Technical Training

We started in a new slum today, Antimano, which covers the mountain directly behind Padre Ugalde's university. "Instituto Tecnico Jesus Obrero" trains students to become industrial workers, creating metal and plastic machine parts. It may not seem like an ambitious goal, but many of these students live in the barrio and have dropped out of school. If they go to a school like this to get their high school degree and then additional technical training, they'll have lots of jobs open to them and skills for a good income. Many of these students also go on to university.

The equipment they have at the school is first-rate. Bruce and a teacher told me that in many schools, students just see pictures of the machines that these kids were practicing on. They had a hydraulics lab, brand new appliances that they put together and take apart, and were constructing two floors of new classrooms. The school's director, Padre Carlos--a priest, not a Jesuit--is a real dynamo from Spain. He has been incredibly active on behalf of the school, getting funding for them from various corporations, the Spanish government, and more entities. The school would not be able to function if not for his constant fundraising on top of his regular duties.

The rest of the day we spent at Padre Ugalde’s university, Universidad Catolica Andres Bello, and at the Centro Magis office. The university is really gorgeous, equally large, developed and landscaped as many American colleges. We visited in-between semesters, but there were still plenty of students walking around, lounging on the lawns in groups, playing guitar, etc.
We also met with the folks from AUSJAL, the Association of Jesuit Universities in Latin America, and strengthened that relationship somewhat, as well as ironed out some projects that we might help them with.