Please help the children of Ometepe attend class.

and for the past year I have been teaching English to the impoverished children and young adults on the island of Ometepe, Nicaragua. The class and materials are free for the students. I volunteer my time, energy, and until recently, my home, husband and bank account!

I started with a handful of students and the classroom was the front porch of my house. That number soon grew to 12 and we thought about setting up a proper classroom but couldn't afford it with all the other costs as well.

As of January 2017, the number of students grew to 52. In early January the use of a proper space was kindly donated to accomodate the number of students. Now all the students can see the days lesson on the whiteboard! The class runs from Monday to Friday and attendance is excellent. We really would like to be able to continue making a difference and Desperately Need Your Help.....

Until now, my husband and myself subsidized the class. We provided necessary classroom supplies, (not cheap here in Nicaragua), as well as vital textbooks and we will still continue to do this. However, the biggest financial subsidies by far are the costs of the children's English Proficiency Exams and textbooks. The exams cost $42.00 per student . At the moment 75% of my students are put forward for testing. The Textbooks are a whopping $50.00 and with 52 students, sharing is difficult. Our small pension simply doesn't allow me to continue to pay these fees, nor is it possible for the families of the students to pay either. These families struggle to buy food....

I really want to continue to make a difference. With your help I would be able to provide access to an accredited educational institution for the English Proficiency Exam plus the required textbooks, white boards, markers, pens, notebooks and craft paper etc.

Before starting the class, the students had little or no ambition in life; now they are eager to gain entrance to university or improve their current living and working conditions. They are seeing that there are options out there and that maybe, just maybe, with a little help and some hard work they might have a life that looks a little different for them and their families. I don't want to turn students away, or reduce the scope of these classes.

I thank you for taking the time to read this, and I thank you in advance for any help you are able to give.