Mozambique

Previous service projects

- The Laura Fund

- Teaching at rural grade school

- Grant writing to support missions

- Community outreach and development

- Orphan Center 

- Clean water project

national flag

languages

Portuguese and Swahili

capital

Maputo

---

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.

- Mary B. 

The Laura Fund

Overview

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.

orphan center

The orphan center is 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

The secondary school is 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.

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, sets of notebooks and pens for a year

•  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)