The Nueva Vida girls come from different schools. Some of them are picked up by the teachers, others come by bus, and all of them arrive between 12:00 and 12:30 pm, Monday to Friday. They are greeted by the teachers and taken inside for an afternoon full of surprises until 7:00 pm, when their parents pick them up to take them home. The girls come to Nueva Vida while their parents are at work.
They have a structured schedule that includes chores, lunch, time to play, values lessons, homework support, time to bathe and rest plus enrichment classes such as computers, crafts, and English. On Fridays there is a special schedule to accommodate field trips, celebrations, and special presentations.
The girls are ages six through twelve. They come from a variety of backgrounds, many from families with very limited economic resources, some from families with single mothers, others that have problems with alcoholism at home, and some of them also have learning challenges. But, what all of the girls have in common is a great liveliness, strong spirits and positive energy!
Nueva Vida helps them with their daily homework, with their learning disabilities, with their community life, with their writing correctly, and most importantly, it helps them with values, something that is unfortunately often forgotten at the regular schools.
The building was repainted four years ago by members of the Mérida Men’s Club, following an American artist’s design, making it transform from a rather ugly house to a very interesting and beautifully tender looking place. Thank you to the artist!
Nueva Vida has a room dedicated as their Library, and even though they don’t have a lot of books, it is a lovely space where they can sit and learn the art of imagining, traveling far away, and building dreams with their book collection.
Wouldn’t it be nice to enlarge Nueva Vida’s library? If you happen to come across books for girls from 6 to 12 years old, in Spanish and English, please let us know. We would love to have them!