Educate Street Children in El Salvador

Age: 11 years old

Grade: Third Grade

Vicente is a child whom at a very short age has already had many problems to be able to make it through. Originally from Guazapa, El Salvador and being Doña Sandra Marín his mother,  the only one responsible to take care of him. Doña Sandra never went to school because her parents lacked of resources. Her father was an alcoholic and never took full responsibility of the family, being Doña Sandra the youngest of four siblings.

Because of the poverty in which most of the people live in El Salvador, Doña Santra had to share a small house along with her mother and two of her brothers. When she was 22, she held a relationship with a young men from which she got pregnant and Vicente was born then. Her couple never helped with taking care of the kid so she had to assume the whole responsibility working long hours and leaving the kid at home with his grandma and uncles. When Vicente was 6 years old, he was raped by Doña Sandra’s older brother, she became very affected by this and fought so that his brother went to jail.

After having gone through all of this when Vicente turned 7 years old, Patrick Atkinson decided to give him an opportunity to join Nuestros Ahijados Project. At the beginning everything was a little hard for Vicente. He seemed to be very affected  by things he had gone through. Social workers used to visit his house and he didn’t like to greet people, his development at school was very poor and the biggest repercussion was that he wasn’t able to pass first grade. His mother suffered a lot because she couldn’t find support in any institution.

Currently Vicente is 11 years old and is in third grade, he is a very happy child and wishes to become someone important in life. We have had some psychological therapies to help him with his self-esteem and mood. Vicente has been able to enjoy several benefits that the project provides, we keep visiting him every month in order to check his academic development and we also interview his teacher in order to get feedback about his behavior that so far has been excellent.

Asociación Nuestros Ahijados has supported Vicente with his education taking him a monthly scholarship as well as 15 pounds of beans and 15 pounds of rice, he also gets personal hygiene supplies, clothes and shoes. We have found out that the most important thing of all, is sharing a nice moment with him. Vicente waits for the benefactors help eagerly each month because her mother’s job is not enough in order to cover all the expenses they have as a family. She mentions that without the help that this project has provided, her life as well as Vicente´s life wouldn’t have improved as much as they have.