Sister Parish

Project: "Godfamily Plan"

Establishment of a plan for scholarships for nursery school and basic education students who are members of Rios de Agua Viva, San Mauricio, El Salvador

Presented by the Pastor and Council of Rios de Agua Viva To First Lutheran Church in Palo Alto

General Objective:

To provide basic education to young people and children of limited economic resources, who are members of the Lutheran Church, Rios de Agua Viva, through scholarships for studies obtained by means of the system of godfamilies (godfathers and godmothers) between the members of the First Lutheran Church of Palo Alto.

Specific Objectives: To provide scholastic fees for children and young people who are members of Rios de Agua Viva with limited economic resources, so that they get a basic education. To make possible to the youth of Rios de Agua Viva a profession, to improve their standards of life and better prepare them to obtain work.

Justification of the Project:

Education in El Salvador continues to be one of the basic services where the poor families have little access. With the present measures of privatization of the public the education system, like other basic public services who already were privatized like the electrical energy and the telephone, Salvadoran youth and children have fewer academic opportunities. The scholastic desertion is great mainly in the countryside and marginal, because the boys and girls from 5 or more years of age, must work to contribute with economic income for their family. The poor young people who do not have an opportunity to study nor to access to wage-earning work, are easily taken in by the youthful gangs and the social violence that is pronounced at national level. El Salvador is going through one of the worse economic crisis, the neo-liberal economic model of the free competition, plus the dollarization of the current currency has increased in price the cost of living100% because the population earns wages in colons and must pay in dollars. The small and medium retailers and industrialists are going bankrupt in their businesses; the agriculturists do not have facility for bank loans and they cannot compete with the great national nor transnational companies. Unemployment has been increased by 40% and more than half of the rest of the population, support themselves by sales in the informal sector of the economy (traveling sales, sales in public plazas), consequently the poverty has been increased. In the last years a significant portion of the population lives in extreme poverty. An average of 6 children in the western zone is dying daily of hunger and undernourishment.

On the other hand, the Salvadoran Lutheran Church sees in the childhood and youth the hope of the town, they are the future, and we know that we must prepare to them academically and spiritually so that they put in practice the Christian values, human rights and citizenship. We consider that a formal education must be the means for the youth and childhood of the Church develop a leadership with firm and lasting bases in the Church, the community and the society. A place where they are not excluded but, on the contrary, become subjects of social transformation, with great disposition for service to their community.

For the reasons listed above, the Lutheran Church "Rios de Agua Viva" in San Mauricio, considers it necessary to create a Program of scholarships through "god-families", to provide help to the children and young students so that they manage to finalize their basic education.

Method of the Project:

A socioeconomic diagnosis has been made that has allowed us to know the economic situation of the families of the young people and children that are going to participate. The fathers and mothers of the candidates for the scholarships are not working or those that have work are earning the minimum wage ($138.00 dollars monthly). In most of the diagnosed homes, only 1 member of the family works and the family group has an average of 5 people. At the moment scholarships for 16 members of the Church are being asked for, the project will try to cover a total of 25 members in the future. The scholastic scholarships will be coordinated by the Pastor with the support of the Church Council. The amounts requested for the scholastic scholarships are:

The project will have an annual global amount that will appear to the Church, but it is hoped that each child and young person candidate for a scholastic scholarship has a godfather or godmother that will finance the monthly payment of their godchild according to the academic level of their studies. The students will not receive money in cash, the money sent by the godfathers and/or godmothers will be given in the following way: in quotas of schooling, scholastic equipment, didactic material, photocopies, books, uniforms.

The association of fathers and mothers of the families of the children and young people who have scholarships, have agreed to meet periodically to promote a shared atmosphere between the families who are beneficiaries. We will make home visits to have a better approach and knowledge about how the support received by the scholarship is benefiting the families. Each one of the scholarship holders will send frequent letters to its respective godfather or godmother so that there is a closer relationship also with them. We will form a committee of young scholarship holders so that they will assume responsibly the efficient development for the project, through their good scholastic yield and participation in activities of service to the community.

Activities to Take Place During the Implementation of the Program

• Monthly meetings with the fathers and mothers of the scholarship holders
• Frequent visits to the scholastic centers to know the academic situation of the scholarship holder, their scholastic attendance and their monthly report of scholastic qualifications
• Monthly delivery of scholastic equipment, books, uniforms, photocopies, transportation, etc. according to requirements of the state scholastic center where the student attends.
• Periods of evaluation of the project will become: May and November to identify the benefits, weaknesses and the impact of the project for the scholarship holders and their families. The results of the evaluations will be sent to the church in Palo Alto
• Our Sister church in Palo Alto will be sent periodic reports on the scholastic situation of the scholarship holders
• Monitoring of the community service that is done by the older children and youth scholarship holders
• The Secretary of the Church Council will have control of the delivery of scholastic necessities for each scholarship holder.

Requirements and Criteria to Receive Scholarships

• Member of the congregation of Ríos de Agua Viva
• Undergo a socioeconomic study
• That the family and the scholarship holder agree to work in all the activities that the project demands.
• Not to miss a scholastic year
• Scholastic documentation provided by the education ministry, to make sure the student is registered for scholastic year
• Scholastic ratings (grades) of scholarship holders must be an average of 70.
• Only 1 beneficiary per family

Participants:

You can see photos and read personal histories written by the children on the Rios bios page.

Children (Nursery and Kindergarten) $25/month
Name	Age	Grade	Godfamily
Nancy Estefany Crespo Rivera	2 1/2 years	Maternal	Souders
Carlos Joel Muñoz Cornejo	4 years	Kindergarten	Scott
Steven Eduardo Hernández Ventura	4 years	Kindergarten	Frykman and Bogott
Mikael Antonio Crespo Rivera	5 years	Kindergarten	Lundeen
María Esperanza Albanez Rivas	5 years	Kindergarten	Valentine
Edenilson Alexander Pérez Rivas	5 years	Kindergarten	Peery
Erika Guadalupe González Chávez	4 years	Nursery School	Barich
Children (Primary Grades) $30/month
Name	Age	Grade	Godfamily
Josué Adiel Rodríguez Rivera	7 years	First grade	Holmquist
Felipe Odair Crespo Rivera	7 years	First grade	Jensen
Fermín Alexander Martínez González	8 years	Third grade	Grove
Jonathan Alexander Hernández Pérez	9 years	Third grade	Segerhammar and Fletcher
Youth (High School) $40/month
Name	Age	Grade	Godfamily
Evelyn Patricia Ticas Saravia	15 years	2nd year Bachillerato General	Bertelsen
Alba Cristina Jovel López	16 years	1st year Bachillerato Comercial	Maria Cortez
José Jonathan Sandoval	16 years	1st year Bachillerato Industrial	Berg
Claudia Alejandra Cáceres	18 years	1st year Bachillerato General	Dager and Herhold
Carlos Ernesto Ramírez	18 years	1st year Técnico en Electrotecnia	Grote

Total Budget
Number of Scholarships	Grade	Monthly Expense	Annual Expense per child	Total for All Children
1	Maternal	$25.00	$300.00	$300.00
7	Kindergarten	$25.00	$300.00	$2100.00
4	Primaria	$30.00	$360.00	$1440.00
5	Bachillerato	$40.00	$480.00	$2400.00
				________
			GRAND TOTAL	$6240.00