JANUARY 2009 > ANA
Ana Luisa is 10 years old and currently a 3rd grade student at the Pan y Amor Educational Center, located in one of Managua’s poorest neighborhoods. A bright and friendly girl with a promising future, Ana Luisa has greatly excelled at the center and has even been honored as the school’s best student for her high grades and countless efforts. However, like most children from this impoverished neighborhood, Ana Luisa has faced numerous challenges and hardships.
Her parents live in Costa Rica and work when they are able to find employment but are currently unemployed. Ana Luisa, her siblings and other cousins live with their loving grandparents amidst extreme poverty in the remnants of an old building that survived the 1972 earthquake that devastated Managua. The sole source of income for her large family comes from a small fruit stand her grandparents run from their home. Ana Luisa shares a bed with her sister while the other children sleep in hammocks or on the floor.
The Pan y Amor Educational Center serves as an oasis for children like Ana Luisa who live in a community plagued by drugs, theft and prostitution. She currently attends the school with two of her siblings, her younger sister Alicia who is also in the 3rd grade and her brother David who is now in the 4th grade. At the school, Ana Luisa and her siblings are provided with high quality education, tutoring, nutritious meals and numerous after school activities, all of which improve their opportunities at a better life.
Ana Luisa’s teachers and grandparents believe that with the education she is receiving at the Pan y Amor Educational Center, she will have the tools to accomplish anything she sets her mind to and has a bright and promising future filled with endless possibilities.
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