Continuing CHESS Programs

1. Health Education Programs - With grants and funds donated to innerCHANGE’s’ CHESS program last year, families in the 12 CHESS designated schools were able to receive water filtration systems. These clay pots eliminate the harmful bacteria that leak into the village’s wells due to their close proximity to home latrines. Workshops were held for parents on the use and maintenance of the water filters and on the health problems that can be caused from drinking unclean water. Additional workshops were accompanied by the installation of simple concrete washing basins in the schools, as CHESS staff taught children the importance of hand-washing in reducing illnesses. In turn, these children are able to teach their families what they have learned.
2. Nutrition Programs - During the past year, various mothers’ nutrition programs were organized in schools, teaching mothers the value of fruits and vegetables in the healthy development of their children. While parents’ access to grocery stores or markets is highly limited, informing them about nutrition and how to grow their own vegetable gardens can help tremendously in raising healthy children. In future workshops, Hope and Development Foundation would like to provide mothers with seeds so that they can implement these concepts promptly.
3. Provision of Drinking Water - The Hope and Development Foundation will continue existing programs focused on exploring methods by which to provide pure and drinkable water to the residents of Villa el Carmen.
4. English Programs - As tourism grows in Nicaragua, more work opportunities become available. For Nicaraguans, learning English is the single most valuable skill in the tourism sector and in a variety of other fields. Initiated by innerCHANGE’s CHESS, English teachers/trainers visit schools every week in order to provide two hours of English classes to students and teachers. Hope and Development Foundation’s facilitators living in Villa El Carmen have been vital members of the CHESS team. They have been a great support to the students studying English over the past 2 _ years with a constant presence in the communities. On occasion, they have even been known to track down a child’s parents if the child is absent from school in order to reinforce the importance of education. These facilitators often walk four hours round trip to visit one community when the roads are washed out and impassable during the rainy season. To continue this vital effort in the remote schools and communities in Villa el Carmen, these facilitators will look to Hope and Development to provide the reliable transportation they need to withstand the rugged terrain.
5. Teacher Training Programs - With very few resources, inadequate pay and little training, teachers in the community schools are given the formidable task of guiding the educational development of the nation’s youth. Hope and Development Foundation will continue the incredibly important work begun by innerCHANGE’s CHESS to provide workshops for teachers on basic computer skills, methods for creating interactive lessons and principles for managing multi-grade classrooms. In the past year, teachers from Villa El Carmen also received workshops on the nearby Rio Lodoso petroglyphs and how to incorporate the history of these pre-Columbian carvings into their curriculum. The study and presentation of these artifacts of Nicaraguan cultural heritage present a prodigious opportunity to involve tourists and local inhabitants alike in developing enthusiasm and interest in the origins of the local community. Young schoolchildren will begin to see their intrinsic value as a people when their history is displayed and celebrated by curious tourists that share their excitement at seeing ancient petroglyphs.