Temporary School in Xochimilco, Mexico City

Over the summer, San Gregorio´s elementary school renovations were finished and the new school year started with normal school hours. Thus, our summer school program has ended. For more than two months, our summer school offered services from 9 am to 5pm and worked with the local school teachers to identify the specific subjects that need reinforcement. Children form 1st and 2nd grade need to work on their reading skills, 3rd and 4th need to focus on math and 5th and 6th graders need to catch up on their ethics.

Now that school hours are back to normal, we are working with the community to identify individual needs that the families that were affected by the earthquake might still have. There are many families still waiting to obtain resources to reconstruct their houses, thus we will probably help them find in this task.

The next few months in Xochimilco are filled with ancient festivities and traditions, such as the Day of the Death and the Niñopa processions. Taking part in such festivities is an important milestone in the normalization of the children and their families, thus we´ll make sure they are ready to participate.

It´s been 10 months since the earthquake in Mexico City. Children from San Gregorio had a rough school year to say the least, but its finally over. However, children lost at least two months of school and some almost half of the school year.

In order to prepare children for the next school year, we organized a summer school program from 9 am to 5pm and worked with the local school teachers to identify the specific subjects that need reinforcement. Children form 1st and 2nd grade need to work on their reading skills, 3rd and 4th need to focus on math and 5th and 6th graders need to catch up on their ethics.

We continue to provide regular transport for the children from San Gregorio central square to Casa San Gregorio. We also provide fresh, healthy meals for children whose families cook over wood fires outside. It is very hard for families to maintain fresh food at home because of the cost and the lack of refrigeration.

However, we´ve faced several challenges. We had an outbreak of Hepatitis affecting 12 children and two volunteers. In coordination with local health authorities we have controlled the outbreak, but it was quite a challenge. Because it´s been almost a year since the earthquake, our local donations have been reducing, forcing us to step up and cover expenses that had previously been taken care of, such as cooking gas, drinking water, some food supplies and school supplies.

Despite the challenges, we´ve managed to maintain an efficient operational routine at the center and remain fully committed to helping the children from San Gregorio to return to normality.