Training indigenous teachers and mothers

Paraguay, a beautiful country in the heart of South America, is also one of its poorest. 40% live on less than 50p ($1) a day and 32% of children who start school do not finish primary. The greatest need and challenge, however, is amongst Paraguay’s indigenous population:

·             On average each child receives only 3 years schooling

·             Only 58% of teachers in these communities are indigenous and most of  

       these have little or no teacher training

·             91% of teachers do not have materials in their native language

·             Illiteracy is 8 times above the national average

The harsh consequences of this are that communities are losing their language and cultural identity and that children are not receiving the quality of education they need to prepare them for their future.

After a plea for help from an indigenous community in 2005, FEISA began a preschool teacher training programme with an emphasis on learning through play – a revolutionary concept for indigenous teachers who tend to use traditional rote-learning methods. We soon realized that what these communities most lack is training and resources as the Paraguayan government provide little of either to indigenous teachers. We made sure that all resources were appropriate to the indigenous context and produced worksheets to develop prewriting skills, mathematics and literacy, all in their native language, Enxet. The aim of the programme is to provide a holistic education to enable children to grow in all aspects of their development. At the request of the community, who asked us to provide Christian education, we also produced the first ever Bible materials for children in Enxet based on the Creation story.

This year we extended the programme to the Enxet community of El Estribo working with 9 indigenous schools training preschool teachers and volunteer mothers – 15 people in total. Along with the training the schools are provided with all the resources and also furniture they need - many children were sitting on planks of wood for lack of tables and chairs.

The response of the teachers and children has been tremendously encouraging and heartwarming. They said that this is exactly the training and resources they have needed for years but no-one has shown any interest in them before. The children now rush to school in the morning excited to play and learn and do not want to leave when school finishes! The programme is enabling schools to strengthen their native language and culture which is particularly important in schools that have non indigenous teachers who cannot speak Enxet and rely on mothers to help and reinforce the language. The schools and churches finally have Bible materials for children in their own language and received training in their use in October. One indigenous teacher asked us, “What made you choose us to receive this blessing? No other school in the Chaco has received such training and resources. We are so privileged!”

St Peter’s contribution has been more significant than you can imagine. We could never have attempted a project of this scale, due to the vast distances and difficult terrain, without the wonderful provision of the vehicle you donated 2 years ago. Esteban, whose salary you provide, is a remarkable young man and a key to the success of this work as he has a unique range of skills that enables him to do everything from driving to training and supervising.

We thank God for your incredible generosity, and that of other donors, which has made this project possible and continue to trust God for the funds we need to continue the project next year. Over 200 indigenous children have benefitted and many more young lives can be transformed if we are able to extend this work to other communities.

On behalf of us all in FEISA and especially the indigenous teachers and children of El Estribo whose lives have been deeply impacted,

THANK YOU ST PETER’S!

Samantha Parsons

Co ordinator of Social Programmes

FEISA Teacher Training College