Estella Borgoño

Estella Borgoño (name changed) is 14 years old and is enrolled in CENIT's Adopt-a-Dream program, as well as being a student in ESTAR, CENIT's primary school. Estella was forced to leave school when she was eight to supplement her family's meagre income. She was selling fruit and candy in the streets of the Santa Maria neighbourhood. Estella spent nearly three years working up to 14 hours a day in these dangerous and polluted streets. Luckily, one of our street outreach volunteers working in the area befriended her and enrolled her in Adopt-a-Dream. She was paired with a godparent in the United States who pays for Estella's school costs, medical and dental care, and monthly groceries for her and her family. Estella was also enrolled in CENIT's Nivelaciones program, which is designed for children who have missed substantial amounts of school, to help them catch up to their appropriate grade level. Today, Estella is a full-time student in good standing at CENIT and will start her first year of high school next year. She no longer works in the streets and dreams of graduating and owning a store or working in a beauty salon one day.

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Community Gym

Aim

To promote positive health practices and self image amongst members of the CENIT community by providing a clean, safe exercise facility.

Project Information

Many members of the CENIT community suffer from poverty-related physical and mental health problems. In an effort to address these issues, CENIT is currently in the process of constructing a small workout room. We expect the space to increase self-esteem and physical fitness amongst our teenagers and adults, while decreasing violence and promoting self-control and positive health practices. We will also use this space to conduct yoga and pilates classes (including prenatal classes), as well as to provide occupational therapy.

Volunteer Requirements

The necessity for a community gym was once seen by a long-term CENIT volunteer who unfortunately had to leave CENIT before we were able to fully develop the project. The gym is not currently in operation but remains a goal for the near future. We are looking for a long-term, Spanish-speaking volunteer who can help us get this program off the ground. This would involve fundraising, construction, gathering of gym equipment and initial community outreach. Also, once the gym is opened, volunteers with past athletic experience will be needed to teach pilates, yoga, aerobic, jazzercise, etc. to classes to students of all ages.