"With the help of God and in union with women in the struggle for justice, we the women of Centro Santa Catalina desire to present an education to ourselves, our children and others in the neighborhood in order to grow in a community of faith and hope." Mission statement of the Centro Santa Catalina Women's Center
Compassion Beyond Borders supports the education of 25 squatter girls at Centro Santa Catalina, located in an abandoned garbage dump in Juarez, Mexico. The Center provides a two year pre-school and an after-school tutoring program for primary school students.
Centro Santa Catalina has sent some of its squatter mothers to school to be educated as its pre-school teachers and tutors in the Center's Homework Help program. Together these women help educate over two hundred children.
Parents pay two dollars a month for the pre-school program, but only if they are able. The average annual cost of supporting the girls in this project is $200 each.
Middle school and high school girls living in two abandoned garbage dumps in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico receive scholarships for their education.
All of these girls come from deeply poor families, without proper housing, and many are squatters. The girls have no proper place at home to study, and yet they are succeeding well in school. Girls in this scholarship program are required to receive grades of 80% or above; in fact, virtually all have grades of 90% or above.
This project is led by Dr. San Juana Bruce, a medical missionary who is a Native American, born and educated in Mexico.
The average annual cost of educating 29 girls in this project is $240 each.
