Help children in El Salvador overcome trauma

Earth Citizens are gathering in El Salvador! The goal of Brain Education is to raise awareness about our great humanity as one big family on this earth and actualize that value in our life. 

This last trip to El Salvador has been such a joy (we've been in the country from Feb 12 to March 12). We could witness the fruit of all the education we have been providing to them, and we want to share it with you!

We evaluated the principals' and teachers' own application of Brain Education in the schools. Most of the teachers are giving 10-15 minutes of Brain Education before their classes, others are gathering different classes in the morning in the patio and doing a joint Brain Education class to start the day. Others are teaching in their communities. One teacher is giving Brain Education to her whole church community where she is a leader, she holds classes of 60-70 people weekly. They all reported changes in their students related to better focus, less absenteesm, more motivation, better attention in class. Through intensive 3 hour sessions with each of the schools, this month we reinforced their capacity to teach Brain Education to their students.

In total, over 90 teachers and the principals in 4 schools of San Salvador have now received the education and many of them share how actually the whole culture in the schools has changed, from separtation to collaboration, from negativity to positive attitudes, from a passive mentality to a proactive one. 

Last week, we held a closing ceremony for the project in these 4 schools. It was co-hosted with the Ministry of Education. Everyone received their Brain Education certificate and declared confidently "I am an Earth Citizen!".

We also did another workshop in the University of El Salvador, where we are planning to develop a module for the curriculum of the BA in teaching during the next phase of our program. 

All this would not have been possible without your support. Thank you so much. Please keep spreading the word. As you know the program will go nation-wide to 180 schools soon and it will need a lot of support!!!!

Here's the next opportunity! IMPORTANT NOTICE! Today, March 13th, Globalgiving will match all funds at 30%!!!! Please make your contribution (anything helps!) and get an additional 30% on top of it from GG. If we receive a lot of donations this day, Globalgiving will also give us an additional $1000 to the project. 

PS ;-) During this trip to El Salvador, we got freshly roasted coffee from an organic farm for IBREA members who joined during our last campaign. If you are one of them, you'll soon be enjoying delicious Salvadorian coffee! 

We finished our second phase of Brain Education in El Salvador with great results!

At this point, 90 educators are trained and certified in Brain Education in 4 schools and over 150 children from 3rd to 9th grade have received Brain Education. Teachers feel they can manage the students and the school environment in a much more balanced and creative way. The children who received the education now know how to better deal with their stressful environment, many of them are getting better grades and are more focused on their life goals. The National Education Director from the Ministry of Education came to an event we organized in one of the schools, a school with over 50% absenteeism and a long history of violence and sexual abuse inside the school, and expressed "the whole school has changed its atmosphere, I see happy faces, I see motivated people, it's really amazing". In Distrito Italia, the Swimming Pool for Peace is activated, with daily BE and swimming classes provided by IBREA-trained staff.

In November, we gave a workshop to a group of students and faculty members in the University of El Salvador (UES). They were very satisfied and have decided to continue collaborating with IBREA and the Global Cyber University through joint research on the impact of Brain Education on stress management and violence. 

The biggest news resulting from this second phase of Brain Education in El Salvador is that, motivated by the outcomes in the 4 schools, the Government has decided to expand the program nationwide. We are creating the plan to start in a network of 180 leading schools accross the country.

This is a big turning point!! We encourage you to grab the opportunity to be a part of this beautiful process of expansion. Tell your friends, family members, people in your community...use your energy to support this cause!!! You can be a part of it by: donating, finding possible donors, or offering your volunteer work for IBREA or refer other people that can volunteer. If you want to volunteer, please sign up for our 1-week World Youth Leadership program which takes place in New York and is a prerequisite for you to work with us in the field. The next one is January 6-12 2013, and the following one will take place sometime in July. Call us at 2123190848 with your ideas and your choices! 

Also, for those of you who are not IBREA members, please become members before the end of 2012. You will receive Salvadorian coffee grown by local farmers ;-)) You can see (and share) the promotional video in the link below.

Links:

• Become an IBREA member and receive Salvadorian coffee!