Family of 2 Kids in Need of Sponsorship

This is Eriverto, outstanding camper from 2011 and also a Change My Stars Scholarship recipient. He stands on the left next to his sister Anibelka (middle), and mother Adeline, (right). Their father is absent and Adeline spends her days walking around the beach searching for tourists to braid their hair. She sometimes goes months without finding work. 

Eriverto has improved tremendously since last summer, academically speaking, due to receiving the scholarship and moving from a public school to a private school. He needs a sponsor to send him to English camp again this summer. Additionally, this summer, we hope to be able to send Anibelka to camp, who has cerebral palsy, and with the lack of special education in this country, has received no schooling whatsoever, but spends her days in her tiny house or yard, which sits right along a main street. Luckily, one of our counselors, Cole, who will be present the whole summer, is a special educaton teacher from NYC and hopes to specifically look after Anibelka this summer. Can you help us send these two children to camp?

This year camp registration is 100 pesos and then there is a weekly fee of 250 pesos. The weekly transportation fee for kids from this neighborhood is 300 pesos per child. Therefore, to sponsor each of these kids in USD, the costs are as follows:

1 week - $16.80

2 weeks - $30.84

3 weeks - $45.00

4 weeks - $59.13

5 weeks - $73.26

6 weeks - $87.40

**Our apologies for a previous mistake that said $50 could send a child to camp. We made a mistake in calculation, only including one week of transportation costs. This is the correct cost. 

You can sponsor by sending a check to:

Project Esperanza

1291 Valley Mill Rd. 

Winchester, VA 22602

or by donating on PayPal. If you donate on PayPal, please add an additional 2.5% to your donation because that is what the PayPal fee is. Please help us send these kids to camp! We think it will be a huge encouragement for them in their difficult lives. Thank you!

Family of 4 Kids in Need of Sponsorship

This is a picture of a family of four children who we hope to get sponsored for our 2012 English Immersion Camp. You may notice that there are more than four children in this photo, along with their grandmother. The two two-year-olds are their cousins and the little boy in red being hugged up front is a neighbor. The other four are siblings.


In the back right in blue is the oldest, Miguel Angel. He is 11 years old. Then the boy in a red soccer jersey in the front right is Eduardo who is 9 years old. Shantal is to the left of Eduardo and is 7 years old. Then Shanel is to the left of Shantal, wearing a white headband and holding her cousin Wendely. Shanel is the youngest sibling and is 6 years old.


The kids live with their grandmother. Their mother does not live far and pops in occasionally but quite frankly is not very responsible or interested in raising them. Their father(s) is/are absent. Their grandmother works very hard and raises them in a strict manner. They are all four extremely fun-loving, healthy, athletic kids. They could use support in their education and would highly benefit from extra-curricular activities.


These kids are determined as perfect candidates to be sponsored to go to camp out of a pool of potential others in the same neighborhood because first, they have the determined need to be sponsored, second, they show the great need for educational support and extra-curricular activities, third, their grandmother desires this for them, and fourth, they have responded very well to small neighborhood activities and slight behavioral corrections given.


This year camp registration is 100 pesos and then there is a weekly fee of 250 pesos. The weekly transportation fee for kids from this neighborhood is 300 pesos per child. Therefore, to sponsor each of these kids in USD, the costs are as follows:

1 week - $16.80

2 weeks - $30.84

3 weeks - $45.00

4 weeks - $59.13

5 weeks - $73.26

6 weeks - $87.40

**Our apologies for a previous mistake that said $50 could send a child to camp. We made a mistake in calculation, only including one week of transportation costs. This is the correct cost. 

You can sponsor by sending a check to:

Project Esperanza

1291 Valley Mill Rd. 

Winchester, VA 22602

or by donating on PayPal. If you donate on PayPal, please add an additional 2.5% to your donation because that is what the PayPal fee is. Please help us send these kids to camp! We think it will be a huge encouragement for them in their difficult lives. Thank you! 

Camp: Week 5

This week at camp was very emotional! The counselors tried their best to keep up the camp structure, but it was a little tricky when a different counselor was leaving every day.

Like last week, the counselors used as much English as possible to direct activities. Directions were explained in English first, and then translated into Spanish for better clarification. There was also more pressure on the students to use English, like reinforcing the use of “please” and “thank you” and helping them communicate their desires (such as “I want water”) in English.

In song time, the students reviewed some of the older songs like The Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald, and enjoyed a CD one of the counselors brought that they could sing along to. The last few days a jump rope was brought in and the students were taught Cinderella:

Cinderella

Dressed in yellow

Went upstairs

To kiss a fellow

Made a mistake

And kissed a snake!

How many doctors

Did it take?

1,2,3,4….

The students had a lot of fun with the song, and were especially amused at it when translated into Spanish. After repeating the song many times, students challenged each other to see who could get the most doctors to help Cinderella. They loved this so much they also continued it during break time!

Another fun game we played was Mentira, which is just the name the counselors gave to the common card game in America, BS. This gave the students a good opportunity to review their numbers and colors, as well as learn the new shapes, words for King and Queen, and phrases such as “your turn”.

The final day of camp was a cause for celebration! Not only was it the last day, but it was also Ilayas’ birthday! (Ilayas is the son of Project Esperanza’s director, Caitlin.) The counselors (only two now!) decided to have a World Awareness Day, where first we showed the students a map of the world, and asked them to name different countries in each continent. We also asked them what kinds of animals lived where (ex: Australia- kangaroos, Africa- lions, Antarctica- penguins) and facts about the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

To celebrate America (where both counselors were from), the students made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drank hot cocoa! Some students were reluctant at first to combine, what was to them, such a strange combination but it turned out to be a hit, and many students had multiple sandwiches.

Finally, one of the counselors led the students in a series of yoga poses. The students really enjoyed these exercises, and there were many bouts of laughter as the kids tried their best to do the movements where many times they ended up toppling over on the floor.

Afterwards, we did a small presentation of certificates, awarding campers for the completion of the program. We presented two star campers with scholarships that will allow them to attend private school this year! The day was completed with the students giving Ilayas his birthday presents and many tearful but loving goodbyes. It was a great way to end such a wonderful summer!

Camp: Week 4

This week at camp felt a little like review as two of the counselors were leaving mid-week for week 5.  The counselors' goal this week was to use as much English as possible around the campers and to be certain to have the campers speak in English as often as possible.  Overall, this week was by far the best for really being able to see the progress of the kids, especially those campers that had been with us from the beginning.


In story time, the campers were broken into different groups.  The younger kids read a Dora the Explorer book and LOVED it.  The book focused on short sentences and important phrases such as:


I need
I want
I have


All of the kids in this group created butterflies, just like the ones in the book to practice their colors and also talked a lot about the difference between clean and dirty as the puppy in the book needs to take a bath!


The older group of campers read a book about graduation.  They all learned many new words, as well as how important it is to learn to read before you can graduate!


In songs, the kids sang Old McDonald and learned how to say the names of different animals in English (as well as had A LOT of fun making the animal sounds at the top of their lungs- I think they heard us down the street).


In games, the kids wanted to play our version of musical chairs and duck, duck, goose (down, down, up) mostly, however, some of the students really got into coloring and continued practicing their English by coloring pages all about numbers and different vocabulary words. 



Friday of Week 4 at camp was very special, however, and all of the regular activities were put on hold so we were able to have a BABY SHOWER for Caitlin!  The kids loved wrapping the presents, decorating the school, and also practicing some English by creating cards for Caitlin!