Our School

Nicaragua has a very low literacy rate due to, among other things, the economic necessity of requiring all family members to work to help feed the family. Many of the children who come to our school live with their families but do not have the opportunity to study because they must work in the streets during the day selling gum, candy, or cigarettes or shining shoes. We offer to these children the opportunity to receive an education by providing evening and weekend classes for those who are unable to come to our facility during the day.

Bosquito learning to tell time in our rented shelter in 1999. He is such a smart kid, he learned to tell time after only 20 minutes of instruction and practice. See 2002 photo of Bosquito below.

Many children come to us without the ability to even spell their own name. Volunteers work with these children until they reach first or second grade reading and writing levels. At this point the child is able to attend a public school, if their family situation permits, and receive additional tutoring from our teachers after school. It is our goal to eventually enroll as many students as possible in the public schools so that they can have a normal childhood learning experience. This also enables our teachers to focus on those students who cannot yet attend public schools.

Volunteers Aitziber, Birgit, and Mario inside our new classroom with Bosquito (seated on the left) and Francisco Javier in 2002.

We were recently blessed with a donation of computers and printers as well as Spanish literacy software. Many of our children who came to us without the ability to read are now learning to read through the use of computer technology. We are seeing “little miracles” every day in our school.

Because of a generous donation of computers, Moises (on left, in 2002 photo) learned to read, in part, through the use of computer learning software. Manuelito (on right) still lives on the street but comes to our shelter for daily computer classes.