Annual update from Kiko and Carmen
Dear Friends:
Another year has passed at Colonia Ecologica, an intense year of classes, of work, of reading and play but above all another year of continuing to learn to share and to live together as a great family.
This year the children of Colonia Ecologica have learned how to give as well as to receive. This is a little difficult for any adolescent; we need to lead them by example so that they learn the rewards of giving with love.
Here is a summary of all that has been happening at Colonia Ecologica during this year (2006).
STUDIES 2006
Of the 61 children that attend Colonia Ecologica, 22 are resident, 43 attend primary school, 7 attend secondary school , 4 attend kindergarten and 1 has Special Education. 6 Children do not yet attend school because they are too young.
54 children passed the year to go on to the next year, and only 1 girl has to repeat the year (Camila). 2 children completed two courses in a year (Rafael and Nancy)
11 students are in the top three of their class.
1 student is the best student of her year (Rosalía).
1 student is the standard bearer and best student of her school (Mónica).
WORK
At Colonia Ecologica lots of small maintenance jobs have been done, for example: painting, paving, cleaning, etc. This year the older girls have taken on responsibility for the following jobs: library (Rosalía), computer room (Mónica), laundry (Belen), market purchases (Nancy), other shopping (Rosalía), donations of goods (Mónica), paving (Limbania) and monthly accounts (Carmen and Carla). The fact that these young ladies have successfully taken on these responsibilities for the management of Colonia Ecologica makes us very proud as their parents.
ACTIVITIES
January Cycling trip to Escoma.
March Fluorización to the children by the Junior Rotary Club
April Visit from Mrs. Ruth de Peñaloza (wife of the Mayor of Tiquipaya) for Children’s Day
May Mother’s Day event in Chiquicollo.
June Presentation for Teacher’s Day in Jorge Vásquez School
July Visit from a group of former students from Juan XXIII School.
August Parade for Bolivia Independence Day in Tiquipaya.
September Parade in Tiquipaya
Workshop for Environmental health, use and management of the sewer system.
October Visit from Bolivians resident in USA.
Second Fluoridation with the Junior Rotary Club.
Donation of books of the Junior Rotary Club. IV
Visit from Chiropractic medical students chiropractors from USA
December Camping trip to Tiraque.
Celebration of Christmas by the youth group "La Horita Feliz."
Musical presentation by the children of Colonia Ecologica for Christmas.
FAMILY LIFE
Two new girls joined us this year to be integrated into our family, they are Elena (6 years) and Cristina (4 years). They are two sisters that only have their mother, Juana, who, due to her humble circumstances, had to leave the girls alone in their rented room while she worked all day.
BUILDING WORK
This year the library building was finished, as well as several new cabañas to be used as study huts. The underground study hut was finally finished together with the bath, shower and laundry block.
UNIVERSITY
This year two students that lived at Colonia Ecologica began University. They now live in the city in rented rooms of their own in order to attend their studies. This university scheme is now up and running thanks to the help and contribution from a couple from the USA, Wendell and Carlye. These students combine their studying with working at Colonia Ecologica, thus in this manner they do not receive everything free, they effectively pay for their courses in the University by the work they do at Colonia. Roger is studying IT and Susana teaching. They have both already been recognised as good students in their courses, which makes us very proud.
VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers from various countries have continued to help out at Colonia this year; their contact with the children has been marked by ties of friendship and affection. We are grateful to all these people that have given us their time.
We also thank all those people who, despite being far away, continue to help us and support the work of Colonia Ecologica.
GODPARENTS
This year we intended to ensure that the children would have Bolivian godparents; various friends were interested, but unfortunately only two have actually agreed, (Fidias de Mora and Rafael Chávez). We hope to continue with this next year. We still have 22 children who hope to be godchildren.
There is still much work to do; we hope to continue helping those who are defenceless and innocent in our environment, our children. We are grateful for you assisting us to be able to help other children.
There is still much to do for our children, we hope that the peace of our father God protects us and all families during the whole year and that our hearts are illuminated in order to continue doing good to defenseless innocent children in our environment, our children. We do not pass in front of a child without doing something: if we cannot do something personally, help us to be able to help other children.
Yours with affection
Kiko and Carmen.
Colonia Ecologica 2006
Another year has passed at Colonia Ecologica, an intense year of classes, of work, of reading and play but above all another year of continuing to learn to share and to live together as a great family.
This year the children of Colonia Ecologica have learned how to give as well as to receive. This is a little difficult for any adolescent; we need to lead them by example so that they learn the rewards of giving with love.
Here is a summary of all that has been happening at Colonia Ecologica during this year (2006).
STUDIES 2006
Of the 61 children that attend Colonia Ecologica, 22 are resident, 43 attend primary school, 7 attend secondary school , 4 attend kindergarten and 1 has Special Education. 6 Children do not yet attend school because they are too young.
54 children passed the year to go on to the next year, and only 1 girl has to repeat the year (Camila). 2 children completed two courses in a year (Rafael and Nancy)
11 students are in the top three of their class.
1 student is the best student of her year (Rosalía).
1 student is the standard bearer and best student of her school (Mónica).
WORK
At Colonia Ecologica lots of small maintenance jobs have been done, for example: painting, paving, cleaning, etc. This year the older girls have taken on responsibility for the following jobs: library (Rosalía), computer room (Mónica), laundry (Belen), market purchases (Nancy), other shopping (Rosalía), donations of goods (Mónica), paving (Limbania) and monthly accounts (Carmen and Carla). The fact that these young ladies have successfully taken on these responsibilities for the management of Colonia Ecologica makes us very proud as their parents.
ACTIVITIES
January Cycling trip to Escoma.
March Fluorización to the children by the Junior Rotary Club
April Visit from Mrs. Ruth de Peñaloza (wife of the Mayor of Tiquipaya) for Children’s Day
May Mother’s Day event in Chiquicollo.
June Presentation for Teacher’s Day in Jorge Vásquez School
July Visit from a group of former students from Juan XXIII School.
August Parade for Bolivia Independence Day in Tiquipaya.
September Parade in Tiquipaya
Workshop for Environmental health, use and management of the sewer system.
October Visit from Bolivians resident in USA.
Second Fluoridation with the Junior Rotary Club.
Donation of books of the Junior Rotary Club. IV
Visit from Chiropractic medical students chiropractors from USA
December Camping trip to Tiraque.
Celebration of Christmas by the youth group "La Horita Feliz."
Musical presentation by the children of Colonia Ecologica for Christmas.
FAMILY LIFE
Two new girls joined us this year to be integrated into our family, they are Elena (6 years) and Cristina (4 years). They are two sisters that only have their mother, Juana, who, due to her humble circumstances, had to leave the girls alone in their rented room while she worked all day.
BUILDING WORK
This year the library building was finished, as well as several new cabañas to be used as study huts. The underground study hut was finally finished together with the bath, shower and laundry block.
UNIVERSITY
This year two students that lived at Colonia Ecologica began University. They now live in the city in rented rooms of their own in order to attend their studies. This university scheme is now up and running thanks to the help and contribution from a couple from the USA, Wendell and Carlye. These students combine their studying with working at Colonia Ecologica, thus in this manner they do not receive everything free, they effectively pay for their courses in the University by the work they do at Colonia. Roger is studying IT and Susana teaching. They have both already been recognised as good students in their courses, which makes us very proud.
VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers from various countries have continued to help out at Colonia this year; their contact with the children has been marked by ties of friendship and affection. We are grateful to all these people that have given us their time.
We also thank all those people who, despite being far away, continue to help us and support the work of Colonia Ecologica.
GODPARENTS
This year we intended to ensure that the children would have Bolivian godparents; various friends were interested, but unfortunately only two have actually agreed, (Fidias de Mora and Rafael Chávez). We hope to continue with this next year. We still have 22 children who hope to be godchildren.
There is still much work to do; we hope to continue helping those who are defenceless and innocent in our environment, our children. We are grateful for you assisting us to be able to help other children.
There is still much to do for our children, we hope that the peace of our father God protects us and all families during the whole year and that our hearts are illuminated in order to continue doing good to defenseless innocent children in our environment, our children. We do not pass in front of a child without doing something: if we cannot do something personally, help us to be able to help other children.
Yours with affection
Kiko and Carmen.
Colonia Ecologica 2006
