This project will help launch the first phase of a comprehensive socioemotional wellness program for 90 children at Amun Shea School in El Salvador. The first phase will focus on enhancing yoga and meditation sessions for students and staff.
Children in rural areas are more likely to experience a variety of risk factors that increase their vulnerability to mental and socio-emotional health issues. At Amun Shea School, these risk factors, including stress, greatly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and completely disrupted our students' already challenging lives.
This project will provide students with skills and tools to reduce stress and increase self-esteem through the practice of yoga and meditation. Yoga is evidenced to be a potentially effective therapy for children dealing with socio-emotional and mental health conditions.
Rural education adjusted to a COVID-19 reality that is focused on solving socioeconomic obstacles while also attending to students' health needs will not only open doors for our 90 students and their families at Amun Shea but for all students in rural El Salvador as our school's model serves as a revolutionary prototype. Amun Shea students will become innovative thinkers and powerful agents of change who will be responsible for long-term, positive improvements in community development.
