Project Bolivia is now in full swing!
Mike finally made it up the entire length of Chile and Argentina
to re-entered Sucre on April 27th. He has since settled in for a
three-month long stay. While there, he will be volunteering at our
project center, Ñanta, and organizing shipments from the
States and Canada.
Sucre is the prosperous capital of Bolivia and attracts families
from the countryside to the city with hopes of a better life. Many
of these families are under an intense strain to make ends meet,
and often times the mother is left alone to fend for herself. The
children are then forced to work on the streets, sometimes being
the family’s solitary earner – foregoing school in the
process. Ñanta is an alternative education center for the
working street kids of Sucre.
Please
watch Mike’s video introduction of Ñanta.
Introducing:
PROJECT
GUATEMALA!
Our partner in Guatemala, Fred Zambowski and Let's
Be Ready continues to open rural preschools, and we are trying
our best to keep up the demand for items most easily acquired in
the US:
Leap Pads and early childhood books (Spanish)
Wooden
blocks, puzzles, board games
Puppets,
costumes, dolls
Musical
instruments
Kitchen
items: dishes, cook pots, plastic/wood fruit and vegetables
Between 25-30% of children from rural Guatemala either repeat or
drop out of the first grade, contributing to a high illiteracy rate
– the highest in Central America! Estamos Listos is an organization
dedicated to preparing Guatemalan children for success in the first
grade. The organization has three branches: an outreach program
using clowns in public spaces of poor communities to educate family
members on how to prepare youngsters for elementary school, a teacher
training program that teaches proven methods in the field of early
education to Guatemalan pre-school teachers, and its newest program,
Pequenos Pero Listos.
Pequenos
Pero Listos (Small but Ready), will be Write Around
the World’s primary focus. This branch of Estamos Listos works
specifically to establish preschools for underprivileged
children in rural communities. The classes are taught by local teachers
(often offering employment to out of work teachers) who have completed
advanced training from Estamos Listos. The local communities must
provide a facility for the classes to be taught. Once a teacher
and location are secured, a class “sponsor” must be
found to fund the project, which covers the teacher’s monthly
stipend, necessary school supplies and class furniture. Sponsoring
a class costs $3,300 annually.
The curriculum used is Guatemala’s New National Curriculum
for subject matter and assessment tests in conjunction with Creative
Curriculum, a preschool curriculum used in Head Start and many other
early education programs in the U.S. Each school works hard to maintain
an optimal 12 to 1 student-teacher ratio.
Pequenos
Pero Listos’ first project was only one year ago, but like
all good ideas – it took off. The project now has ten
successfully operating kindergartens, with a goal of doubling
by the end of 2009. Currently, school supplies are brought into
the country in the suitcases of supporters and sponsors. Some items
are purchased in Guatemala City from donations. This process cannot
support the desired growth, and WATW
is planning on lessening this burden by providing the necessary
supplies to meet the upcoming expansion so they
can focus on what matters most – educating more children!
Fred
Zambroski is the founder and driving force behind Estamos Listos.
Fred is an American now living in Antigua, and is passionate about
the success of this Estamos Listos. He, like all administrative
and supervisory labor, is 100% volunteer based. For more information
see www.letsbeready.org