We aspire to build a preschool for children living near the city dump in the outskirts of Masatepe, Nicaragua. The “La Chureca” contains the discarded refuse of the poorest country in Central America and the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere. This is extreme poverty and poorest of the poor live in the neighborhood. They survive by scratching out a meager living from the rubbish of those only slightly more fortunate.
We Need Your Help… We need to raise $10,000 so we can build new preschool in the next 100 days. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law through the Network for Good and Heartland Community Church 3400 Weymouth Rd, Medina, OH 44256.
The new school design will be three times bigger (1,000 square feet) than the current building, will be concrete and steel construction, and will have a higher roof and adequate windows for ventilation. There will also be a larger and more permanent latrine structure and a fence to secure the property. This structure can also be used for future medical missions in the Masatepe area. This project is approved by the Nicaragua Government and is shovel ready. We are asking for your thoughtful donation and prayers to see this project become reality.
Nicaraguan adults receive an average of 4.6 years of schooling; this declines to 2.1 years in rural areas. According the most recent data cited by UNICEF, there are 689 thousand children under 5 years old and just 55% are enrolled in a pre-primary education. There are less than 6 million people in Nicaragua. They are kind, humble and grateful for what they have. If they are going to raise themselves out of poverty, their children will have to lead the way. This is one small project that can pay forward for generations.
The existing preschool is called La Escuela Nuevo Amanecer, which translates to The New Dawn School. The school has three levels of preschool including what we know as kindergarten. Each level has roughly 15 children, ages 3-5, per teacher. Teachers are all employed by the Nicaraguan Department of Education. The current preschool structure is a patchwork of sheet metal, dirt floors and plastic tarp walls. It is extremely small for the number of student attending and has little ventilation. A large pit is used as the latrine. It is overwhelmingly dusty during the dry season and muddy during the rainy season.
There is Hope! By providing a safe and sound structure we can jumpstart the children’s education and attack the cycle of poverty.