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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Dentist Program

Aim

This project aims to teach the children about the importance of dental hygiene, and to provide them with access to dental services that they may not otherwise receive.

Project Information

Volunteer Requirements

Volunteers for this project must be at CENIT for a minimum of six months, and must speak an intermediate to advanced level of Spanish. The volunteer must commit to about 16 hours of time a week actually brinigng children to the dentist. Additionally, they are responsible not only for dental health campaigns, but also for managing the finances and records of this program.