Education Mexico Project #30070

Education & Health for 250 children in Tultitlan

by Amextra, Inc.

Project Report | Apr 27, 2021
The 2021 Strategic Plan- Education, Peace, and Gardens

By Stephanie Ahlgrain | Fundraising and Alliances Manager

Dear friend and supporter,

Thank you for reading our first progress update during 2021. We are happy to say we have started the year strong, following the strategic plan and calendar created by the families we work with and regional staff during October 2021 and approved by the Operations Manager, General Director and Board of Directors of the organization.

Three of our main goals for this region during 2021 are:

1. Children and adolescents from Tultitlán, State of Mexico receive quality academic services, according to the local context
2. Mothers and fathers learn and apply tools to promote healthy coexistence at home
3. Families from Tultitlán, State of Mexico learn the value of producing food locally and produce and consume various vegetables harvested in their backyard.

More specifically, our goals are:

40 children and adolescents improve their academic preparation, and advance one grade in their studies
20 mothers and fathers apply knowledge acquired in 6 sessions of a workshop on parenting
20 family representatives receive assistance via telephone or online, to work with the socio-emotional and psycho-pedagogical needs of their family.
18 workshops on urban gardens facilitated in 2021 with the participation of 50 people
6 families build a new garden at home and 8 families maintain their gardens built in previous years.

Finally, right now we are transitioning from virtual attention to a hybrid model in which we accept groups of maximum 5 children in the community center at a time for education, respecting all health and hygiene recommendations. Workshops for parents and psychological accompaniment are still being held primarily virtually, but slowly will transition to in-person appointments when necessary and appropriate.

We are looking forward to sharing our advances with you this year! We can´t wait to see all these goals and more achieved.

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Dec 28, 2020
Planning for 2021: Education and Nonviolence

By Stephanie Ahlgrain | Manager of Fundraising and Strategic Alliances

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought endless changes in our lives, both on a personal and community level. However, the virus did not affect all communities equally. While for some people the biggest concern may be adapting to confinement or limiting social relationships, there are others that have had severe problems with illness, loss of income, or lack of truthful information about the virus. Unfortunately there has also been an increase in cases of domestic violence.

As a result of surveys conducted by Amextra to families in Sierra de Guadalupe and Lomas de San Isidro, State of Mexico, the teams have detected that our beneficiaries are facing challenges in the following areas:

• Economic. The sources of work have decreased and some have lost their jobs. 9 out of 10 families stopped receiving 20 to 80% of their monthly income. This has generated stress and anxiety, as some families cannot cover their basic necessities.

• Family relationships. Parents report that as the time they spend together at home has increased, patience with their children has decreased. Likewise, worldwide, an alarming increase in cases of gender violence has been reported. In Mexico, from April to July 2020, the Red Nacional de Refugios A.C. reported that it served 81% more women, girls and boys than during the same period in 2019.

• Psychological. The population we serve in the State of Mexico states that as a result of the onset of the pandemic they suffer greater stress, irritability or anger, sleep and wake disorders, sadness, anxiety and eating disorders, related to lack of income of the family.

At Amextra we feel grateful to be able to respond to the last two areas of need that we detect in the community; family unity and physiological attention. During 2021 we will be providing guidance based on the Formation of Values for Nonviolence model, as well as psychological support, so that families learn to manage stress and provide tools to promote harmonious and peaceful relationships both at home and in the community.

In addition, we will continue providing personalized education support to children online and offline as well as continue monitoring the economic impact of Covid-19 on families to determine whether more deliveries of food and hygiene supplies are necessary during 2021.

Thank you for your support during 2020. We wish you happy holidays and a new year full of peace, health and hope.

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Sep 3, 2020
New Normal in Tultitlan: Covid-19

By Stephanie Ahlgrain | Fundraising Manager

We´re coming up on the 6-month anniverssary of school closures for Covid-19 in Mexico, which became official on March 23, 2020. During this time the support Amextra provides has been more important than ever. Not only have we continued providing academic support, we have also distributed food and hygiene kits to more than 180 vulnerable families in Tultitlán (183, to be exact!).

The education coordinators that work with Amextra in Tultitlán have shown amazing creativity, flexibility and a spirit of service during these months, moving classes to the childrens houses (always in outdoor spaces like patios and following the Health Secretary recommendations for social distancing). Both the children and the teachers were masks and keep a safe distance away while they review important math and language topics.

At the same time, Julio, our phychologist, has been providing psychological accompaniment via the internet and WhatsApp; and the correct use of face masks, masks, glasses, hand washing, etc. is encouraged. Ruth, Jimena and Julio continue to work together on strategies for better teaching each child.

As the epidemiological "stop light" in Mexico advances (Tultitlán is currently in organge) we will be opening the community center up to more people gradually. We are also beginning to explore the project of installing more hand washing stations in Tultitlán, thanks to our long-time partner Agua Pura para el Pueblo.

These last few months have been a test to our resilience and we expect the next few months to continue to be a challenge and a learning process. One thing that will not change is our committment to vulnerable families and our promise to accompany them in increasing their quality of life, through educacion, health, environmental care and income generation projects. This support is more important now than ever.

As always, thank you for joining us!

Stephanie Ahlgrain

Manager of Fundraising and Alliances

Amextra

www.amextra.org

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