Community Impact: ULDESA Cooperative

“The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”     

                              - Socrates 

                                                            

On May 14, 2015 Enlace Project took part in an inauguration celebration of the ULDESA (Unión de Productores Lecheros de El Sauce) cooperative’s new site, located in the km 3 road El Sauce Achuapa. Created in 2009, the cooperative is a great representation of the age old concept “hard work pays off.”

Brenda López shares an emotional tale of the cooperative's history 

With a long history of struggle and persistence the cooperative name has come to be recognized throughout the municipality of El Sauce. It´s current president, Martha López, is a strong, driven young entrepreneur who follows the steps of her mother, Brenda López, founder of the cooperative, with the same passion and drive to fight for the farmers’ rights and opportunities.

Now with 19 members, most of which are women, the cooperative looks to the future with optimism and aspiration for better tomorrow. The men and women work to not only produce milk for the people of El Sauce but they support the local dairy farmers by gathering milk from different farms and selling the milk to factories like Parmalat, Centrolac and La Perfecta.

 Martha López gives an inspiration speech

ULDESA is very interested in working with Enlace Project because they understand the value in planning and direction building for the reaching of their objectives.  The Enlace Project Entrepreneurial Development Program will be working with the cooperative to provide them with oriented trainings and educational workshops.

The celebration of the new building was a successful display of the past, present, and future of the cooperative. Invited guests heard the powerful words of Brenda López as she shared a historical recap of the cooperative’s journey to today. Martha López spoke proudly of the strength the men and women have and encouraged members to continue working hard.  Presentations of traditional dance and song performed by young family members of the cooperative brought the event to a close with a sense of hope and happiness for the upcoming years. 

-- Written by: Bethany Nelson , 2015 Intern 

Educational Strides

From the opening of its doors in 2009, the Enlace Project English School has undergone many stages of developmental growth. This year has been no exception. With the change in professors at the beginning of the year the English program team decided to take a closer look at our goals and expectations for our students.

Ronald receives English help from Intern Bethany Nelson

While still maintaining the same methodology, our staff has added some minor yet constructive additions to the course. Such as a new evaluation system that monthly indicates to both the teacher and student where their strengths and weaknesses are. In a short meeting during the last week of each month, the teacher is able to better communicate and guide the students to reaching their goals for the upcoming month.  This is proving to be very productive and rewarding. The confidence level of the students is rising as well as the participation in classes.

Of course when learning happens so do rewards. Good job Ronald!

With rising interest in English classes in the city of El Sauce, Enlace Project English School is seeing a rise in the number of students registering each month.  With larger classes the English staff created a tutoring schedule where students can visit the school during select hours of the week to receive more personalized help. This too is proving to be very effective and students are benefiting from the sessions.

The English program has also been reaching out to the community, promoting our classes and informing local businesses and institutions the importance of having a bilingual staff. We are looking forward to the potential addition of a more technical based English course that will help the El Sauce working class learn speech associated to their field of work. Enlace Project values education and we are excited to see so many local community members taking advantage of their ability to learn a second language. We hopeful that our progress will continue advance and grow. 

---- Written by: Bethany Nelson, 2015 Intern

English Students Write About Their Experiences, Part I

Since the English classes were divided this September, the Enlace Project English School team has been working hard to meet students' needs, adjusting their lessons and activities to help the students advance and provide them with professional English skills.

More recently, the teachers asked students to write about their experience with Enlace Project in order to better understand how the English class helps them meet their own goals. Below, you will find some excerpts from the students:

"My experience here in Enlace Project has been very nice and I have learned a lot... I've learned to capture the sounds of the language [which] is the hardest thing for me. It has been interesting to me [to] interact with foreign people who come to help and... develop our language learning which is of great importance... [I want] To develop myself intellectually with better quality since it will help my career studying and socially in my relationship with teachers and classmates..."

-Keyslor José Calderón Conteno, Second Level

Students in the intermediate class, including Nelson Israel [front right]

"When I started to study English in Enlace [Project]... [it] was hard to understand... [Now] I understand better... the experience has been really good. Studying here helped me to get a job and now I'm working teaching English. I feel good about that and I hope to continue to study here because I like the methodology that they use."

-Nelson Israel, Second Level

"...Many doors have been opened for me since I started studying English, opportunities that were not only given to me for my profession, which is why I would like to thank my teachers and the Enlace Project team for giving me the opportunity to study English, share their experiences and teach us many important things about American culture"

-Henry Chévez Garcia, Third Level

Keyslor [front-left] and Geovanni [front-left].

"My goals in English are to be able to have a good job and to help my family... I would like to be able to become a teacher... [and] travel to another country. [English] is very important in my life, I think that learning English is something that will always be important, and I hope that at the end [of my studies] I will find a job where I can make some good money."

-Geovanni Quiroz, Second Level

There will be more stories posted in the future, keep looking for them!