Star of the Week

Yina, Peru

March 13, 2023

  Yina is in her early 20s, and is from a small mountain village in Peru called Yanque. She is the oldest of seven children (six brothers!). Her parents are hardworking farmers, tending the fields of others. It is demanding work and pays little, so it was not easy for Yina’s parents to raise seven…

Read More

Frank • Peru

January 9, 2023

  Frank is a 20-year-old young man, who is fulfilling his dream of working in the field of maintenance of heavy machinery. Frank was born in Canocota, a very small town located in the mountains of Peru, some 3,600 meters (11,800 feet) above sea level. His town is extremely remote and only offers its children…

Read More

Rupa • Nepal

November 7, 2022

  In the poorest countries we serve, dental care is very rare. It is practically impossible for anyone who is in the family of orphaned or vulnerable children, including the children themselves,  to get any type of dental care. If someone within their community gets a toothache, which is very common, they have to let…

Read More

Anjila • Nepal

October 31, 2022

  This girl, like all of the Matsiko children, is very special to our hearts. Anjila was in the Matsiko World Orphan Choir that toured the USA before she ever received a sponsor of her own. Anjila was chosen to tour with Matsiko in order to help find sponsors for other children who make up…

Read More

Prashamsha • Nepal

October 24, 2022

  Prashamsha, comes from one of the poorest families in one of the poorest villages in Nepal. Living in an outlet mountain village in the remote town of Nepaltar, Prashamsha and her family could never imagine getting a formal education. Growing up and working daily with her family to simply provide food means she would…

Read More

Anamika • Nepal

October 10, 2022

  Anamika, is one of the countless many forgotten girls in Nepal who had no family support and no possible hope for a better future through an education.  Anamika lives with her mother who cannot afford to support herself, let alone her daughter’s needs. Her mom cannot afford to send her to school for an…

Read More

Sudikshya • Nepal

October 10, 2022

Sudikshya, lives in a very remote village in the mountains of Nepal. Her parents work to pick tea in the fields of their country with the hopes of feeding their family. If they are lucky they will eat once a day with a very basic meal. Because Sudikshya’s parents can barely afford to feed their…

Read More

Jyoti • India

September 26, 2022

  Jyoti is a very special child. Jyoti’s father is a carpenter and her mother works as a housemaid. Jyoti has three siblings and a grandmother all living together. Their meager income is just enough to provide them with their basic needs. It does not leave them with the ability to financially support the educational…

Read More

Jitender • India

September 19, 2022

  Jitender is a very special, hard working child who is dedicated to changing the lives of the most vulnerable within his community.  Jitender lives in the slum colony of New Delhi, India, with his parents and 8 siblings. His father is a rickshaw puller and his mother a housewife raising 9 children. Life  has…

Read More

Susmita • Nepal

September 12, 2022

  Susmita and her family struggle with basic human needs just like her family before her. Doing whatever they can  to provide the most important and basic needs for the family. They work very hard every day without taking a single day off. They manage to provide a meal each day to try to keep…

Read More

Ankita • Nepal

September 5, 2022

  Ankita has a truly amazing story. She and her family are no strangers to severe poverty. Just like others experiencing severe poverty, our world’s most neglected and impoverished people, hope and dreams have very little meaning. Ankita’s family was so desperate that her father went to another country and worked as an indentured servant…

Read More

Prajina • Nepal

August 29, 2022

  When Prajina was a young girl, Matsiko found her working on the streets selling goods to support her family. Work is all Prajina and her family have ever known! For them, without the ability to read or write, this is the demanding life they’ve had to endure to feed their family. Thankfully, Matsiko became…

Read More

Anchal • India

August 22, 2022

  Anchal lives with her parents and three siblings. Her father is a plumber and electrician, and her mother works as domestic help to support the family. Her parents can barely afford a good education or proper nutrition for their children. Unfortunately, in India, plumbers and electricians do not make the money they deserve.  …

Read More

Alpha • Nepal

August 15, 2022

  Alpha is a young girl who lives in the remote village of Nepaltar, Nepal. This village is a 5-hour drive on rough roads to get to the “big village.” Nepaltar has no electricity, hospital, or roads for driving. Alpha walks everywhere, including the 8-mile walk (each way) to school each day, but Sunday. With…

Read More

Sujin • India

August 8, 2022

Sinju was 11 years old when his father passed away. As a result, Sujin lived on the streets with his mother and siblings. While Sujin helped his mother and family survive, he often wondered if he could ever live in one of the warm and comfortable homes like he saw other people live in.   …

Read More

Sachin • India

August 1, 2022

  Sachin is the youngest of his siblings and Shivani’s (another Star of the Week) youngest brother. His father murdered his mother out of anger and left Sachin and his siblings orphaned and with no possibilities. Thankfully, Sachin was brought to the care of a Matsiko partner in India that cared for Sachin and all…

Read More

Shivpujan • India

July 25, 2022

Shivpujan was an orphan living in the streets when he was found by a very caring individual and brought to a child care institution that Matsiko is partners with, where he was raised and encouraged to excel. Shivpujan’s Matsiko sponsor has been very encouraging and has supported Shivpujan so he can succeed in his studies…

Read More

Santosh • India

July 18, 2022

With no information on the whereabouts of his parents, Santosh was left to fend for himself. He was a rescued child staying at a government-run children’s home in New Delhi, India. All efforts to trace his family went unanswered and in 2009 Santosh was transferred/joined a child care institution that partners with MCI. Santosh is…

Read More

Babita • India

July 11, 2022

Babita, whose bright smile lights up any room, lives with her parents and seven siblings. Her father and mother run a street shop selling food, within the area of their tenement home in India. As challenging as this environment is for any person or family, Babita has grown to be a very happy and encouraging…

Read More

Siddhi • India

July 4, 2022

Siddhi, a tenth grader in India, lives with her parents and three siblings. Her father is a plumber and an electrician, and her mother works as a domestic. Even though they work hard, Siddhi’s parents can barely afford a good education or proper nutrition for their children. Siddhi is the younger sister of Anchal, who…

Read More

Manjila • Nepal

June 6, 2022

Manjila has always dreamed of something more. As a young girl helping her family sell items on the street to make a living, she always wondered how she could be the one buying the products instead of selling them.   Manjila has always been talented and respectful to others. One day, Manjila heard that there…

Read More

Nisha • Nepal

June 6, 2022

Nisha comes from a hard working family, although they are considered “peasants” in Nepal. For generations, her family has worked hard farming or picking the crops on the farms of others. Because school costs money they do not have, school was always out of the question.   Even as a little girl, Nisha had poor…

Read More

Francis • Liberia

June 6, 2022

In his own words … how Matsiko Children International has changed Francis’s life. I am Francis Melvin Manning Jr, born unto the union of Mr. and Mrs. Manning on the 11th of February 2003, in a non-medical facility at the Johnson Compound, Red-light, Monrovia. I’m the last of three brothers and they are primarily my…

Read More

Israel • Liberia

May 30, 2022

Israel lives with a struggling family, like so many in one of our world’s poorest countries: Liberia. The family had challenges putting food on their table each day, and could not worry about the fact that the children could not attend school due to the school fees.   An educational sponsorship with Matisko allowed Israel…

Read More

Alicia • Peru

May 23, 2022

Alicia’s mother, who is blind, sold her and her sister to a child trafficker as she believed the trafficker’s false promise of providing her daughters with an education to better themselves. Thankfully, Alicia was rescued from her captor, and was brought back to her mother.    Remarkably, Alicia’s entire family has been helped through the…

Read More

Alisha • Nepal

May 16, 2022

Alisha is an extremely kind and outgoing girl who absolutely loves to be with people! Alisha excelled in school through the Matsiko sponsorship program, and even toured a year with the Matsiko World Orphan Choir in the USA. Alisha’s family is very warm-hearted, but struggles financially, as do many in her village. Because of Alisha’s…

Read More

Prabina • Nepal

May 9, 2022

Prabina is 17 years old and lives in a remote village in the hills of Nepal, somewhere in the region of Ilam. Prabina lives with her mother and father. Working as pickers and caretakers on a private farm, the thought of receiving an education was only a fleeting thought, as the cost for school was…

Read More

Lois • Liberia

May 2, 2022

It’s rare for a girl to be accepted to the school of engineering at the University of Liberia. But because of the empowering sponsorship program of Matsiko, Lois will become one of the first female civil engineers in this country. After growing up with a mother who can barely feed their family – that’s real…

Read More

Sunnie • Liberia

April 25, 2022

For as long as he can remember, Sunnie has been the right arm of his mother, who sells vegetables every day at the local market. Sunnie’s mother could never afford to provide schooling for Sunnie, because of the expensive costs of $1.17 each day. Therefore, Sunnie would do what he could to help his mother…

Read More

Meshach • Liberia

April 18, 2022

My name is Meshach from Liberia, West Africa. In my family we are five children, two boys and three girls. I am the third child for my parents and the second boy. In my family, it has always been a custom that high school education was the limitation for everyone. So, growing up as a…

Read More

Telechia • Liberia

April 11, 2022

Telechia’s story is not unusual for the severe poor of Liberia – attending school was out of the question. Telechia’s single mother, who could barely find enough work to provide a daily meal for her children, couldn’t afford school fees. Telechia couldn’t go to school. When Matsiko Children International began its work in Liberia, Telechia…

Read More

Soni • India

April 4, 2022

  You wouldn’t believe it now, but Soni was a very shy girl growing up. She preferred to be alone and was shy and quiet. You see, Soni didn’t believe that she had anything to offer. When she was young, her parents abandoned her at a train station. Soni was very lucky in that a…

Read More

Shivani • India

March 28, 2022

As a young girl, Shivani experienced an event so tragic that she has no memory of it: she witnessed her father murder her mother. Shivani, and her four siblings, were then abandoned by her family and orphaned. Found by authorities, Shivani was fortunate to be placed in an orphanage that would help care for her…

Read More

Lucio • Peru

March 21, 2022

With a blind mother and no father, Lucio has supported his family for as long as he can remember. Because of severe desperation and the lack of opportunity for her children, Lucio’s mother sold his two younger sisters, believing that these traffickers would provide the girls with an education, so that they could better themselves…

Read More

Fiorella • Peru

March 14, 2022

Fiorella lives with her older sister and family who sell in the local market of Chivay, Peru, which is a small village roughly 13,000 feet above sea level in the remote area of the Andes Mountains. Fiorella is a small town girl, with hopes and dreams beyond our imagination. Oftentimes as a young girl, Fiorella…

Read More

Ursula • Peru

March 7, 2022

Living in the small Andes mountain village of Yanque, Peru, Ursula was always a quiet girl who kept to herself. Ursula’s family, like most in the village, struggled for work and struggled to provide a consistent meal each day. With no running water and electricity in the house, Ursula’s family life was no different than…

Read More

Manish • India

February 28, 2022

For as long as he can remember, Manish was an outcast. Manish and his younger brother Abishek were orphaned and abandoned as young children. Alone, and seeking whatever help they could find, they ended up at a crowded public train station – an environment where traffickers lurk to exploit children, just like them. Thankfully, legal…

Read More