition, housing, clothes, food, etc. The students raised $571.07.

Mr. Walsh and Ms. McCallum will deliver the money and donated school supplies on Oct. 15 during a live stream so Liberty students can take part.

“The Liberty kids will be able to ask questions and we’ll translate the questions back and forth,” said Walsh. “And then some of the orphan kids will be able to see our kids here and meet them and ask them questions as well.”

Mr. Walsh, who traveled to the school last March, said many of the children at the school have suffered abuse or were found homeless on the streets of El Salvador. Despite those hardships, he said he was overwhelmed by the love of the kids while he was there. He said his goal is to expose his students at Liberty to places outside the Sooner State.

“There are kids in other parts of the world that are maybe less fortunate than they are, speak a different language, and live in a different part of the world and this is a way of just opening up our borders and exposing them to a world beyond the state of Oklahoma.”

According to Harvesting in Spanish mission, Neto, pictured below, arrived at the home last December along with his two brothers and three sisters. The six of them were living in a two-room shack with plastic walls, mud floors, no running water or electricity with five other people. Neto and his siblings had never been to school prior to coming to the orphanage.

Neto Ramirez