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The Rotary Club of Toronto-Leaside |
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Superemos
Foundation and "Christine King" Multi-Service Cooperative Prepared by Vengel Moreno and Stephen Seften, 9th June 2003 General All the projects performed well in May, continuing to deliver important services to people in urban Estelí and also in rural areas to the south and north of the city. The rains began late in the month to everyone's great relief. The prospects are for a good harvest in August so long as there is no prolonged drought as there was last year. Several visitors came to look at our work during the month, including a group from the Comité Aide a Nicaragua of Belgium and another from the Working Bikes group of Chicago. We are were pleased to be able to show these visitors the extent of our activities and to discuss the kinds of problems we are trying to overcome. The cooperative has made great progress developing its organizational capacity, especially in the area of planning and evaluation. A British volunteer will join the projects in June to continue improvements in that area. We also hope to improve and update our web site through June and July. The overall economic situation for ordinary people in Nicaragua is extremely worrying. Delinquency has become more common, with muggings and other robberies occurring more frequently even in daytime in well populated areas. Some of our students report unemployment levels of over 60% in their barrios with many families unable to afford to light their ovens to prepare food from one day to the next. In some parts of urban Estelí and in many rural areas average incomes remain as low as US$20 to US$30 per month. In this context, our programs offer many people their only chance of access to well resourced education and health services. On behalf of all the program beneficiaries and the project staff we offer our very sincere thanks to all the donors and supporters who make our work possible. Women's Education Program The night class program of secondary education for women progressed well in May. We had to change the schedule of classes in order to pay special attention to Mathematics and Social Sciences because in early June many students will be taking their final exams in those subjects. Attendance has been better this month than in previous months as students focus on getting through those final exams. Average attendance each evening is around 40 students Three of the teachers on this program were able to participate successfully in one of Harvard University's "Wide World" Internet courses to promote "Education for Understanding" techniques. Their participation in these courses was financed by the Oklahoma City based Global Education Fund thanks to the intercession of Ms. Judy Markley. We are very grateful to Judy for this important assistance to improve our teaching practice. The program director Bertha Imelda Sanabria had one meeting with the Ministry of Education in Managua following yet more changes in the Ministry personnel responsible for the Ministry's Adult Secondary Education program. The Ministry confirmed that it has no plans for significant changes to the adult secondary education program this year. The local departmental delegation of the Ministry approved the supervisory report presented by the program director for the month. All the teachers celebrated Mother's Day with the students with a very happy and successful activity on the evening of May 29th. At the end of the month we delivered to the Ministry the list of our students from all the education programs we run, including the weekend classes and the weekday evening classes, who will sit final exams in Mathematics, Social Sciences and Spanish in June. The totals are: Mathematics - 67 first level; 139 second level Social Sciences - 95 first level, 125 second level Spanish - 35 first level; 110 second level We are confident that our students will achieve a high pass rate. Their success in these exams, which are so important for them and for their families is due in very great measure to the support we have received from our donors. Pre-school Attendance was down on April with a total of 36 children receiving class during May. The school received supervisory visits from both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. In coordination with the healthcare program, the staff and parents of the pre-school received anti-parasite medicine to administer to the pre-school children. The Ministry supplied the school with a donation of bleach to assist in cleaning and washing. The monthly parenting skills workshop went well with 13 parents taking part discussing various aspects of their children's development with the pre-school staff. We also worked with the parents to prepare an activity for Mother's Day. A total of 36 parents took part in the event which included a presentation of simple gifts to all the mothers present, of whom 26 are single mothers. We made 9 home visits in May to check on absent children. All were away through ill health caused by the onset of the rainy season and the accompanying increase in insect borne diseases. Healthcare The health program maintained its basic activities through May:
Dra Ivet Castillo the program doctor saw 23 patients in the local penitentiary during May all of whom received the appropriate medicine from our program's dispensary with a total value at cost price of US$54.00. The dispensary made an extra donation of medicine to the prison medical service of products approaching their expiry date. The value of this donation was US$467.00. In conjunction with the supervisory visit of the Health Ministry to the pre-school, the healthcare program distributed anti-parasite medicine for the children, parents and staff of that program. The program also assisted the Estelí Blind People's Association, assisting 8 patients with free medicine to a value of US$39.00. Gladys Ruiz, the program worker gave three workshops in May to the twelve young women who participate in the craft skills course run by the social work program in the community of Santa Cruz, about 10 miles south of Estelí. The workshops focused on personal health care, common health problems of the digestive system and reproductive health for women. There were no health education workshops for the students studying in the education program on weekdays because the students are using all available classroom time to revise for their final exams. The dispensary continues to offer its invaluable service of low cost medicines to beneficiaries of the projects run at the Superemos site in Estelí. We are very grateful to the staff of Dorchester House, to the Nicaragua Medical Alliance and to individual donors for helping us maintain these services. Social work The social work program in May comprised the following main areas of activity:
The program gave two workshops for prisoners in May, for 16 women offenders and 24 young male offenders respectively. The themes covered were self-expression and self-development. The program also began a sewing class in the prison with 6 inmates. The craft skills classes in May consisted of :
The program delivered three workshops for women night class students on: Average attendance was 15 students.
As part of the general legal assistance work carried out in May, one of the social workers made two visits to Somoto, the departmental capital of Madriz seeking to obtain an order for the release of a prisoner who has served his term but has no legal representative to assist with the formalities necessary under Nicaraguan law for his release. This case should be resolved in June. The program workers are developing liaison with the prison authorities to ensure adequate provision of legal advice for prisoners who need it. Several program participants assisted in the maintenance of the plant nursery during the month. The nursery has provided plants and trees to improve the environment of the project site and to assist in the conservation of the creek at the rear of the school which is subject to erosion from the effects of heavy rains during the wet season. Environmental workshop The main activity of the workshop in May was the fabrication of 10 bicycle pumps for delivery to smallholders and communities in the department of Madriz. The workshop also carried out general metalwork, fabricating metal doors and wood burning stoves for individuals and for the local Escuela Normal. We will make a complete report on the bicycle pump installations once these are completed in June. Financial information These activities for the month of May were financed as follows:
Nicaragua Association & Fiona Graham and European Commission colleagues:
European Commission colleagues
We appreciate very much the great effort all our donors make to help us sustain the services we deliver to local people in and around Estelí. Through the summer we expect to send photographs and letters of thanks to all our donors by post. |
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Copyright
2003, The Rotary Club of Toronto-Leaside |
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