Some People Care

Making one connection in New York lead me to one great organization.  It was brought to my attention by the daughter of one amazing mother who have passion to make a difference in Honduran education. 


One day her lovely mother took a trip to Roatan over 20 years ago.  While on "vacation," she couldn't help, but notice the amount of children not in school. When she would search for reasoning, she did not receive sufficient answers.  After interviewing teachers, school officials, and talking with kids-she knew their educational system needed a serious wake up call.  She bought some land right on the beach in the main area of Roatan and opened up a library called, "Sandcastle Library."


"Brain Space" educates children in various settings i.e. their own library space, the bus mobile, and the school. It was created by her mother, Cat,  just ten years ago. Cat  is passionate about the community she is serving and wants to provide realistic learning opportunities for children.  She works against a poor education system with 80 percent of teachers having a 6th grade level of education or lower. Teachers are teaching math that they can barely comprehend themselves.To improve education for teachers, she is working on a teaching grant to give additional training to teachers on the island.  It's unfortunate that many classrooms are overfilled with 50 to sometimes 90 kids. 


History
This library grew overtime from having books, to building and learning about science, math, astronomy, and having tutors for various subjects. She believed in employing within and hired all local teachers, tutors, and staff from the island. She trained all of them herself and continuously contributes towards their educational growth. Many of the teachers of Roatan don't have anything past an eighth grade education, which can be challenging to teach everyone new information.  Not only is she an intelligent woman, she is a fun, kind, lovely spirit.  She makes the kids feel good, acknowledged, and cared about...and this means the world to them. 

Starting off as a library, it grew to two libraries along with the Book Mobile, which delivers English and Spanish books to children in the whole Rotan area. A staff member also reads English interactive classic books to full classes at different schools each week.  This may seem simple, but for an island like Rotan- this means the world to these children. These kids are ecstatic when they see the bus pull up and they are thrilled to see a familiar face greet them.  They build positive relationships with staff and they feel more comfortable learning and speaking English.
Their desire to read is boosted up a level as they are encouraged to participate. Thanks Mrs. Cat for your amazing dedication and commitment.  

     So this is PIER-Partners in Education Roatan

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