El Salvador Study Abroad 2010: Nuevo Amanecer and Fundasil

Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn) Association is a community organization that concentrates on the education of children from Pre-K through Kindergarten (ages 3-6). New Dawn is the umbrella, and underneath it there are 4 other branches. Centro Hogar (the school) Development Center, two clinics, and a sustainability project which consists of an organic farm. From that farm they feed the students and sell produce in order to keep the center afloat as well other products such as organic soaps and shampoo. Our whole group visited this site, but Centro Hogar, a children's development center, was also my service site for 2 days. Another student, Jenna and I shadowed the social worker, Anne from the United States who has volunteered at Nuevo Amanecer for 3 years. Centro Hogar has 125 children and 86% have scholarships sponsored by Sweden in order to be able to attend. Parents struggle with being able to pay $35.00 a month in tuition, and so their children qualify for such scholarships.

Anne's role consists of working with families whose children have behavioral problems at school. She does home visits to the child's family and tries to get to the bottom of why the child is misbehaving in school or if they are having other issues. Most of the time, it is the situation at home that is affecting their ability to learn and interact with others in a healthy manner while in their school environment. The administrators and teachers hold workshops for the parents who need help in the realm of parenting. Education for the parents is extremely beneficial to them since many discipline too harshly (abuse) and even more do not want to invent in education for themselves nor their children. Anne shared that they do not have many resources like we do in the United States. Children and adults who are living with mental and physical health issues who have no help available. Interestingly, what social workers like Anne offer is accompaniment-solidarity. They cannot solve their problems, but they can be there for them and support them through the difficult times in their lives. That's all they can offer. How fortunate we are here that we can offer our participants something other than a listening ear. Although this aspect is also very important, we can also offer them resources that may help them resolve some of their negative life circumstances.

The Digital Divide, the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all, is also a huge concern for Anne. Many agencies and organizations do not have computers that they can use; everything is on paper. There are huge liability issues if a fire would occur because they would lose all of their documentation. This imbalance results in many countries that do not have access to the technology that other countries like the United States have and this is a problem that is still much present like in countries such as El Salvador.

I was personally pretty impressed with Centro Hogar's educational curriculum. I was surprised at how similar they run a classroom to that of the United States. The fact that they incorporate the rights of the children each day is impressive. I am so glad that they realize that even children have rights and that parents don't just "lord" over them with no regard to them as human beings. That is very much the mentality of some Latino/Hispanic parents. There is thin line between discipline and abuse and many cross this line too often to the point where abuse is what occurs instead of discipline. The teachers engage the children and the parents when needed and this is great because when the parent is involved in the education of their child, they are invested. They even have an after school program for public school age kids. In addition, the Salvadoran government is helping with the cost of education, such as providing their books, school supplies, uniforms and shoes. Many children do not go to school because they cannot afford the uniforms and many simply do not have shoes. Many only make about $3.00-$6.00 a day to feed a whole family of however many members. This help gives children the opportunity to go to school since many work to help support the family.

Classroom at Centro Hogar

Arts and Crafts

Lunchroom

On one of our home visits

Jenna, Anne, and me

Fundasil

Fundasil meaning "silent foundation" is an organization that supports children in their education. They basically cover the needs that the educational system in El Salvador lacks to meet. This includes educational and psychological therpy for the child as well as his/her parent (s). They help the child raise his/her self-esteem and prepare the kids to move on to the next grade successfully. Fundasil realizes that what is going on at home, their emotional side so to speak, affects their education. Almost every child who attends Fundasil needs psychological services. Many of the children who attend this program have been referred from Centro Hogar. Fundasil offers scholarships mainly to pre-school and high school students. This organization was funded by a woman who wanted to remain anonymous (hence "silent" in the word Fundasil). They have a library, a play therapy room, the reading corner room, and they also have computer, and knitting/crotchet classes among other skills. It was wonderful to go and see a place where the organization's needs do not include money. They have the financial resource they need to keep this program running which is such a blessing.