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Name: Mary Lassance Becker, from: Dubuque, IA
Service: computer help to both FMA & SDB, teaching chemistry,
English, music, extra curricular activities, and grant writing
Service: computer help to both FMA & SDB, teaching chemistry,
English, music, extra curricular activities, and grant writing
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The Salesian Sisters of Mozambique founded the Laura Vicuña
Center in Inharrime in 2004, and already the project is thriving in
outreach to the local community. The financial support generated
with the Laura Fund will be for the benefit of children, youth, and
women in at at-risk situations in the Inharrime, Mozambique area.
It will be of support for the following:
- Orphan Center – currently home to 36 young girls age
4-15, and constantly growing. These children and young
women provide the main focus of the Laura Vicuña Center.
By enveloping the young girls in a loving community, the
Salesian Sisters and international volunteers help the girls
grow and learn important study and work habits, as well as
provide them with a family-like community of support.
- Secondary School – an 8th through 10th grade – The school is
only in its 3rd year of existence, and has added one grade each year
– in the end it will provide up through 12th grade, becoming the first
school in the Inharrime district to offer past 10th grade. The
Mozambican school system still feels the effects of many years of
colonialism and civil war, and the majority of schools in the country
remain weak. The Salesians aim to create a strong school in
Inharrime – one free of corruption and with as many educational tools
as possible.
- Sponsorship Program – More than 300 children in the Inharrime
area have sponsors in Europe or North America who send a small
monthly contribution (~$10 per month) to the sisters that provides
nutritional and financial support to pay school fees, medical costs, or
other emergencies to the child.
- Water and Literacy – The Salesians built a large well and set up
two water pumps close to the Laura Vicuña center where local
women may come and get clean water for daily use in their houses
without indoor plumbing. The water (unlike many pumps) is free of
charge – under one condition. Women who have not yet completed a
5th grade education must agree to attend literacy classes at the
secondary school in exchange for getting water at the sisters’ pump.
The literacy classes are also a condition of enrolling one’s child in
the sponsorship program. More than 120 women have already
graduated from these classes in the last three years.
Other soon-to-be-initiated projects:
• Primary School – Grades 1 and 2 were initiated in February 2008
in the first building of the primary school. Over the coming years, an
Italian group has agreed to finance the construction of buildings to
accommodate a 1-7 th grade school and a sports field.
• Bakery – Large baking ovens will arrive soon and the Laura
Vicuña bakery will open for business! The bakery will not only
provide bread at least 6 outposts in the Inharrime area, it will also
serve as a training post for Mozambican youth in at-risk situations to
learn skills in baking that they can later use to procure employment.
Immediate needs:
• Provide support for the students of Laura Vicuña Secondary
School – school supplies, books (even textbooks, which are
extremely hard to
come by in schools here),
other educational tools that students in this area cannot afford, such
as
8th grade Chemistry, Biology, or English textbook ~ $13 each
Set of notebooks and pens for a year ~ $2.20
• Support for the water and literacy program
One month electric bill for the water pump ~ $200
• Add extra support to the sponsorship program to ensure availability
of food for all the children each month (the number of children
enrolled in the program currently is larger than the number of
sponsors)
Long Term Goals
Center in Inharrime in 2004, and already the project is thriving in
outreach to the local community. The financial support generated
with the Laura Fund will be for the benefit of children, youth, and
women in at at-risk situations in the Inharrime, Mozambique area.
It will be of support for the following:
- Orphan Center – currently home to 36 young girls age
4-15, and constantly growing. These children and young
women provide the main focus of the Laura Vicuña Center.
By enveloping the young girls in a loving community, the
Salesian Sisters and international volunteers help the girls
grow and learn important study and work habits, as well as
provide them with a family-like community of support.
- Secondary School – an 8th through 10th grade – The school is
only in its 3rd year of existence, and has added one grade each year
– in the end it will provide up through 12th grade, becoming the first
school in the Inharrime district to offer past 10th grade. The
Mozambican school system still feels the effects of many years of
colonialism and civil war, and the majority of schools in the country
remain weak. The Salesians aim to create a strong school in
Inharrime – one free of corruption and with as many educational tools
as possible.
- Sponsorship Program – More than 300 children in the Inharrime
area have sponsors in Europe or North America who send a small
monthly contribution (~$10 per month) to the sisters that provides
nutritional and financial support to pay school fees, medical costs, or
other emergencies to the child.
- Water and Literacy – The Salesians built a large well and set up
two water pumps close to the Laura Vicuña center where local
women may come and get clean water for daily use in their houses
without indoor plumbing. The water (unlike many pumps) is free of
charge – under one condition. Women who have not yet completed a
5th grade education must agree to attend literacy classes at the
secondary school in exchange for getting water at the sisters’ pump.
The literacy classes are also a condition of enrolling one’s child in
the sponsorship program. More than 120 women have already
graduated from these classes in the last three years.
Other soon-to-be-initiated projects:
• Primary School – Grades 1 and 2 were initiated in February 2008
in the first building of the primary school. Over the coming years, an
Italian group has agreed to finance the construction of buildings to
accommodate a 1-7 th grade school and a sports field.
• Bakery – Large baking ovens will arrive soon and the Laura
Vicuña bakery will open for business! The bakery will not only
provide bread at least 6 outposts in the Inharrime area, it will also
serve as a training post for Mozambican youth in at-risk situations to
learn skills in baking that they can later use to procure employment.
Immediate needs:
• Provide support for the students of Laura Vicuña Secondary
School – school supplies, books (even textbooks, which are
extremely hard to
come by in schools here),
other educational tools that students in this area cannot afford, such
as
8th grade Chemistry, Biology, or English textbook ~ $13 each
Set of notebooks and pens for a year ~ $2.20
• Support for the water and literacy program
One month electric bill for the water pump ~ $200
• Add extra support to the sponsorship program to ensure availability
of food for all the children each month (the number of children
enrolled in the program currently is larger than the number of
sponsors)
Long Term Goals
- Help to build a library for the Laura Vicuña Secondary School
where books and study materials are very scarce - Fund a simple ''school lunch'' program for the secondary
school students who live far from school (some walk 4 or 5
miles each day to get to school)
Volunteers International for Development Education Solidarity
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