An estimated 575,000 men, women, and children live in modern slavery in Myanmar.
Myanmar is a source country for women, children, and men trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation in Thailand, China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and South Korea. To protect children from exploitation, risk factors such as poverty and education need to be addressed.
Salt and Light Academy seeks to tackle one of the main risk factors for trafficking by educating and empowering orphans and inner city youth in Myanmar through our 5th grade to 12th grade program in partnership with Empower International. We currently support 62 children with a capacity for 150 students. 100% of our students live below the poverty line and are at high risk for becoming pray to modern slavery.
In addition to providing an education with high academic standards, the academy also incorporates an enhanced curriculum to explore health and wellness, spirituality concepts, and foster a growth mentality so children never fall prey to traffickers or become traffickers themselves.
Our goal is to open ten Salt & Light academies in the next ten years to bring our salt & light to every corner of the globe.
Salt & Light Academy Myanmar at a Glance
Serving
62 children
Ages from
10-17 years
35
male
27
female
100% live
below the
poverty line
100% are at high risk for falling pray to modern day slavery
CURRICULUM ADVISORS:
Fernando Mesquita, M.A., M.Ed.
Fernando Mesquita is an Educational Developer with experience in project management, curriculum design, teacher education and Applied Linguistics. He holds a graduate degree in Educational Leadership from McGill university, Canada and a Masters in Education from Framingham State University, USA. Mr. Mesquita has had the opportunity to work in numerous institutions in Brazil and Canada, and currently serves as an Educational Director at the International School of Curitiba, recently elected as one of the 100 most innovative schools in the world by Cambridge University.
Mr. Mesquita's personal mission is to develop people, programs and policies that maximize student learning. A lifelong learner himself, he has been in Education for over 15 years designing curricula, developing teachers, instructing students, evaluating programs and studying ways to help learners reach their maximum potential. Fernando’s vision for education is aligned with the idea of learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together as a foundation for sustainable, equitable, peaceful and prosperous modern societies.
For more detailed information on Fernando Mesquita’s profile, please visit: https://about.me/Fernandomesquita
