Sacred Heart of Jesus Educational Center
TEACH started to support this boarding facility in 2014. In 2019, TEACH budgeted total funding for the site of $4,000, allocated to the support of girls in residence while attending secondary school. This splendid residence was built with funds provided by an Italian NGO. It can accommodate up to 60 girls from villages too small to support secondary education. By living here, they can attend the appropriate secondary schools in Quirigua and Los Amates. The residence is operated by Religious Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary who provide mentoring, emotional, and spiritual support. In addition to attending school, the girls do all the cooking, cleaning and laundry, and develop skills in crocheting and embroidering table runners and purses.
The typical young woman in this Center comes from a low-income family of a remote village inaccessible by car. Reaching her home involves an approximately 2 or 3-hour car ride followed by a long walk. Básico (middle school) educational facilities where her parents could enroll her after she finishes sixth grade are often not available. In some villages where such facilities are available the young woman must walk long distances to reach them, which may put her at risk. Being a girl, her parents do not allow her to walk to school alone, thus impeding her academic development.
For these reasons, in 2010 the Sisters decided to build the Sacred Heart of Jesus Educational Center to provide housing for young low-income women from remote villages and offer them an opportunity to obtain human, academic, and spiritual training in an adequate and dignified environment where they can pursue their full development without their families having to worry. Located across Lake Izabal from El Estor, the site of the first TEACH supported school in 2003, the Sacred Heart Educational Center (CFSC) provides a safe and caring home away from home for girls from remote villages. Providing transportation and personal needs can be a struggle for the parents, but during the months the girls are at CFSC school fees and boarding costs are covered.
A typical day for a Sacred Heart girl begins with computer studies during the morning. Then, after lunch, she is off to her afternoon middle school classes, returning to the center for homework or to research assignments given by her teachers. The girls work together cooking and cleaning, and join in sports, singing and other activities. Weekends bring recreational activities and participation in the Holy Mass. She also participates in vocational programs for young people held by the parish or the vicariate. The end of the school year is usually marked by a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Holy Black Christ of Esquipulas. All this contributes to her human and academic development and prepares her to live as a member of society.
Upon finishing her Básico studies, the young woman leaves the Center and, with luck, continues her education, provided she has a scholarship or finds work to help her pay for her schooling. Because of their financial straits, the majority of the young women go back home to their villages.
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This describes the program through 2019, but of course the onset of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic changed everything in 2020. In March the girls returned home to their families, and then in September some returned to the Center to finish their academic year studies. They were provided with free internet, links to their teachers via WhatsApp, loans of cell phones, and other support. They stayed safe and successfully passed their exams. The girls who remained home in their villages have also been in touch with their teachers and strive to complete the school year.
January 2021 - School has opened again. Status at Sacred Heart is forthcoming.