Week of August 21-27

Andrielis had 2 lessons this week totalling 4 hours, as one lesson had been missed last month. She went on the 24th and the 25th. Hurricane Irene hit the DR this week, especially around the area that the kids live (right on the water). Possessions in their house were soaked and damaged and school was cancelled for a few days.

During Andrielis' first lesson this week, she and Caitlin spent most of the time translating sentences from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. She brought her Spanish-English dictionary and is really understanding now how to use it. They reviewed vocab that she knew, as well as some that she didn't know as well, like conmigo (with me... then with you, with her, etc.)

During her second lesson, Andrielis had been to school and was able to talk to Caitlin a bit about her thoughts on the new school. She seemed to really enjoy it. She noted that many of the kids in her class were younger than her (13, she is 15) and they were asked if she had failed a grade or not gone for some years. This is interesting as I realized this was an issue for the boys, but didn't realize it so much for Andrielis as well. On her first day of school she was given homework in French, which she had never studied before. The homework was to write 5 affirmative sentences and 5 sentences in the negative. She had done this in English with her tutor, but didn't know any French at all. Her tutor only knows a bit of French, but they went over it and she managed to complete the assignment.

She showed Caitlin all her books and was especially excited that the school has a lab that she will get to work in. Her chemistry book was her favourite. She inquired about the element symbols so they went over the periodic table, what an atom is, properties of elements, etc. This seems to be an area she particularly enjoys. For the rest of the lesson they did english and translated sentences. She is at the stage where she is ready to read and translate, so next week she is going to bring English books and start with that.

The boys had a one hour lesson on the 26th. They both brought their school books so they could show their tutor what they have been working on (although it was a short week with the Hurricane). Andy showed her a notebook with rules for the lab (don't eat in the lab, raise your hand before you speak, etc.)

Unfortunately, much of this lesson was spent dealing with behaviour issues from Yoandi. He was bothering Andy, then when Andy asked Caitlin for her cell phone to call home and talk to their mother, he pouted and left the classroom. Andy went and brought him back. Yoandi started to cry, but then continued to bother Andy. Their tutor ignored his behaviour and studied only with Andy, but then Yoandi cried again because he wasn't included. Caitlin talked to him about how Andy had been sitting there trying to study all lesson while Yoandi was being disruptive. He had to sit there for a few minutes before she would work with him as well.

Eventually the lesson was able to get back on track. They went over their notes from class, re-reading them and making sure the boys were understanding everything. Yoandi's civics book had notes that listed moral values like honesty and trust. His handwriting is very poor and his teacher had him copy sentences saying, "I will write well." It was so slopppy he had trouble reading his own notes. Andy's were much neater, although with many spelling mistakes showing he hadn't copied directly from the board.

The boys have such potential but they do have many behavioural issues that need to be worked with. I sent a text to Yoandi and told him that I am disappointed that he was disrespectful. He hates when I am upset with him (or when anyone is upset with him) so I think he will try harder next week.
As a sidenote, I want to talk about Education Fund sponsorship. I currently have three incredible women sponsoring the kids monthly. A huge thank you to Leigh, Angela, and Megan. They each donate every month to fully cover the costs of the kids' sessions with their tutor. I do not have anyone helping to sponsor their school fees, and this is going to come to about $3400 total next year (tuition, books, uniform). That said, I am looking for a sponsor for each of the kids to help cover school fees. For Andy and Yoandi, I would like to find a sponsor at $15/month. For Andrielis, whose tuition is a bit higher, I would like to find a sponsor at $20/month. This would be paid online through paypal or credit card, and I would send you a reminder of the 1st of every month. Please email me at ncochrane3@hotmail.com if you are interested.

Blogs For A Cause

I want to take a quick moment to write in more depth about Blogs For A Cause, www.madebynikki.blogspot.com. Through BFAC, $265 has been raised for the Education Fund. I have been designing blogs since 2007 and have raised nearly $4000 for different charities around the world. I charge $30 to design a blog. $5 of that goes to the Charity of the Month, which is the Education Fund (this will continue being the charity for several months to come). The rest of the payment goes towards helping to pay for my sponsor children and for any upcoming trips. Right now I am fundraising to return to India next summer to work with abandoned children with special needs.

For those of you who are new to the Education Fund blog, this is a project working to support siblings, Andy, Andrielis, and Yoandi, in the Dominican Republic. The kids are quite far behind in their studies after having worked on the street and not attended school when they were younger. The Education Fund commits to providing them with tutoring lessons, books, uniforms, and paying their tuition at an incredible private school. The kids just began at their new school and are amazing me with their commitment to studying and focusing on their education. $630 is still needed to pay for their 2011-2012 tuition, and then $3400 will be needed for next year, due August 2012. http://dreducationfund.blogspot.com/

There are many benefits to getting a BFAC blog design. Aside from supporting some great work being done, you will also feel proud of your blog and have it reflect your mission and persoanlity, as I customize to each customer. Lastly, I post each design on BFAC's website and on BFAC's facebook, so your number of blog readers will increase.

If you a blogger, please consider going to www.madebynikki.blogspot.com and getting a blog design. It will help these three amazing kids continue their private education. I couldn't do it with BFAC and the support it is bringing it. Please share this post on your blog or facebook to help spread the word.

Week of August 14-20

Andy and Yoandi are adjusting well to school. They had a tutoring session on the 18th from 3-4 and discussed this with Caitlin, talking about the differences between their new school (private) and their old school (public). They found their new school much more organized and disciplined. They noted that they were less bored, as in their old school the teacher would often sit in the room with them, but not teach.

They did some math; drawing shapes on the board and going over simple geometry, using the rectangle room they were in to find perimeter and area. Neither of them knew how to do this so it was something brand new for them. They then moved to addition and subtraction with more advanced questions for Andy. They both enjoy math and are quite good at it.

On August 16th Andrielis had a lesson from 2-4pm. They began by going over her notebook where she writes about the volunteer work she does at Conani clinic. This is a way for her to record her learnings, and also a way to have her practice sentence structure. Punctuation and capital vs. lower case letters is something she is still not catching on to.

Over the past 8 months that Andrielis has been getting tutored, her study habits have improved dramatically. They worked on writing verbs when given in English and translating them to Spanish, vice versa. She did well. The rest of the lesson was spent translating sentences using her vocab works from Spanish to English. Examples:

Nosotros vamos arriba.
Yo quiero un padre.
A ella le gusta los limones.

She did excellent and seemed to enjoy it. She is really starting to grasp english and is coming up with answers more quickly and confidently.


In the photo you will see Andrielis with all the school books we sent funds for.

Upcoming Goals

The kids are in school. They are finally learning in a productive educational environment. This, in itself, is a huge accomplishment. ESPECIALLY for Yoandi and particularly Andy as they are so far behind educationally. Yoandi will be turning 12 soon and Andy is 16- they are in grades 4 and 6. Andy is 4 years behind and Yoandi is, I think, 2 years behind. This isn't uncommon in the DR, but it's definitely not great, and it added an extra barrier to making this happen. So the sole fact that the boys are in a private school now, and are learning, is amazing.

Now that that has happened, I am starting to think about what is next...

1) Pay off their remaining 2011-2012 school bills. I am slowly paying it off through Blogs for a Cause one blog at a time, $5 at a time. About $635 is still owed now. Not bad at all. They have their full uniforms, books, and school supplies. Andrielis and Andy are entirely paid for.

2) Fundraise for next year. I want to get started early so that I can pay their full 2012-2013 tuition up front, a year from now. In the back of my mind, it always scares me that their entire educational costs are now on my shoulders. If something happens and I can't pay, they have to drop out of this school. That is a heavy burden and so I want to give myself lots of room to ensure that never happens. It will cost approximately $1400 to send Andrielis to school, and $1000 for each of the boys (tuition, uniform, books).

3) Catch the boys up to grade level. At this rate, I am not sure the boys will finish high school. Andrielis I am not so worried about. I hope for her to complete high school and move on to University. For the boys, I don't know if they will do it... realistically I just am not sure. If Andy passes consistently every year, he will be 23 years old by the time he graduates high school. In our society 23 year old men are often still in school (university) but I know that the reality in his life may be that he will need to be working by then. Who knows, he may even be married or with a child by then! Yoandi, at this rate, will be 20 years old. I am certainly going to do everything in my power to continue talking about the importance of education to them, and supporting them to make that happen, but I know it will be helpful if we can get them moved up closer to grade level. I have no idea if the school would be onboard with this and haven't started any dialogue about this yet, but I would love to get them going on more tutoring and have them each move up a grade level. Still not with their peers, but one year closer. At this stage I don't think they are ready as they are still adjusting and learning basics, but this is something at the back of my mind that I would be happy to see happen for two purposes; 1) I feel it would give them a better chance of eventually graduating, and 2) it would put them closer to peers their own age which for Andy in particular (16 years old in a class with 12 and 13 years old) is very important.

4) Family based education and empowerment. This is something I really want to work on, but need to think about the best way of going about it. A few weeks ago Sonia and I were texting back and forth about me sending money to her for the kids tuition. I told her how much I would send and when I would send it. She replied with, "gracias jefa!" (thank you boss). She has jokingly called me 'boss' before, or said I am the 'boss of the family'. I never said anything about it or really thought about it, but this time I texted her back and said not boss, we are doing this together. Her response? 'te quiero mucho' (I love you a lot). This, among other things, made it clear to me that Sonia needs to feel like the mom- the boss of her family. Certainly I consult her in every decision made, but she knows she relies on me for money to get them done. I can imagine this might make her feel inadequate or a failure as a mother.

There have been a lot of 'gringas' in and out of this family's life. Some of these relationships have ended badly; some have left Sonia feeling like her family is being exploited. I never want to do that to them, and so need to be more careful about my role in the family and about making it very clear that Sonia is the one who makes the decisions and who is the boss of her family. Sonia very badly wants to be able to do family study sessions or reading groups. As much as she loves having the kids get tutored, I know it pains her when they (particularly her boys!) are tutored by someone else, as she longs to be able to have that position with them. Unfortunately, any attempt at having the boys study in the house usually ends in fights, disobedience, and the boys laughing at her and running away, refusing to do work. With Andrielis, she doesn't necessarily know all the material to really teach her, as Sonia only completed school to grade 10, and Andrielis is now in grade 9. I am not sure how I can help empower Sonia to take control of her kids' education, but this is something I am thinking about and want to encourage.

The Education Fund

Here you will find updates on the educational progress of Andy, Andrielis, and Yoandi, siblings in the Dominican Republic. You can read about the beginnings of my work with them at the following blogs:

Andrielis' Education Fund
Andy and Yoandi's Education Fund

These blogs share how we begun with the kids, and the struggles we went through to get them to where they are now. I am now pulling all three kids together and blogging here, as it will chronicle their progress as a family. The boys, having spent a few years working on the streets and shining shoes, were not learning anything in school and were consistently failing. Andy is now 16 years old and has just passed his 5th grade exams. Yoandi is 11 years old and just passed grade 3. Andrielis is on track for her age; 15 years old and having just passed her grade 8 national exams.

Over the past 6 months we have been working to ensure that the kids passed their exams, which they all did. Their school was inadequate and was not meeting their educational needs. This August they all started at a brand new private school, Santa Rosa de Lima; Andy in grade 6, Andrielis in grade 9, and Yoandi in grade 4. We were able to pay for their uniforms, books, and full school tuition. The kids, and their mother Sonia, are ecstatic.

Over the coming months and years I invite you to follow this blog and watch the progress being made in these kids' lives. If you are able, please contribute to their educational needs. Prepare to be inspired by this amazing family.


Juan (stepfather), Sonia (mother), Andy, Andrielis, and Yoandi