PARAGUAY, mda/Dequení. On March 4th the program to present school backpacks officially began during a simple but joyful gathering of children with sponsors and volunteers of Dequeni. The event was held in the Main House of Fernando de la Mora. Year after year, hundreds of children from very poor families have the opportunity to study and thus break the vicious cycle generated by the lack of schooling and poverty thanks to donors in solidarity from Paraguay as well as from other countries. Children like Marco Antonio Flores Notario, who has a contagious smile, wrote to a donor from Germany: “Hello, I am you godchild. I like soccer. I participate in the teams from my school. Thank you for everything…” or like the little Hugo Raúl Fernandez Aguero with his serious face: “I like to study. When I grow up, I am going to be a great doctor, God willing. Thank you for all the help you give me…”
Many people in solidarity make it possible
During the ceremony, Andresa Origoza, the executive director of the Foundation, stressed that “for several years we have had the satisfaction of presenting these backpacks, sharing the joy with the children and their families; we are aware that we are representing many people in solidarity who make this hopeful gesture possible.”
This year, Dequení will distribute more than 1,800 backpacks to the children who participate in their projects! “Close to 700 benefactors, among them, people and businesses in solidarity collaborated to offer support for the children’s backpacks, the director of the foundation stressed. “We are sure that these children feel even happier because people they do not even know are concerned about them and for their education,” she gratefully concluded.
During part of the event, Andrea Gómez, a 14 year-old girl spoke representing the Children and Teens’ Committee: “Thanks to you we continue to study, heartfelt thanks,” she expressed. Andrea has attended the open center Casa de Acogida (House of Hospitality) since she was 9 years-old; she receives school-based support and medical attention while her mother works as a domestic employee.
Sponsors and volunteers participated in an entertaining dynamic of integration with their godchildren. After this encounter, Alexandra Da Costa, from the Pilar business, shared: “It is a pleasure to be here and to help the children.”
The school backpacks were distributed from March 4th to 12th to the children from the Departamento Central, Cordillera and Alto Paraná. Each backpack includes school supplies and uniforms; they are supplies that complement those that the Ministry of Education carries out.
For example… in Ypané
In the city of Ypané, the distribution is carried out with the support of the business, Cervepar, where 711 children received educational material to begin the school year, of which 650 are between the ages of 6 and 14 and 71 are in early childhood.
These children participate in workshops of creative and artistic expression and in sports. These workshops complement the hours of tutoring in the learning of the basic skills.
It is important to mention the work that is coordinated with the families, teachers, directors and supervisors of the area (family and scholastic mentoring). Moreover, in the middle of the year, they receive a supplement of school supplies, complemented with overall and shoes for winter.
“A pencil, an eraser and a tablet means a lot to us, because they are the tools that allow our children to study and to improve their quality of life.”
Emilse Ramos (13) who is a member of the Committee for children and adolescents at the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary community center and who is in the ninth grade spoke during the ceremony of distribution of backpacks, manifesting her pride to be able to say that she is studying to be better every day.
The teen added, “It is for this reason that we want to express gratitude to Cervepar and Dequení for the opportunity of offering us the supplies knowing that it is part of the effort that they give everyday thinking about us.
“There is still much to be done and this should be everyone’s work,” he stressed addressing those present as a member of the committee that will assume the commitment to take care of what is offered to them.
Marcia Fariña, president of the parents’ committee expressed gratitude: “Today, as a mother, I want to give thanks to all those people, who make it possible for our children to continue to study. A pencil, an eraser, a tablet mean a lot to us, because they are the tools that allow our children to study and to improve their quality of life.”
“I am proud to be here trying to give a little grain of sand so that children can learn and to have a good time. It is a beautiful way to be in class, having fun, knowing that the pencil, the tablet and the eraser are elements to cultivate imagination and to dream about a different country, one that is more inclusive, to build, among ourselves, the country that we want as Paraguayans.”
Rosa Merlo, manager of the development of funds, expressed gratitude for the support that businesses such Cervepar invest in the communities.
Horacio Ortiz, the municipal mayor of Ypané, expressed gratitude to the entire faculty of Dequeni for bringing a smile to the children. He stressed the commitment of Cervecería Paraguayan (Brewery) as a friendly hand that collaborates with the community.
Beginning this year, in addition to the backpacks, 1,034 “Kits of joy” for the early stimulation of children between the ages of 0 to 5, and 80 units of supplies for fifteen schools that seek to support the activities in the classrooms were distributed.
“Thank you for everything”, Abel Antonio wrote to his sponsor. “Blessings.”
Original: Spanish – Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA
