Lives salvaged at barrio schools for Managua’s throwaway kids

 

In Nicaragua’s urban slums, children face the same handicaps of poverty, illness and educational deficit as their country cousins. But inner city kids face further risks from:

• Child prostitution

• Police Violence

• Substance abuse—an estimated 90% of all street kids sniff glue

• Gang warfare

• As with rural schools funded by Connecticut Quest for Peace (CT Quest), our urban schools “begin where the pavement ends” in Managua’s crowded shanty barrios.

 

Give hope to students in Managua’s most dangerous barrios

 

Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, is a city of extremes. As the nation’s commercial and financial vortex, Managua boasts luxury hotels, state-of-the-art hospitals, sumptuous homes and fine restaurants. An elite few Nicaraguans and wealthy visitors enjoy the city’s segregated, attractive neighborhoods.

 

Managua’s slum barrios could as easily be a thousand miles away. In teaming inner-barrio lanes unemployed and underemployed men, women and children cram into hundreds of corrugated metal and cardboard shacks. With little or no electricity, running water or plumbing, the sewage-filled neighborhoods roil with chaos and violence. Two of Managua’s many volatile barrios—El Recreo and Reparto Schick—are especially destitute, drug-infested and terrorized by gang warfare. When Peace Corps was in Nicaragua, they considered these neighborhoods too dangerous for Peace Corps Volunteers.

 

Years ago, when the Sisters of Sion and Teresian Sisters determined to start missions in Managua, they were expressly warned to stay clear of two neighborhoods: El Recreo and Barrio Schick. Naturally, the Sisters of Sion chose El Recreo for their community center, Projecto Generando Vida—”Life-giving Project.” And the Teresian Sisters settled in Reparto Schick and built Colegio Enrique D’Ossó, a co-educational primary and secondary school that educates 1,325 students annually.

 

Your generosity to CT Quest supports both schools.

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Community English Center, Nicaragua

Personal Account written by Maureen Shanley

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CT Quest would like to highlight a project that was actually started when a Peace Corps Volunteer contacted Maureen, a former PCV, and asked if there might be a way to send books written in English to her project. Isabel was hoping to start an English library for the community & the local university. There was a real need for a library/school that would focus on teaching English because I can tell you from personal experience that the only way to really learn another language is to PRACTICE using that language. Once I learned that libraries in Nicaragua never allow books to leave the building, I knew that I had to take action. 

 

Since I was on the board of the CT Education Association- Retired, I requested board members to ask the school systems where they had taught to donate books and teaching materials. In addition, Binti, our faithful warehouse organizer, would save any books that she thought would be useful & members of the Benedictine Grange also answered the call. Basically, we had a village gathering books for a village ;  )  These thousands of books were like manna from heaven for this community that is literally where the road ends before the jungle starts. It is important to note that this English library does allow people to sign out books for 2 weeks at a time. They are following the American way that a library is managed!

 

The CT Quest book donations were the start the Community English Center (CEC) which has grown over the last 10 years. Diana, the director of the CEC said, “English empowers our students to communicate, connect, and create with confidence; it opens doors to a world of knowledge, fostering curiosity, and expanding horizons beyond geographical boundaries. In addition, the CEC has been a fundamental part of the professional growth of many recently graduated English teachers by building their personal confidence and providing both educational methodologies and teaching strategies.”

 

CEC has not only withstood the test of time but has also emerged as a transformative force in the realm of English language education by expanding the original focus of the center to include even more educational opportunities for the community.  The following areas of study are offered during the year: Robotics, Drawing and Painting, Reading Programs (English & Spanish), Sewing, Introduction to Computers. In addition, there are special activities offered during the year: Movie Night, an Easter Egg Hunt, an Environment Camp, Virtual exchanges – International, In person exchanges with other Nicaraguan schools. Lastly, I’d like to point out two items of interest.  First, one of the CEC’s English teachers was selected by the US Embassy to participate in an International exchange in 2024 which enabled her to visited schools in the USA. Secondly, the CEC has been honored by the URACCAN University which did studies focusing on the social impact of the CEC in Nueva Guinea. These two studies indicated produced very positive results. Their research showed that CEC graduates often enrolled in English, computer, medicine, and engineering careers in the local and national universities. Furthermore, those who studied English at the CEC and in the local primary and secondary schools were also excellent students overall. The CEC is enabling this rural community of Nicaraguans the opportunity to make a better their lives better.

Scholarship Students in Leon, Nicaragua

For the last 20 plus years, CT Quest for Peace has supported high school, university, and postgraduate students with scholarships. Depending on the year, the program has from 15 to 24 students who all live in the area of Leon, Nicaragua. The program is administered by two wise adults who provide financial support and guidance at their monthly meetings. Most students have jobs during their years of study and are also required to do volunteer work. They have chosen various career paths – nursing, education, medicine, computer science and many more professions.
We are proud to support these successful young adults who earn degrees in their professions and are able to support themselves, families and their country.