Yuslendy lives in one of the highest areas of La Vega, a difficult place to get to. It's also a very dangerous place, far from any police station. She lives with her parents and three sisters, one of them is schizophrenic and finding the appropriate medical attention and care have been always a big problem in the family.
Her parents never completed basic education, both reached only primary school. Her mother stays home taking care of her sister, while her father is a craftsman and works form time to time when he can find a vacancy. Recently, her father has been ill, suffering from a heart condition. The family income has always been barely enough for food, medicine and clothing. It was difficult to play outdoors knowing that her life was in risk due to gangs that have the zone as a battle field.
For Yuslendy, it was very important to find a safe place and she found it in Christel House Venezuela. She says "I like to be good, to do the right thing, to study and to help other people, so this is my place". She was like any other teenager, she had the same concerns and problems but had additional problems. She was incredibly mature considering her age and keep high expectations about what she wanted to be in life. She says "I received a lot of beautiful things from other people, especially from my teachers, suddenly I realized that it was very important to me to teach and care about other people".
Yuslendy completed high school at Christel House and applied for the Education school in the Simón Rodríguez University and was admitted. She was in the school last year, working at an internship in another school in La Vega. She says "I am very happy with my life right now, it is hard work but I like it, this is a difficult profession, but feels good to see the eyes of a boy who is learning something that you are teaching, that what I love the younger student, the bigger the harder, little kids are...I don't know...fresher?"
Every time you give a call to Yuslendy (when she has a rare spare moment) she is glad to collaborate with Christel House. She will graduate at the end of the year as a teacher and will pass on all that she has learned with her students.
Last January 30th, 2010, a group of 76 students of Christel House Venezuela attended INFOCARRERAS 2010, an event organized by the Simón Bolivar University (USB). The event took place in Sartenejas from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
This annual event is organized by students and teachers of every faculty of the USB to inform and explain to students of 11th grades of different public and private schools in Venezuela what are the programs and characteristics of each career offered. The informative event also allowed students to formalize their enrollment to the internal tests, which will take place on March 13th, 2010.
This activity will help Christel House students to select their options for university studies.
Many of our friends and supporters have asked if we have any direct connection with those affected by the devastation in Haiti. As one of our students put it, "Yes, we are directly connected. We're members of the same human race and we call the same planet home". We'd add that our children and their families have experienced similar hardship and poverty in their own way.
All our children and staff learn that at Christel House "We share, we care and we make a difference".
Our Learning Centers around the world are all doing different things in response. At Christel House South Africa, our students learned about the tragedy, held a moment of silence, and lit candles - one for the mothers, one for the fathers, and one for the children of Haiti. They also formed the country's name to let them know they are on our hearts and minds.
From collecting items, donating to relief efforts and holding candlelight vigils - we encourage you to continue to support the people of Haiti.
On Thursday, July 30th, thirty three students from CHV completed their high school studies and received their diplomas. For five years they have worked hard, tried their best, and lived Christel House’s values. It is with pride, that the CH family has watched them mature and become good and responsible citizens.
All the graduates will become part of CHV Senior Work and Study program. This Program supports students during transition into advanced studies and/or the world of work. The class earned twelve college and university acceptances and six were admitted in apprenticeship programs! 95% of CHV alumni are working and/or studying.
This is The Fourth Graduation Event for CHV, graduates now total 289! Congratulations to all graduates on the completion of their high school studies. It has been a long haul for all of them. They face a new chapter in their life now.
Update #2: From Venezuela - a visit with a CH Alumnus
Ed Mendoza, our new VP of Education and Community Outreach, shares the second update to a previous post.
Christel (DeHaan) and I recently visited Jesus Obregon School in Caracas, Venezuela. Jesus Obregon is a technical institute that offers technical career courses for students in grades 7-12. In the evening it serves as a technical college for post High School Students and adults. During the visit we met up with a Christel House alumnus Karelvys Rodriguez and enjoyed a pleasant visit.(Pictured here from her 2008 graduation)
Karelvys, like many Christel House alumni, continues her studies to advance her career. She attended CH in the seventh grade and five years later completed her graduation requirements receiving her diploma from Christel House Venezuela in 2008. She is now enrolled at Jesus Obrero Technical College studying to be an assistant administrator. In addition to her daily classwork, 17 year old Karevys will hold a position as apprentice in a local business in Caracas.Typical for most students like Karevys, she starts her day very early in the morning. To arrive at school on time, she takes two buses for the long journey. The day at Jesus Obrero consist of office training from 8:00 AM until dismissal at 1:30 PM. The late afternoon and evening is spent on internship work. After work she takes the long ride home through extremely busy traffic. Karevys does not complain as she is very grateful to have the opportunity to attend school.
Karvlvys is appreciative of her learning opportunities at Christel House. She states, “It's a privilege to be a student at Christel House.” The education received at CH has prepared her well to continue studies at Jesus Obrero. She joins several other CH alumni also attending Jesus Obrero. CH alumni build strong relationships and build life-long friendships.
Karelvys is a great example of the CH mission, to break the chains of poverty and to become productive a citizen of the community. She advises current CH students to, “Learn as much as you can and take full advantage of all the courses. These courses will help you later.” It is always a joy to see first hand that Christal House is making a significant difference in the life of our students as well as in the La Vega community. The entire Christel House family should be proud to know that our efforts are producing positive results.
Christel House Venezuela participated in the 5th World Environmental Education Congress in Canada
On May 11th a teacher from Christel House Venezuela, Héctor Bastidas, visited Montreal to participate in the 5th World Environmental Education Congress. During this event, he made an oral presentation related to all activities the CHV Environmental Club has developed as part of the plan after class. This congress was a wonderful opportunity to show our Mission, Vision, and our Founder of Christel House International.
The work was entitled: “Model of environmental education for the secondary school of Christel House Venezuela”. In this presentation was showing the students` products and activities done during the school year 2008-2009. This kind of events helps to stimulate the students to work harder in their activities during the environmental sessions club.
Now all members of CHV environmental club and his teacher have a new challenge: to produce better works and to develop a research that might be presented in the National American Association of Environmental Education (NAAEE) by 2010.
Congratulations to all CHV Environmental Club members and keep up the good work!
The following is an update from the previous post, "CHI Leadership Visits Venezuela".
We arrived late Saturday night. Early Sunday morning we went right to working with local management in the planning of school year 2009/2010. Sunday afternoon we interviewed two interesting principal candidates as our current principal, Hilda Lokpez de George, will be retiring at the completion of this year.
Monday included numerous activities and events including classroom observations, financial and business planning as well as a farewell celebration honoring Hilda. This event included a very impressive performance from the CH Symphonic Orchestra.
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Joe Schneider, Chief Financial Officer of Christel House International.
It is an exciting time at Christel House as we are in the planning stages of developing our second learning center in India as well as the expansion of Christel House Academy in the U.S. -- adding a high school. While these significant expansion opportunities are keeping us hopping, we continue to closely monitor the progress of our existing centers.
Our practice is to annually visit each center to review performance and recognize achievements of the past year as well as plan the upcoming year. These weeks are always quite hectic including numerous meetings with staff, students, parents, donors, government officials etc. I'm sure it will be a productive and exciting week. I hope to have time during the week to keep you informed of our progress in Venezuela.
On Monday Christel House Venezuela received the visit of more than 70 employees from Eli Lilly. Mr. Eric de Spoelberch, Eli Lilly Country Manager and Board Member of Christel House motivates their employees to serve and contribute to our students and the community.
Professionals from different areas organized nutrition and health talks for 7th, 8th and 9th grades students and vocational counseling for the 10th and 11th grades. Other group of employees participated in gardening, painting and cleaning activities at the school.
This is annual activity not only in Venezuela but in other countries where Eli Lilly has offices around the world. The official Global Service Day was on May 20, but in Venezuela it was postponed for today. Several Lilly employees contribute financially, we appreciate their contribution.
If you or your company is instered in visiting, please contact Mrs. Mariela Morante at MMorante@ve.christelhouse.org
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On May 11th a teacher from Christel House Venezuela, Héctor Bastidas, visited Montreal to participate in the 5th World Environmental Education Congress. During this event, he made an oral presentation related to all activities the CHV Environmental Club has developed as part of the plan after class. This congress was a wonderful opportunity to show our Mission, Vision, and our Founder of Christel House International.
