GIVING TUESDAY - NOVEMBER 28TH 2023
Nutritious Meals and School Supplies Support Integral Education
Education with Dignity Transforms Children’s Lives
In Camoapa, a town in the centre of Nicaragua, there is a very high degree of poverty. Girls and boys from poor families face many barriers to going to school. Their parents – usually a single mother – cannot afford to buy their uniform or school supplies. The children may help earn some money for the family or the older girls may stay home to take care of their younger siblings. They may be too hungry to concentrate on the lessons, despite a government-sponsored school lunch program. Some children from rural areas must walk up to 5 km to get to school.
Our partner, Hogar Luceros del Amanecer, is a local organization that has been providing an education to poor children in Camoapa for almost 20 years. They are working with 400 children in primary and secondary schools in urban and rural locations. Hogar provides learning for life: formal education, a nutrition program, personal growth workshops, vocational and technical training, psycho-social support, integral health care for each child, lunch every day, painting, music, dance and singing classes, English classes and computer classes, as well as a family strengthening program.
Hogar Luceros del Amanecer offers music classes as part of its integraleducation program. The students this year are making great progress!
Student in focus : Maria Teresa Velasquez
María Teresa Velasquez is a young deaf woman who came to Hogar when she was seven years old. She was the youngest of five children who lived with their elderly mother in a house made out of wooden boards and plastic sheeting. Hogar hired a specialist to teach sign language to the teachers and students. Teresita graduated high school and has taken several technical courses. Now she is a member of Hogar’s dance group and she also works at the centre, where she is a much-appreciated member of the team!
Teresita, as we call her fondly, started at Hogar when she was seven years old. She has now graduated from high school and is learning baking so she can find work. Raised by her single mother, Teresita came to the project when she was seven years old, a girl with a profound audiometric condition (deaf and mute) and we began to support her from second grade until she graduated from high school. She received all the professional attention that was required throughout the process of treating her disability, with attention from specialists in the City of Managua.
Student in focus : Jael Amaru Ortega
Jael Amaru Ortega is a 14-year old boy who started studying at Hogar when he was eight. Despite having discipline problems at his previous school, his teacher soon realized he had a tremendous talent for drawing. He took courses in the drawing at Hogar’s art academy and has received vocational training as a barber. He works at the barber shop, cuts hair for Hogar students for free, and does drawings for his classmates for fun. He, his mother and his teachers are so proud of his success!
We ask you to join us in supporting this vital community project and make a difference in the lives of so many children, today and in the future.