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The Rotary Club of Toronto-Leaside |
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| Note: The bookmarks below have been added to the original newsletter to emphasise the scope of the work being undertaken by the Superemos Foundation. | |||
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Superemos Foundation and "Christine King" Multi-Service Cooperative Projects Newsletter
covering April 2004
Introduction
Preschool
Program
Adult Education
Social Work
Healthcare
Project |
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Erick (l.) and
Reynaldo, |
Did you know 19-25 April was Global Education Week? Yes, a week is a pretty short time in education, but the occasion served – once again - to highlight the huge divergences between the educational haves and have-nots. UNICEF drew particular notice to the gender gap. “As long as millions of girls are denied a basic education, we stand little chance of improving the lives of the world's poorest people," noted the institution's Executive Director, Carol Bellamy. In Nicaragua, editorials sharply criticised the paucity of educational resources, noting that the country's teachers are the worst paid in Latin America, and that the education budget accounts for a mere 2.5% of GDP (as compared to 6% in Nicaragua's more developed southern neighbor, Costa Rica.) Small wonder that schools are under-staffed and under-resourced, or that between 800 000 and one million children are out of school. Week in, week out, our projects continue to bring quality affordable education to people on low incomes – those who most often drop out of the state system – and to offer special benefits to women students. We strive to put into practice what is preached by the institutions of global governance. In Estelí, every week – not just 19 – 25 April - is Education Week. |
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At Sinaï Preschool in La Porra, the day starts at six-thirty when the first of fifteen under-fives are dropped off by their mothers on the way to work at the local tobacco factories. Preschool teachers Carmen and Edelma have their hands full seeing to the children's needs. The two youngest are barely over a year old. A further two cannot yet feed themselves. Moreover, some of the youngsters need a good wash even when they first arrive. It's clear that the monthly parenting skills session – dealing with matters such as hygiene and nutrition – is no luxury. La Porra's official name, “Nuevo Amanecer” - “New Dawn” - is an example of the triumph of optimism over realism. Politely described as “marginal”, La Porra is a severely deprived area. It is out on the edge of town and lacks many basic public services. There is no health center. The roads are unpaved, so there are choking dust clouds when it's dry, and two inches of mud when it's wet. Joblessness is generally reckoned to be about 70%. Single motherhood is common; only two of the children at Sinaï still see their fathers regularly. La Porra bears the unmistakable stamp of extreme poverty. |
 Story time at Sinaï Preschool |
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Lunch at Sinaï Preschool |
In these surroundings, the wooden preschool building, its bright blue walls fringed with gorgeous red lilies, is like a little oasis. Carmen and Edelma's affection for their charges stands out a mile. The children are bright, lively and responsive. They listen enthralled to the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, eyes wide and mouths agape when Edelma drops her voice dramatically at the line, “All the better to EAT you with, my dear!” All join in to chant nursery rhymes and play clapping games. A rumbustious round of Musical Chairs is followed by a game called “The King Commands”, in which the children jump, march, dance, “sleep” and snore with great gusto. After lunch – stew with plantain, potatoes, carrots, a tuber called malanga and a little meat – the children are ready for a wash and brush-up before their afternoon nap. This is the first opportunity for Carmen and Edelma to take a break. Their day's work, which started at 6.30 a.m., continues until around 4 p.m. Sinaï Preschool does a good job in harsh surroundings, and with limited resources. The toys and other materials that arrived this month will be a big help. We at Superemos Foundation hope to be able to provide further resources for creative play – drawing paper, paints, building blocks and the like - if funds are available. Without your help, the preschool would have no materials, and the teachers virtually no pay. Thank you for continuing to support them. |
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Attendance at the Baccalaureate programs has been excellent this month, averaging 82% on Saturdays, 90% on Sundays and 93% during the week. This shows the high level of commitment of our students, most of whom are working adults with family responsibilities. Attending school means a particular effort for women, as the mainstay of home and family. School staff continue to liaise closely with the Department of Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education in Managua. This is vital to improve the content and administration of the centralized Adult Baccalaureate. In April, the Ministry held a workshop for staff from the schools offering the program, to revise and update the Regulation that underpins it. This suggests that the civil service is gradually opening up to the experience of those working at the “chalk face” - a hopeful sign. Superemos Foundation is currently working on a proposal to make teaching and learning materials for the Adult Baccalaureate available via the Internet. This would entail modest costs by comparison with the undertaking of printing these materials centrally and distributing them to the schools involved. An added plus is that the documents could be updated regularly at minimal expense. It looks as though the Ministry of Education may be interested. The IT course introduced by Stephen Sefton and Raúl Castillo in March remains a big attraction. This program, which is putting IT skills within the reach of women who had never touched a keyboard before, is popular for its practical, hands-on approach – strikingly different from the methods used on most Nicaraguan IT courses. |
Cristina at work with OpenOffice |
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Edelma shows off her handiwork |
Hilda Duarte and her dedicated team of social workers kept up their busy schedule of consciousness-raising workshops on social issues coupled with hands-on skills training. It is a mix with strong appeal for the underprivileged young women who form the program's core target group. In the Cooperative itself, a total of 12 women and girls took part in Hilda's two handicrafts workshops and Lilliam Soza's two dressmaking lessons. María Félix Castillo led eight workshops for women attending the Cooperative's secondary school, dealing with varied themes: the structure and workings of the Cooperative, the meaning of responsibility, the family, and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. In rural Santa Cruz, Daysi Moreno led three handicrafts workshops attended by eleven young girls. Gladys Ruiz led discussions designed to boost participants' self-esteem by prompting them to examine their own needs and aspirations and overcome obstacles to their personal growth. In La Porra, a poverty-stricken urban area with more than its fair share of social problems, Hilda, Daysi and Gladys led three workshops combining handicrafts training with talks and discussions on subjects directly relevant to the 13 youngsters taking part: domestic violence and teenage pregnancy. Similar topics were broached with ten young girls in the rural community of El Dorado. In the regional penitentiary, seven women took part in dressmaking classes, while ten attended crochet classes. The latter group was able to earn some money by making and selling attractive shoulder bags. Eighteen young men listened to a talk on the values you need to make something of your life, and took part in an animated discussion. |
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“Please help me buy this medicine for my little boy.” When a woman with desperation in her eyes comes up to you in central Estelí, clutching a prescription for expensive antibiotics in one hand and the arm of her sick three-year-old in the other, you help her. But you think at the same time of the others you can't help – the hundreds of thousands who can't afford antibiotics for their sick children, or basic dental treatment, or even cough mixture. Most Nicaraguans are too poor to afford the basic healthcare that people in industrialized countries take for granted. Even when consultations are free of charge, patients are very often unable to afford the prescription. So health is largely a matter of luck – or the lack of it. This is why the services provided by our healthcare project are so valuable. Cooperative staff, secondary school students and the families of preschool children can consult Dr. Aura Estela Garmendia, family doctor and gynecologist, and Dr. Ada Luz Corrales, psychologist, free of charge. Both doctors saw 12 patients this month. Medicines are provided free to over half the patients, while the relatively better-off pay minimal prescription charges. Dr. Garmendia also continues to provide free cervical smear tests – a vital health resource for low-income women. |
Gladys giving a talk on domestic violence |
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At the regional penitentiary, Dr. Garmendia saw 23 inmates with ailments including chronic gastritis, arthritis, fungal infections, dermatitis, neuralgia, tonsillitis, conjunctivitis, earache, migraine, bronchitis, parasites, allergies and insomnia. The medicines prescribed to the 23 patients were provided free of charge by the cooperative's dispensary. 18 patients were given dental treatment. Through Dr. Garmendia's good offices, the dispensary donated some medicines nearing expiry date to the Leonel Rugama Health Center in central Estelí. Gladys Ruiz, who runs the healthcare program, is careful to check the expiry date of pharmacy stock at regular intervals, to ensure that all medicines are put to good use. Nothing is wasted. In addition to her work as coordinator, Gladys continued to work together with the social work team to increase young people's awareness of physical and mental health issues (see the Social Work section for details). |
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Dora and Raúl at work |
Legal adviser Dora Aráuz and secretary Raúl Castillo have continued to publicize their services among Cooperative staff and people involved in the other projects. As a result, they now have a full civil caseload including demands for child maintenance, applications for birth certificates and advice regarding house deeds. Dora also continues to visit the regional prison regularly to offer advisory services to inmates and follow up cases in progress. Recently, she has applied to the judge responsible for the enforcement of sentences for an assessment of the conduct of two prisoners, in the hope of securing their conditional release. Other cases have been followed up through constant liaison with the local court and prisoners' families. Our experience shows that miscarriages of justice are common in Nicaragua owing to the slow process of the law and the proliferation of bureaucracy. Moreover, many defendants suffer de facto discrimination as a result of poverty. The significance of our legal advice center is that it provides services which would otherwise be beyond the reach of people on low incomes. |
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Linux-based Information and Communications Technology Project In April, the projects team of Superemos and the “Christine King” cooperative began planning future Information and Communications Technology activities in conjunction with “Linux Journal”. We are developing various components based for reasons of its greater reliability and security on Linux. So far, we have identified the following needs :
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Project |
Expenditure |
Source |
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“Little Red Riding Hood” Preschool |
1,037.50 |
Schooner Foundation (USA) | |
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“Sinaï” Preschool |
228.00 |
Chester Cengarle (Canada) |
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Adult education |
1,030.00 |
Schooner Foundation (USA) |
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Social work |
569.63 |
Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, Boston, MA (USA) |
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Healthcare |
593.69 |
De Kalb Interfaith Network (USA) | |
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Legal aid project |
525.00 |
Centre National de Coopération au Développement - CNCD (Belgium) | |
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TOTAL |
3,983.82 |
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Many, many thanks to all of you for your constant solidarity with the communities we serve. This month we would like to say a special thank-you to Laura Wilson of Libertyville (Illinois), USA; Karen King, Famke Holsbergen-Walraven and Jill Manchester of Luxembourg; and Nancy Morgan and Mary Graham of Herefordshire, England, for their donations of toys and preschool materials. Phil Russel has again assisted our computer skills training program with a donation of two hard drives which we will eventually be able to use to equip schools in rural areas. The staff of
the Christine King Cooperative |
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