So the decision is in, and Clara, Natalia and Joe (organizers of SMC, U of T Intercordia) thought I was best suited for Nicaragua, the Funarte Program.
The program has a day-camp feel, getting kids off the streets and into stimulating activities. I will be teaching mostly abandoned, orphaned and disabled kids. I'm just so excited to be there to unleash their amazing creative sides and watch them realize their individual potentials! Art has been such a passion of mine since the moment I could pick up a pencil and to share their artistic adventures is an honour I can't really even begin to comprehend right now.
Here's a little bit of what Nicaragua's going through right now:
The region of Estelí is one of the poorest in Nicaragua . NGO's and government tend to focus their efforts on the more easily accessible urban and semi-urban areas so little attention has been paid to rural communities.
In Nicaragua , 20% of children are malnourished, 6% are severely malnourished, and 13% are chronically malnourished. 11% of children under 5 have low weights and 20% have stunted growth. Shockingly, there are only 3 nurses for 10,000 inhabitants. The government provides little or no health services to rural communities. How can children successfully learn and participate in school if health and nutrition concerns are not addressed?
Funarte:
Our program works in the rural region of Estelí across an area of approximately 800 km 2 reaching 100 communities with a population of approximately 200,000. The Ministry of Education provides a curriculum for preschools and the World Bank provides a stipend to educators of about $10 a month, but any community member can be an educator and no training is provided. Ministry of Education supervisors for the preschool educators are usually university students of various disciplines who also lack training about how to support educators. Educators need to learn how to make the curriculum come alive and engage children in dynamic and developmentally appropriate ways. Children in rural Nicaragua , like all children, require creative outlets and opportunities to develop their creativity, express themselves and develop self-esteem.
¡Art Works! meets those needs and also supports and encourages work that improves the quality of preschool education through FUNARTE's involvement in the Preschool Commission of Estelí.
Deeply committed to responding to communities' needs, FUNARTE trainers, at the beginning of the project in 2003, noted the malnutrition of many children in the preschools and felt that attention was needed in this area to support both the children's health as well as the relationship between health and development necessary for success in preschool. Together with Pueblito, FUNARTE began developing a response which resulted in the design of a health and nutrition component to address those needs. In fall 2003 a community health nurse was hired to join FUNARTE and she carried out a complete diagnostic assessment of the beneficiaries in which she identified lack of information about child nutrition, poor hygiene at the personal, home and environmental levels, and no system to monitor child health and nutrition hygiene as the principal areas of need.
To read more you can always visit: http://www.pueblito.org/programs/nicaragua/
Thanks so much for sharing my interest, passion and excitement!
It means a lot :)
S
Some of my beautiful supporters!
