Emily Sandall Foundation

We are pleased to announce that the Foundation made a donation today to Albergue Infantil de Irapuato.This was the shelter where Emily worked two times in Irapuato, Mexico.She also carried out a photo project with the boys with a grant from IIECL.I remember her phone calls home so vividly describing her days and work there.
                

http://shinealight.org/AlbIrapuato.html

 

Twenty to thirty boys live in the shelter, all referred by the local Youth and Families Department (DIF), a judge, or other street kids. The facilities include a garden, a full size soccer field, a basketball court, a large dining room and kitchen, and several dormitories. Volunteers and professionals help the boys with schoolwork, life skills, and building good habits.

Recent projects with the boys’ families are the Albergue’s forte. Most come from families where the father abandoned his wife and children to work in the United States, forcing the mother to work long hours, leaving the children alone at home. The Albergue helps mothers find work they can do at home: it trains women to be hairdressers, artisans, caterers, and even chemists (to make and sell bleach). This work promotes the social and economic development of the community.

The Tec de Monterrey (the best MBA program in Mexico) requires that all students create a proposed business before they can graduate. Working with the Tec, the Albergue helps students find the capital to create their businesses in reality — if the business agrees to donate profits to the Albergue and to employ homeless youth.

Printed courtesy of Kurt Shaw and  the Shine a Light website.

 

Jose Ramon,Director of the Albergue, sent the following update:

“In August,the boys went back to school,all of them with high marks on their report cards.We have a Norwegian volunteer, Camila, to thank for much of that success, because she has dedicated herself to after school tutoring,especially the four new boys who came last spring.These new boys came from the Irapuato region,from broken families, and weren’t attending school.Most are about 10 years old and were effectively on the street, but after bringing them to the Albergue, they have gone back to school and gotten a lot of special attention.At the moment, most of the boys are in Elementary school, but three are in middle school,two in high school , and four have made it to the University while still living here.

We have started a new experiment with yoga classes, and have found that the once a week classes help with motor skills,flexibility, personal dedication, and discipline.New Phys Ed classes every morning also help alot.Several students doing community service have come to offer basketball and other classes ,as well.We’re continuing English classes(with Camila) as well as our normal edcational work.We’ve also begun to organize a life skills class, which has been very helpful for encouraging kids to relate to others on different levels.