Club Cristiano La Esperanza

Club Cristiano la Esperanza (Club Esperanza) serves children from the impoverished Barrio Villa Guadalupe by providing pre-kindergarten classes, kindergarten classes, and elementary classes through the fifth grade. Tutoring programs are available for sixth grade students. Older youth receive scholarships to attend high school, and they participate in a youth group. Sports activities and meals are also provided. Over 300 students participate in Club Esperanza.

During 2020 the school suspended in-person classes temporarily because of the pandemic. Remote learning was a challenge because it is so hard for its students to access the internet. Paper packets were used to transmit lessons when in-person learning was not possible.

The program typically provides breakfast and lunch each school day. For a while, the breakfast program was discontinued; and the lunch program became a take-out. Club Esperanza provided meals for some of the sick and elderly in the neighborhood during the pandemic. In August 2020, they began serving breakfast again.  

In spite of the challenges of the pandemic, it was able to add a fourth-grade class in 2020 and a fifth-grade class in 2021. This is in line with its goal of adding an additional class each year until classes through the sixth grade can be provided.

Club Cristiano La Esperanza (Club Esperanza) is located in Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua, very close to the community Barrio Villa Guadalupe, from which it draws its student participants.  Club Esperanza provides pre-kindergarten classes, kindergarten classes, and elementary classes through the fifth grade. Tutoring programs are available for sixth grade students. Older youth receive scholarships to attend high school, and they participate in a youth group. Sports activities and meals are also provided. Over 300 students participate in Club Esperanza.

Prior to 2018, only tutoring was provided to students in Grades 1 through 6. However, in 2018 Club Esperanza added first and second grade classes and set an ambitious goal of adding an additional class each year until classes through the sixth grade are provided. It is currently on track to achieve that goal. In 2021, it began offering a fifth-grade class

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.

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.

Participants in Austin Samaritans mission trips have an opportunity to support Club Esperanza by providing needed maintenance at the facilities and interacting with the students to provide special educational opportunities. Past mission trip participants have interacted with students through providing Vacation Bible School activities, providing students with individual photos of themselves and helping them decorate picture frames for their photo, and taking students to the Managua Zoo.  Other, larger projects have included:

  • Building a computer lab.

  • 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.

 New Computer Lab…written by Chris Farrington on 2016

You may remember last year when our friends from Austin Samaritans in Texas came down to Club Esperanza and donated 10 Netbook Computers (story here).  Back then, we mentioned that we would like to open a computer lab at Club Esperanza to help further our students’ opportunities for education and advancement.  Well, this past week our friends were back and they made it happen!  Not only did they support the effort financially, they came down and built the shelving themselves, installed electrical and air conditioning, as well as painted the room and varnished the desk!

The world is shrinking, and technology is allowing young people from all parts of the World to see things from a greater perspective.  There are so many great opportunities for learning on the web, and we do not want our children to be left behind!  This computer lab is going to give them access to the world.  But even more than that, we hope to help them to develop the basic computer skills that will give them a real advantage in their future careers.  I am talking about the basics like being able to type correctly on a keyboard, use word processors, and be able to do advanced research on internet resources. This lab is going to really be a great asset for all of our kids.

We are so excited about this new gift to Club Esperanza!