Education

Education is the key to economic well-being and security in today's globally connected world. Austin Samaritans is proud to support two Christian schools that are developing Nicaragua's next generation of parents, workers, and leaders.

  • Pre-kindergarten Through Sixth Grade

    Centro Educativo La Esperanza (Club Esperanza) is in Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua, adjacent to the community Barrio Villa Guadalupe from which it draws its participants. The barrio is a place of great risk for the children living there. Club Esperanza provides a place of safety and hope for the future. 

    Classes are provided for pre-kindergarten through the sixth grade. Older youth receive scholarships to attend high school and university, and they participate in a youth group. Meals (typically breakfast and lunch each school day) are also provided. In 2024 there were 294 students. 

    Club Esperanza offers extracurricular activities including a lacrosse team that plays in a local league, music, art, dance, and English.  The impoverished families of the students participating in Club Esperanza’s programs are very appreciative of the quality of the education, extracurricular programs, care, and love the staff provide. 

    Club Esperanza serves the Villa Guadalupe community in ways other than education. They provide aid and support to families with special needs and disabled children. They provide support and assistance to pregnant and nursing mothers. Also, they make their facilities available for church services twice each week. 

    The community of Villa Guadalupe was constructed in 2013 to provide more adequate housing with electricity and indoor plumbing for families being relocated out of their subsistence dwellings inside Managua’s municipal garbage dump—the infamous dump known as La Chureca or “The Wastebasket.“  These families had been living in makeshift shelters fashioned out of scrap materials salvaged from the dump.  The new houses were built with the help of a grant from the Spanish government.  Approximately 1200 people were relocated from La Chureca to Villa Guadalupe. In addition, 400 families were relocated from areas of flooding.

    Participants in Austin Samaritans mission trips have supported Club Esperanza by providing needed maintenance at the facilities and interacting with the students to provide special educational opportunities. Past mission trip participants have conducted Vacation Bible School activities, provided students with individual photos of themselves, and taken students to the Managua Zoo.  Other, larger, projects have included the following:  

    • Building a computer lab and providing laptop computers. 

    • Refurbishing a garden area. 

    • Painting the security walls around the facility. 

    • Installing ceiling fans and a water tower. 

    • Creating an outdoor space where teachers can relax. 

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  • Austin Samaritans has supported Club Esperanza for almost twenty years.

  • Club Esperanza is a place of safety in a barrio full of risks to children.

  • Classes are provided to more than 270 students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade.

  • In 2024, 38 kindergarteners and 26 sixth graders graduated.

  • Club Esperanza also served over 160,000 meals to their students in 2024!

  • Austin Samaritans donated Spanish/English Bibles.

  • Pre-Kindergarten Through High School

    Colegio Cristiano Presbiteriano (CCP) was founded in 1995 by the Mission of the Presbyterian Church of South Korea in Nicaragua to serve children in the extremely poor Barrio Hialeah in Managua, Nicaragua.  Classes are offered for pre-kindergarten through high school. The school is currently operating at the capacity of its facilities, 370 students.  

    The school offers a better education than that provided by the Nicaraguan public schools and does so in a Christian setting. The school also offers free lunches to pre-school and elementary students.  

    Pablo and Sarah Kim, South Korean missionaries, have operated CCP since 2014. Sarah is the Director of the school. Her husband, Pablo, has administrative responsibilities, overseeing the operation of the school. They bring to the school years of experience in education and mission work. Under Mrs. Kim’s very capable and caring direction, CCP has flourished. 

    Under the Kims’ leadership the school has been expanded from only offering classes through sixth grade to providing a full secondary curriculum. The physical campus has been improved. Also, an AWANA program (an evangelical program in which students are introduced to, and nurtured in, their Christian faith through a stimulating educational and community-building club format) is being provided for interested students.

    Examples of physical improvements to the school include the following: 

    • A new building with two classrooms, a restroom, and an associated playground for the preschoolers.  

    • Conversion of a patio into a classroom. 

    • A new snack bar.  

    • A roof over the ball courts to provide shade and shelter from rain. 

    • A retaining wall along the back of the school grounds to control an area of erosion. 

    • Addition of an air-conditioned computer room and computers for computer classes. 

    • Covered walkways to protect students from rain when going between classrooms. 

    • Addition of safety mats to the playground. 

    Austin Samaritans is one of the primary donors providing support for the school. 

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  • Colegio Cristiano Presbiteriano was founded in 1995.

  • Austin Samaritans covers 20% of the school's operating budget.

  • Pablo and Sarah Kim, South Korean missionaries, have operated CCP since 2014.

  • CCP offers better education than public schools and in a Christian environment.

  • CCP offers pre-kindergarten through high school classes for families in the poor Barrio Hialeah.

  • In 2024, CCP graduated 32 kindergartners, 33 sixth graders, and 23 high school students.