In the Community of Saint Paul, we firmly believe that access to quality education, from early childhood until college, is the indispensable key to the authentic and long-term development of people and communities. Without good formation, it will be very difficult for the most vulnerable sectors of society to move out of poverty. Only education will provide these sectors with the tools they need to positively work on their own development. That is why, for a long time now, in most places where we work, we think about what we can do to guarantee the access of low-income people to a quality academic education.
In this vein, we recently started a scholarship program for university students in Bogotá. As we have repeatedly reported on this blog, since January 2016 CSP members are working in the neighborhoods of La Resurrección, Granjas de San Pablo and El Pesebre, in the south of the Colombian capital. Since then, we have met many young people from these neighborhoods who, once they finish high school, want to go to college, but because of a lack of resources they cannot fulfill their yearning. In order to respond to this need, we have established a scholarship program, though which we are already collaborating with a dozen young people in the first semester (from August to December 2017), facilitating, with small scholarships of support, that they may go to college. Most have enrolled in one of Bogota's several Colombian public universities, whose costs are naturally lower than in private universities. The CSP scholarship consists of paying for its semester enrollment and monthly expenses for transportation and materials.
At the moment, it is a very modest initiative that we hope it can grow with time. So far, we are delighted with the enthusiasm with which each of the students who have approached us has taken up the challenge of going to university, well aware that this is the best way for their personal development, and that of their community.
The Community of St. Paul promotes the formation of youth in the field of tourism in the rural community of Barrera, Azua (Dominican Republic)
Margarita is twenty years old, and two years ago she finished her secondary education. Since then, she had “done nothing”, as she puts it. Arriving in her town, Barrera, one sees a magnificent beach called La Caobita. An imposing mountain, the Cerro de Martín García, rises behind the houses. The result is that the town is hemmed in between the sea and the ridge and the town becomes significantly isolated; no one goes there on the way to somewhere else: either you go to Barrera for a reason, or you do not go there at all.
The lack of sources of income is the reason that the people of this community, who earn their livings mainly from agriculture, fishing and the illegal burning of coal, have many unmet needs. The Community of St. Paul tries to make connections between the youth of the communities like Barrera, much needed of professional training, and existing resources in the country. Specifically, we have been making progress with INFOTEP, the government’s National Institute of Professional Formation, which offers a wide variety of options to train people, and it is especially concerned with vulnerable groups, that is, those who have not finished primary studies. A few months ago, and after several meetings, we were able to convince INFOTEP trainers to travel to Barrera to develop an entrepreneur course there. The goal was to improve the small businesses that already exist in town, and to promote new ones. Now that the course has ended, the CSP will offer the option of earning micro credits for those who participated in the entrepreneur course.
A couple of months ago, they also initiated a tourism course. It’s well known that tourism is an important source of income in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, tourism has barely reached the Southwest of the country, which includes the province of Azua. The beautiful Caobita beach, with its delightful mangrove swamps, is little known. We hope that, in the future, the region can be developed for tourism, benefiting the inhabitants of this area. Therefore, we have promoted a tourism course, which is composed of various units, including restaurant waiter, bartender, and maître. Thirty youth travel every weekend to Azua, the province capital, which is also the regional office of INFOTEP, to attend this course.
But to achieve this goal has not been easy. As we said, Barrera is an isolated community whose inhabitants have scant resources. They live hand to mouth, and we knew that it would not be easy to find the resources for everyone to go to Azua for their training. We looked for an alternative, which led to a meeting with the school leadership. We asked for transportation for the youth on the bus that is owned by the school. We also met with the town’s mayor, who promised to provide the gas for their travels. Finally, it was agreed that the youth would pay the driver’s expenses, so that they could travel on Saturday and Sunday to finish the course.
They have now finished the first unit, and dream about the ones to follow. They have even asked INFOTEP to offer an English class. Margarita, like all of the others, is excited. The CSP, through our own scholarship program, offers an additional incentive for them to finish the INFOTEP course: university scholarships for the two most conscientious students, to study tourism at the College level, after INFOTEP. Will Margarita be one of the two recipients?
