News from Empowerment International

In spring of 2006 I learned of Empowerment International (E.I.). Their efforts in Nicaragua and Costa Rica to provide essential uniforms and school materials, tutor kids at home, and counsel parents to focus on the long-term payoff of keeping their children in school fit my dream for Nicaraguan children. This story is about my experience helping with Empowerment International's "Inscription Day".

Today, I get to help with registering children from Villa Esperanza in Empowerment International's 2007 school year program. Kathy and I walk to the school where the E.I. staff is calmly finishing the final touches on organization for the big day. Half of nearly two hundred children will register today, the other half tomorrow. The walled-in school compound takes me back to the American School of Guadalajara, Mexico where I taught thirty years ago.

I am assigned, along with Kathy and three others, to interview the children and help them write letters to donors. The interview template looks straight forward. I think I understand the Spanish. We open for business and greet the parents and children who arrive at our door. I introduce myself to a very small boy and his mother and ask his name. He stares wide-eyed. His mother nudges to tell his name. Finally, she says it for him.

The room fills with children's voices. Everyone seems to be talking. Everyone but my little boy. I ask if he has brothers or sisters, if he has a pet, what he likes to play. With each question, he smiles wider. His eyes are big with wonder. He looks at me as if I'm a rare bird. I wonder, 'does he understand me?'. I know how different Nicaraguan Spanish sounds to my Mexican trained ears. How must I sound to him?

"I'm sorry my Spanish isn't better," I tell him and his mother. She says she can understand, but this is his first time. He's beginning school this year. I try to speak slowly and clearly, shrink closer to him and make my smile as big as the one he shares. I compliment him for being big and brave. Finally, with much prodding from Mom, we finish. Once finished, he's as hesitant to leave my table as he was to speak. Through the morning I interview other kids, returning students who are quick to respond and enjoy telling about themselves. I enjoy them all but my little first-timer is something special. The first-timers are so brave as they make the first steps into the new world of school.

Midday Yoaska came to register. The young lady with rod-straight posture and thick shining hair is striking in her immaculate jeans and top with wide eyes and quick smile. She offers to stay and help when she when she is finished. Yoaska answers the last interview question and asks why there is a blank space at the bottom of the page. "So the volunteers can translate the Spanish into English for the donors," I explained. She sees a chance her interview. When she gets hung up on something, I help. In no time she finishes.

I'm taken aback to see how much English she's learned and we show her work to Kathy. After a hug of congratulation, Kathy grins and hands Yoaska a stack of interview forms. Yoaska motions for my help. We work through letter after letter. When the English does not match the Spanish grammar, she wants to know why. She is so driven to learn and succeed. At the end of the day, she hands Kathy a thick stack of letters she has completed. Delighted, she gives me a big hug.

I walk back to the center of town tired but happy. I've been among the parents, children, volunteers, Anielka and Kathy for just two days, but I've seen how well they work together. The E.I. staff offers support and holds high expectations and the children respond to meet these expectations. As one who has spent nearly thirty years working with teachers and schoolchildren, it is a pure pleasure to see a program that works so well and accomplishes so much to better the lives of these children, their families, and the community.

In January, Sheila McAuliffe and her husband Bob Bechtel from Denver Colorado came to visit Granada and had a couple of opportunities to experience Empowerment International on the ground level. This article is part one of a two part series