We are the non-profit association „A School for Popoyo“ founded in October 2016 in Hamburg and we support the Tola International School in a rural area of Nicaragua that is open to children from all nations and backgrounds.
Some of our members have travelled the country and lived in it for several months and we all see education as the key to a peaceful and equal coexistence.
Nicaragua used to be one of the safest countries in Central America and intrigued more than one million visitors every year with her volcanoes, coffee plantations, beautiful Pacific and Carribean beaches and with the Nicaragua Lake that is home to a unique flora and fauna.
Suffering from a long history of dicatorship, corruption and civil war, Nicaragua faced further political unrest in 2018 and is still one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere.
Before the latest crisis the area around the famous surfspot Popoyo attracted surfers and nature enthusiasts from the US, Australia and Europe who sought to fulfill their dreams of life on the beach. They bought land and built hotels and restaurants along the coast.
Many left the country in 2018 and have been slowly returning since the situation has calmed down.
Up to the founding of Tola International School there had been no school that could offer education meeting international standards. It is a school for all children where kids can learn and grow up together and find friends regardless of income and origin.
We want to give children from local families a good education to enable them to find more qualified jobs other than serving and cleaning at restaurants and hotels.
The school started in November 2017 with a group of preschool students and has expanded. Now there are two classes: one for preschoolers and one for first and second graders who are taught together.
Two teachers and one assistant work with the children in Spanish and English. Worldwide donations will hopefully make it possible to provide scholarships for even more children from poorer families so the school will truly be open to all.
popoyo.org 