Education & Career Openings for Women of the Andes

Another course ending with a unique and emotional ceremony conducted by our organization, during which the 10 graduate students were presented with diplomas. 

We had asked a few questions to a couple of our students, with the purpose of sharing them with our faithful donors, who played a vital role in helping these students achieve an education.

Theodula

How many years have you been living in Chile?

I have lived in Chile for 3 years now.

It was very difficult for me to leave all my family in Peru to come here. I arrived in Chile with no money, but I found generous people who helped me carry on. I am very thankful to everyone who supported me to achieve my goals regarding education.

Do you have any family living in Chile?

No, all of my family lives in Peru. I came to Chile because in Peru jobs are scarce and I was living in a situation of extreme poverty, with hardly enough food to eat.  I came to find work here because I couldn’t continue living like that anymore.

Why did you choose to take this Nurse Assistant Course?

Since I was very young I always wanted to be a nurse.  I have two sisters who wanted to study to be nurses, so when a friend told me about the work that the foundation was doing for the Peruvian migrants, I decided to visit the institution and take this course.  I really liked it, and I feel the education and training they give here is wonderful.

What has been your experience after completing the course?

In Peru I had taken several jobs related to medicine and nursery, so I had some experience, but was lacking the proper education, training and the needed certification. I do not have enough words to express how thankful I was to find this place to study and practice. They have helped me to find my calling in life, and I feel now that I have a life to live decently and everything I need to have a career in what I like to do.

I believe a nurse's duty is to care of the sick and injured.  I’m very glad, and it has been very fulfilling to learn how to give optimal care to the patients we have under our care.

Catalina

How many years have you been living here in Chile?

I have been living here for almost 11 years now.

Where are you currently working?

I’ve been working as a full time house cleaner for several years now.

My boss really wanted me to study and I am very thankful to her for motivating me into taking this course.

What has been your experience after completing the course?

I think taking this course has changed my life completely and it has helped me 100%. I am a different person now.

When I first arrived to the institute I think everyone will recall that I was the worst student in the class, but slowly I started improving until I was very comfortable and  was able to learn a lot and get very good grades.

 I think for me the practices hours in the health services and homes, with sick people and the elderly were very essential for our training, because it’s like everything we learned in theory just came to me.

Taking the course has helped me, even in aspects which have nothing to do with what we have learned here. I am a different person now. I love and respect myself.

What are your plans for the future?

I am very happy with my career choice, because it’s something I have always wanted to do, study to have the proper diploma as a nurse assistant, and be able to get a job taking care of the sick and, especially, the elderly.

I told my boss that this is the last year I will be working for her as a house cleaner and that I’m going to work as a nurse assistant. I want to do what I have studied.

I am very happy; this is like a dream come true.

Links:

• www.helpfortheandes.org