Monthly Blogger Update

Greetings La Esperanza Granada friends,

We are excited to bring you our first Blog Edition of the Volunteer LEG E-Newsletter! As with our monthly e-mail newsletter, the Blogger Monthly Update gives you a quick view of our biggest highlights in the last month. We are just completing our first month of the 2012 school year and have many exciting updates to share with you.

We started classes on February 13th, and have been hard at work assisting in the primary schools, teaching English, and providing Computer classes to hundreds of students. This year, we are more in touch with the Ministry of Education than ever before and are pleased to be working so closely together to improve children’s education here in Granada. We are primarily teaching and tutoring in 4 primary schools right now: José de la Cruz Mena, Nueva Esperanza, Pablo Antonio Cuadra, and El Escudo. These schools are all located in very poor barrios of Granada and experience overcrowding and underfunding year after year. The primary schools have two “shifts” to handle all the students within the areas, and still some classes top 50 children. We are bringing our best and working long hours to engage the children and support the teachers in any way that we can. Our biggest accomplishment thus far has been the inclusion of our English classes into the graded curriculum. This means that our students actually get marked on their report card for their progress and results in our volunteer-run English classes!

Furthermore, La Esperanza has hit a high point in our volunteer numbers this month with over 150 total volunteers! As of this newsletter, we have 48 individual volunteers, two high school groups visiting from the U.S. to build classrooms, 14 ayudantes, an all-volunteer Board of Directors, and long-distance volunteers helping with translations, promotion, and website updating. This is a huge moment for LEG and we would like to thank each and every person who contributes their time to supporting our mission and projects. We just simply could not exist, much less be successful in our work, without these amazing volunteers. Big thanks to all of you! 

We wrapped up this month with a celebration to commemorate the inauguration of San Ignacio High School, a new technical high school completely funded and built by LEG and its generous supporters. It will surely be an exciting event for all and we are very much pleased to see our donations and hard work go into place, brick by brick.

Just can’t get enough of La Esperanza Granada news? As always, you can get more detailed information at our website www.la-esperanza-granada.org and by giving us a Like on Facebook here! If you’re interested in donating, volunteering, or would like more information on LEG projects, please e-mail us at la_esperanza_granda@yahoo.com and we’ll absolutely get back to you!

Peace,
Colleen K, on behalf of the The LEG Volunteer Team

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