Help Poor Rural Girls in Paraguay go to University

Dalila is young and enthusiastic, and like many other students at the Mbajacayú Educational Center she has the dream to be the first member of her family to attend the university... “My dream is to become a psychologist in order to help other young people like me overcome challenges like I have; I will be the first in my entire family”. We would like to thank our donors for helping students like Dalila unfold their dreams and become true leaders of positive change in their communities.

Dalila realized upon arriving to CEM that her dream could come true only through two secrets: persistence and dedication. In her first year of study living in the Mbaracayú Forest Reserve, Dalila already stood out and was selected as the only member of her class to participate in the Paraguay Entrepreneurs Forum (FEP), a 3-day event organized by Fundación Paraguaya that gathers youth from all over the country to discuss entrepreneurship, career opportunities, and share experiences.

Dalila proudly narrates how this experience to represent her school helped her understand that if she works hard in school, she will be recognized and given the chance to succeed. About her experience at the Mbaracayú Educational Center, she mentioned “I really enjoy all the activities that we do in the school because working in the field allows us to learn real skills and share what we learn with all the visitors that come to the Reserve. My favorite activities are to work at the hotel, and to help out in the kitchen, I love interacting with the guests!”

Please keep on supporting us and help us create the conditions girls like Dalila need to tap their potentials and to become self-confident rural entrepreneurs…

Links:

• http://www.fundacionparaguaya.org.py

March 3, 2014 was not an ordinary day in the Mbaracayú Forest Reserve. For the 50 girls who arrived with their families for the first time, it was rather the beginning of a new dream as they were welcomed as the first year class of the Mbaracayú Educational Center for 2014. The new students will live in the school for the next three years, where they will take part in classroom lessons as well as practical activities in the field which vary from working at the vegetable garden, welcoming and serving guests at the rural hotel located in the Reserve, organizing tour visits, working at the chicken coop, etc. The wide variety of activities performed as part of the school curriculum allows the girls to learn significant soft and hard skills needed to find decent employment and qualify for advanced education.

As the new group of girls was welcomed to the school by their peers from second and third year, they performed several ice-breakers and integration activities with the objective of creating a family environment for the girls to feel supported and loved as they enter their new home.

The families accompanied the girls throughout the day celebrating this new opportunity with the confidence that they will be prepared as future leaders of their communities. These girls receive all the personal affects and school supplies they need to be successful and make the best out of their education.

In the next three years, these young women will be ready to follow even greater career paths, as they will qualify for pursuing university degrees, a dream most of their families would not even dare to consider.

Please help them and their peers continue on the path of higher education by making it possible for them to achieve a seemingly impossible dream---to complete high school and attend the university.

Links:

• http://www.fundacionparaguaya.org.py