Help children in El Salvador overcome trauma

"Today I learned that I cannot give up based on insignificant things. We have to work together to achieve our goals and never give up. We have to learn to relax our body and mind and think positively. In these 3 months of brain education, I want to unleash all the positive things in my brain and heart and be in peace with everyone". This is what one of the students wrote in his journal during the first week of class.

There are 39 students in our focus group for this pilot phase. Most of them come from broken families and carry a history of violence. At some level, their problems are no different from anyone else's, nor are their wishes. They want to be healthy, they want to be happy and they want to find peace within themselves and unleash their creativity. 

We have already observed -- and children have also expressed-- a lot of changes. They are more relaxed, more capable of managing their stress and they can focus much better. They start to be more open and communicative and they start to have stronger body-brain connections.

Last week, the main newspaper in El Salvador (El Diario de Hoy) came to our classroom and covered our story. Have a look at it in the links below!

We also received a visit from the Minister of Education, who has voiced interest in expanding brain education to a network of 22 schools in the country. Through this 22-school network, the country is piloting what they call 'full time schools'. The concept is for children to spend more time in the school doing activities that provide them with a holistic type of education-- going beyond enhancing their technical skills or knowledge through traditional subjects such as mathematics or language. They use dance, music, theater and other types of activities that aim at developing their full potential.

At the same time that we're educating this group of children, we are also training a group of 24 teachers (including 3 health workers of the community). Our aim is to equip them as future instructors of Brain Education. They will be in charge of multiplying the effects of Brain Education in the school and community after this pilot phase. We plan to use the same methodology (training of trainers) for the other 21 schools.

Thanks to each and every one of you who made a donation to this project. You are helping many people to recover their sense of humanity and believe in their capacity to actualize their dreams. Please keep supporting us so we can offer this opportunity to many other children in the country!  

Links:

• Article about the project in the main local newspaper. Part 1
• Article about the project in the main local newspaper. Part 2