Through intense work with local youth this year, we have identified a singular, critical gap that has kept kids from rising out of extreme poverty: Every child in the DRC is required to take a national exam in the 6th grade. The exam is in French. Pass, and the opportunity to advance to a quality secondary school and, potentially, to university, is real. Fail, and a familiar tragedy plaguing the region repeats: a child, not proficient enough in French to pass the exam, likely leaves school to begin a lifetime of informal, low-paid day labor. Indeed, our communities view illiteracy as an accepted norm, and this cycle, repeated over generations, perpetuates the profound poverty of the region. Our ongoing mentorship programs focus on French language literacy to ensure that primary school students are sufficiently prepared to take, and pass, the national exam.