For Doña Ivette Torres, life has not been easy, but that hasn’t taken away her smile. A resident of Guararí, Heredia, Doña Ivette arrives at the Civic Center for Peace in that neighborhood accompanied by three of her daughters: Jazmín (19), Danna (17) and Jimena (15). Danna and Jimena are scholarship recipients from the Foundation, and Ivette took advantage of our pilot project for mothers of scholarship recipients in which she too could earn her degree.

We should say: earn again, because Ivette is already a secondary school graduate, a title she earned in Nicaragua but was never able to demonstrate in Costa Rica, due to lack of the corresponding certificate. So, in order to be able to register for the Secondary School exams, she had to earn sixth grade again in Costa Rica, and now she also earned seventh grade. This year, she wants to take the exams of both 8th and 9th grade,  and then enter Juntas al Bachi.

She highlights the great support she has from Danna and Jimena, who help her with Jazmín’s care, allowing her to take time to study. “I take advantage of these years, because when they have a job they will no longer be able to help me with Jazmín, so I want to study now.”, she clarifies.

 

She is not going to stay with secondary school, she says with conviction. Her faith is to study Accounting and practice from home, so she can be with Jazmín, who is currently in the 4th cycle of Special Education and hopes to become a high school graduate in 2 years. She also wants to earn enough to own a home.

For her, the alliance of organizations has been of great support. The Civic Center, where Seprojoven is active, has been the safe place where her daughters could and can continue to grow and enjoy many activities; in addition to escaping difficulties at home.

In addition, at Escuela La Ternura, another Seprojoven initiative, they receive psychological help, where they can heal the wounds of the past in group therapies at no cost. «There is no difference in academic level, in countries… the only thing that matters is sharing the life situation of each one.»

And she knows that with Seprojoven and the Foundation, she and her daughters have the necessary support to succeed in their studies and other activities.