El Salvador research update

I have completed my research for my Kiva essay for English. I started with no idea where I wanted to go with my Kiva candidate but I was finally able to select a candidate. After that, I had no idea where I wanted to go with my research. I knew I had picked Maria for my Kiva loan because she wanted to give her children an education so they could be professionals and have better lives. So, I started my research with education statistics in El Salvador. According to USAID.Gov:

"only about 50 percent of youth attend early secondary school (7-9th grades), and only half of these go on to complete high school.  There are over 300,000 youth aged 15 to 24 that neither study nor work.  El Salvador has the highest homicide rate in the world of youth under the age of 19."

Once I read those statistics, I assumed most of the kids that don't go to school are the kids that end up having to work to help out the family. My chosen candidate only made it to 3rd grade because her parents couldn't afford to continue her education. That's why I was impressed with Maria wanting to expand her business and provide a better future for her children. I was also blown away y the fact that El Salvador has such a high homicide rate and I started looking more in to that statistic and found a lot of the reason was because the kids that grow up in poverty want better things, faster, and they see crime as a way to get what they want. They also look for acceptance and a family, which is why a lot of kids join the gangs. I started looking at gangs and some of the reasons people believe they exist and what can be done to stop them. One of the continuing themes of what people were saying was that the youth of El Salvador need more education and opportunity to keep them off the streets and out of gangs. This is the stance I decided to take for my Kiva essay because it all goes back to Maria wanting to expand her business to give her children an education so they can have better lives. Not only will giving them an education give them a chance to break the cycle of poverty for their family, but it will also help to keep them off the streets and out of gangs. That's why I feel that education is very important for all kids, but especially the kids in El Salvador.