Meet the People of The Comedor de Niños
Meet the Children...
The children of Etta I and Etta II are varied. We feed only
children age 5 to 12 but you will see children of all ages as the mothers are
always welcome to bring all their children for volunteering and for workshops.
Also once children turn 12 they are thrown a big graduation party and then
encouraged to change their roles and become volunteers. This allows them to
continue to eat and have the preventative medical care but they are now
"givers" to the program. Over 50% of the graduated 12 year olds return to
volunteer.
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Before we had many tables |
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We have a wonderful before and after school tutoring program
at Etta I and we look forward to being able to provide that at Etta II
soon.
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Opening day for Etta I June 25th
2003. |
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Our 12 year old volunteers |
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Meet the Women...
 Etta Projects provides workshops to
the mothers of both Etta I and Etta II. It is our belief that with education
and skills women will take advantage of their new knowledge and be able to
better provide for their families.
Some statistics to help you better understand the women of
Etta I (working on this for Etta II):
Averages:
- Age- 33
- Income for family of 6- $68 per month
- 47% are married
- 27% of father's have abandoned the home
- 34% of families live in one room
- Education level is less than 6th grade
The workshops and classes provided include nutrition,
preventative health, reproductive health which are mandatory classes held
weekly. For the mothers to keep their children in the Comedor they must attend
these classes and volunteer at the Comedor once a month.
The workshops that are voluntary and available to them to
improve their income include sewing, embroidery, crochet, sausage making,
cosmetology, baking, weaving and painting. To go along with all these workshops
there is economic and small business education available in partnership with
the micro credit organization MCC.
There are few to no employment opportunities in Bolivia for
indigenous women so we have created workshops that allow them to increase their
incomes by using their individual skill. Etta Projects allows use of sewing
machines, ovens, and sausage machines when they are not in use in the workshops
as most women cannot afford their own. Once they have earned some money they
are taught to save and to buy their own equipment.
See our newsletters to read
individual stories of the wonderful women of Etta I and Etta II.
See some of the products created by
our mothers available at our events »
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