By Isabel Pastor Guzman | Project Manager
We were driving in Edwin’s car with the media team from Korean TV MBC who was shooting a documentary about our Brain Education project in Centro Escolar Distrito Italia, where he is the principal, when he turned to me and said “you know, I have so many dreams. I imagine so many good things for the children, the school and the community”. Tell me about those dreams, I said. “One of the things I dream about is having a swimming pool in the school. I can picture the children in the water doing exercise, enjoying themselves and playing with each other. I really can visualize that and it makes me so happy. It would make everyone so happy. They don't have a space where they can play freely like that”.
When we finished the pilot Brain Education project in Distrito Italia, we agonized over how we can help them continue to practice the principles and theories of Brain Education until we can fundraise for a second phase of the program in this school and in 7 more schools in El Salvador’s capital. Our dream was and is to see peace truly created in that community.
But peace is no small dream. Everyone agrees on the value of peace theoretically, but what does it really mean to create lasting peace? Brain Education emphasizes that there is no peace without action. And not just any action, but action that has peace as its only purpose. We need the type of mind that can say at every moment “come what may, I keep putting one foot in front of the other towards harmony and peace within myself and in the world”.
To create this kind of mindset, first everybody has to agree on a goal. After our pilot experience in Distrito Italia, we realized we had heard about a goal that the whole community wants and can benefit from. Everyone wants the swimming pool! During the three months that we spent going daily to the school, we could discover among the kids that very rarely they have the opportunity to go out of their neighborhood or community or the school, and enjoy the nature or play with each other freely. They are always afraid of what might happen in the streets. Having a swimming pool in the school is something that would allow them to have a space for peaceful conviviality, a space where they feel free and safe and at the same time they can enjoy and refresh their bodies and minds. It would give them a motivation while diminishing their reasons to get into trouble.
So we decided to put the Brain Education theories into practice under this shared dream. That’s when we started to look for funds to support the construction of the swimming pool. With a shared goal, working together, we can go through the obstacles that divide us. We can overcome our limitations and unleash the best of our human nature to create true happiness and peace for ourselves and the community we’re working with. And you need a leader that can keep providing hope to everyone involved, someone who believes the goal can be achieved if we work together. Someone like Edwin, who has a sincere concern for the future of the children, school and community and is ready to endure any obstacles that come in the way of their dreams.
The swimming pool construction will start on May 1st. The only condition IBREA has given the community is that they all work together on the organization and the construction of the pool. Everyone, the school community, their families and friends will play a role, including people from different gang groups who are in rivalry. The goal of the project is to help create a real culture of peace in the community.
During the next few months, IBREA will keep monitoring the progress of this project and giving reinforcement education so that they remember why they are working on this together and provide them tools to overcome the stress, disputes and other obstacles they will find in the process.
Do you want to be a part of this beautiful opportunity? We have raised enough funds to get the project started but we need a lot of help to get it finished. Please make your contribution today!!!!
By Alexis Nadin | Program Associate, GlobalGiving
By Isabel Pastor Guzman | Project Manager
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