Two Everett Community College instructors plan to leave today to travel to Indonesia to establish a college program to teach English to impoverished Indonesian children thanks to donations from Rotary Club members in Lake Stevens and North Delta, British Columbia, an EvCC grant and individual contributions.
Debe Franz and Karen Schilde are heading to Bali, Indonesia, for 10 days to My Father’s Home, a home for 36 orphaned and impoverished children.
The non-profit organization was created in 2008 and run by Kim Boyer of Snohomish.
The instructors’ trip is being funded by a $500 donation from the Rotary Club of Lake Stevens, $600 from the Rotary Club of North Delta, B.C., $700 from online donors and a $1,965 EvCC global initiative grant.
Schilde, an adult basic education and English as a Second Language instructor, developed learning centers at EvCC for any English speaker to teach basic English skills. Schilde has taught ESL or trained teachers in Mongolia, Cambodia, Namibia, Finland, Germany and Morocco.
Through the program developed by Franz and Schilde, EvCC students will have the opportunity to earn credit through service learning at My Father’s Home while participating in the college’s Indonesia study abroad class.
The college’s first study abroad trip to Indonesia was in June 2014, and the next trip is scheduled for June 2015.
Franz, a former Rotary Club of Lake Stevens president, spent her second year of college in Jakarta, Indonesia, teaching ESL and has wanted to return to support people in need ever since.
She sponsors two children — a boy and a girl — at My Father’s Home and is excited to meet them in person for the first time.
Franz and Schilde’s visit isn’t the first time an EvCC employee has been to My Father’s Home. EvCC electrician Steve Lyons, who participated in the Indonesia study abroad trip in June, visited My Father’s Home at the end of the trip to repair and maintain the lights, electrical system and sinks at the home.
To donate to support Franz and Schilde’s work, contact Franz at 425-330-6353 or by email at dfranz@everettcc.edu.
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