Rural school makes education a reality for working kids
The dusty hard-scrabble town of Somatillo lies along the Honduran border, a four-hour drive north of Managua. In this combination truck-stop-and-farm-town, villagers scrape a living from the dry earth and service to truckers traveling between the two countries.
Food for your child. Shoes for your child. Choose one.
It’s a decision no parent should have to make. In Somatillo’s public schools, students must wear shoes and neat uniforms and arrive promptly each day at 7:30 am. Most town parents can barely afford food—uniforms and shoes are out of the question. And at 7:30 am, entire families are well into their workday. By age ten, most children in Somotillo contribute to family income—baking tortillas, shining shoes, selling produce, gum or trinkets.
The most desperate abandoned kids sell their bodies—the only thing they own—to transient truckers.
Flexible curriculum keeps at-risk kids in school
The difficult educational needs of these youngest workers are met at Escuela San Ignacio di Loyola, a school funded by Connecticut Quest for Peace (CT Quest). “The quality that distinguishes San Ignacio,” says CT Quest coordinator Randy Klein,”is flexibility.”
Working children—more than half the school’s third graders are laborers — are “given special consideration to accommodate their needs,” Randy explains. Classes are conveniently held in both morning and afternoon sessions so children can attend school before or after work.
The school was built with the help of Fe y Alegria (Faith and Happiness), a social justice organization founded by the Jesuit order in 1955. San Ignacio is considered a “private school”—all funding relies on your donations—for street children.
The school serves 302 students of all religions, ethnicities and tribes. Escuela San Ignacio consistently maintains the highest retention rate of all Nicaraguan schools serving this socioeconomic demographic.
School feeds hungry minds and bodies
In addition to providing solid academics for grades 1-8, the school offers classes in carpentry, machining, computer repair, electrical wiring, woodworking, hairdressing and cooking. Onsite daycare is available for younger siblings aged 1-6.
Escuela San Ignacio doesn’t ignore poor students’ practical needs. Every time Randy visits the school, “the cook, Socorro,” says Randy, “gives me a hug and assures me that no child missed a meal during the year.”
Reach across the miles to a working student in Somotillo
You could buy 3 CDs this month—or pay for one year’s education for a child at Escuela San Ignacio di Loyola. Please make a donation of $43 to San Ignacio today.
Give poor students the school supplies they need. Assemble school kits to send to Escuela San Ignacio di Loyola.
Learn more about Ibra, an eco-farming school, Colegio Enrique D’Ossó and Projecto Generando Vida, schools for urban children funded by CT Quest.
Check out additional CT Quest humanitarian aid programs in Nicaragua.