Educational and nutritional care for children from the Soyapango and Mejicanos municipalities in El Salvador

In an unsafe and violent environment, where unemployment is rife and there are a lack of opportunities, many children find themselves in at-risk situations. In the vast majority of cases they come from single-parent families where the mother is the only breadwinner and usually does not have the knowledge to support their children’s development. In other cases, children are being cared for by grandmothers or aunts because their parents have emigrated or they live in families where the father or elder brother is a gang member.

In order to remove children from the violence of the streets, Fundación CINDE provides them with educational and nutritional care in their two Children’s Centers. Children from 2 to 6 years old spend 8 hours a day at the Centers. There are also four Educational Support spaces which children from 7 to 15 years old can attend for 3 hours a day after school.

200 children under 6 years old and 175 children between 7 and 15 years old attend the Foundation every day to receive education and food and in order to distance themselves from the violence that surrounds them. The children strengthen their self-esteem and gain independence, they also learn about good hygiene and nutritional practices. They also develop a taste for reading and get to take part in workshops.

The project also works with families by means of several training workshops where they learn to communicate with their children and to provide them with an environment in which they can gain a balanced development, through learning about values and receiving the affection they need.

With education, good food, affection and far from street violence, these children can look forward to a better future.