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- Education - Health |
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* Health Insurance * Aguas Negras * Doctor |
| - Miscellaneous |
| La Venta de Ropas |
The education program, as previously mentioned, is a program that runs for 2.5 hours in the morning and another 2.5 hours in the afternoon, tutoring kids so they can advance in their studies. We currently pay two teachers, and have about 4 volunteer teachers. About 50-60 kids are involved in the program. They come in either the afternoon or the morning, and go to the regular school the other half of the day.
We lost several volunteers and now there are just two of us in the afternoon with thirty kids. It's nuts. Two days a week, we have a third teacher, but for the other three days... Whew. One new thing that we have started up is a daily raffle for the kids. Usually it's something small like a pack of gum. The kids that finish their homework and behave well get tickets, so it is an incentive to behave well and work harder. On Fridays we raffle a bigger prize, and last Friday the prize was a small stuffed animal. The kids were so well behaved, it was incredible. Thanks to Dave Lewis, a Canadian volunteer, for the idea.
Also, this month was the workshop over three days for the teachers at Cantera. They enjoyed it, although not as much as the first one. It discussed ways of teaching using the body. Meanwhile, I held the fort in the class alone - me and 30 kids. Yikes. I was just about ready to kill the little angels. Other volunteers had promised to show up to help, but they all stood me up. It's always when you need help the most that people will stand you up, especially here it seems. It's so hard to build community without a strong base of volunteers...
The insurance program started this month. We have just issued the ID cards, which look like business cards with a photo pasted on the back. The money collection was just finished this past Saturday, and we have 34 participants so far. In September, the accounts are open for the participants to visit the doctor here in the health center.
We are having another meeting with the community to discuss the project, we are hoping to get the community to take the lead on the project. INAA (the Nicaraguan water works) has arrived in the Barrio and is starting to work on Aguas Negras, and we can't decide if it is for real or is a pre-election staged event. In a few weeks we'll know more.
Another of our projects is paying a Cuban doctor who comes to the barrio three half days per week. We pay $100 US per month to the doctor, which is enough to pay for about half of his time and he volunteers the other half. This is the doctor who will provide services for the participants in our health insurance program.
Our other projects here include:
Our house that we are staying in is a project, in the sense that we pay $100 US in rent each month for the house and the money goes directly to the community and the various projects that the nuns are coordinating here, such as the food program for the children. A new, small house in the back yard is now finished. It was built for a Spanish Psychologist who is coming this month. She will be staying for a year, working in the Education Program.
Gretchen Ferguson is now here, doing research for her thesis on micro-credit at UBC. She is helping out in the barrio, also, by taking a few of my English classes, freeing up more of my time.
We have 3 computer contracts at this time. One is with Cantera, a popular education NGO here in Managua. We provide them with computer support/systems analysis in exchange for courses for people in the barrio. This month, 4 of our teachers went on another course at Cantera, to improve their teaching techniques. Our other contract is with Oxfam Canada, for whom we provide some computer support. We hope to receive some advice from them when we write up our various funding proposals (especially for Aguas Negras). The newest contract is with some people that we hope will hook us up with some engineers from the University to do the engineering study for Aguas Negras.
This event occurs every couple of months here in the Barrio and generates much excitement for the community and some money for the nuns. The last sale occurred last weekend. Old clothes are donated from friends of the nuns from all over, and also there are notebooks, shampoo, soap, etc. About 30 people were waiting impatiently outside the comedor for the sale to begin, and they charged in, some running, as soon as the gates were opened. The people here love it because it's a chance to buy cheap clothes and notebooks for their kids. For the nuns, it's a chance to make a little money to help with the projects they have here.
The education of the kids is starting to wear me down, especially since we are short a teacher. We are desparately searching another teacher for the afternoon. The raffle trick described above is helping a bit but the week seems an eternity at times.
The hurricane was big news here earlier this month. The most affected parts were on the west coast near Bluefields. There were several barrios that were affected in Managua with flooding and evacuation but our barrio escaped harm thankfully. We were nearly flooded, but not quite. The lower part of the barrio especially was very wet, with the streets flooded, but not houses. Several kids came to us with stories of flooding, but when we went to check, there was none.
Skills needed for the education, computer, health or other programs:
Civil Engineers, Computer Analysts, Teachers (Math, Spanish,...), and the nuns are also looking for a driver for the truck - to drive the nuns around 6 days a week for 6 months. It's a pickup truck, so a regular license will do.
Please email for details.
Naturally, we still need money for the projects. Any help is appreciated.