Project Information

The high school we visited today, Andy Aparicio, was actually less interesting than some of our other visits. We started at a lower school, Escuela Jose Maria Olaso, in a poor slum called La Vega. At this school the love between teacher and student that we wanted to catch on camera was plain to see. The teachers dress casually and engage their students on a friendly level, as does the woman we interviewed, Nelly Monsalde, the school's pastoral director. She is considered a pillar of the school, and seems to know all 674 students by name.

Bruce was impressed with the classroom values that were posted everywhere--rules about tolerance, working together, paying attention, etc. I think much of this was Nelly's influence, as she really inculcates what she calls "Christian humanistic values" in all areas of study and school life. This moral basis seems to be the strength of Fe y Alegria schools. Everyone we have met with emphasizes it.


This is the area just outside Escuela Jose Maria Olaso:



In contrast, these are children inside the school grounds:



We later spoke with German Garcia Velutini, the head of a large Venezuelan bank who is on the Fe y Alegria national board. He said that his HR department is always looking for Fe y Alegria graduates for entry-level jobs! It's not because they're smarter but because they are more responsible, and have a moral foundation that makes them better employees. The vice-principal of the high school we visited explained that this is a key focus of her school-- they teach children to be fully-developed human beings, and pay attention to the whole student, not just to his studies.
All the schools are crying out for resources. While they certainly aren't as lacking as the rural schools we saw in Ecuador, they do need better books and computers and teacher training. All of them want to welcome more kids from the poor barrios but need money to build expansions, new classrooms, hire new teachers, etc.

I think we can do seriously good work on a small scale for these schools. We can connect donors on a personal level to these locations, and present concrete ways they can help a specific school. Bruce got the idea while talking to German of having Jesuit or Catholic lower schools in the States hold raffles--the students can sell tickets, and someone can donate the prizes-- to benefit FyA.

We're both looking forward to getting this DVD put together and to putting the extra footage to good use--website, special project DVDs, etc. Already it has been a fruitful trip.