Hogar Nueva Granada

The main entrance

The main school building

In Colombia, there is a HUGE separation between the wealthy and the poor. A whole class system has developed and become self perpetuating. So this week I wanted to share one thing the school is doing, to help break down the class walls. About 13 years ago, two of the Colombian workers at the school had their preschool daycare shut down. The school stepped in and started a 4 year old program, separate from Colegio Nueva Granada. By the time they finished Kindergarten, there were 36 students and the school faced a decision. Do they send these kids to a regular public school, or do they continue the program? So, the school opened a public elementary school. Separate from CNG, yet fully funded by CNG families, faculty and campus fund raisers, Hogar Nueva Granada was born. The school continued to grow, adding grades as the original students moved up as well as adding students in each existing grade. Middle school grades were added, and then later high school grades were added. Today there are over 580 students and in May, 2014, the school will graduate it's first class. Again, this is the cool part, it is completely staffed by a Colombian faculty, it is part of the Colombian public school system, yet all funding comes from CNG. It is one of the few - perhaps the only - Colombian schools with learning specialists for learning disabilities. Every year CNG does fund raisers, seeks donations for scholarships and provides tutoring and many other services to the school. Every school I have been with has always emphasized fund raisers and service learning but this seems to take that to a whole new level with Hogar

The playground

Nueva Granada. We watch the kids walking to school in the morning. They are easy to recognize because of their uniforms. CNG seems to have completely adopted HNG and I am finding myself completely impressed, enchanted and proud to be associated with HNG. The school is far from perfect, with 40 students per classroom (according to Colombian law) and I am still not sure why it is next to, but separate from our school. However, for a public school it stands out as one of the best and it gives kids from poor families and neighborhoods an unprecedented chance at success. I'm sure we will write more about this as we get more involved and learn more but it seems like such a great program that I wanted to share what we have found out so far. I feel like I haven't done a great job explaining it, so if you want to watch a 4 minute video about the program you can click HERE!

A view of Bogota from HNG

Changing the subject, our school just revamped their web site. Check it out here. If you click on "Join Our Staff" and then "Overview" you can see our picture along with most of the new international faculty. There is also a 20 minute video describing the school if any of you are so inclined. Next week I think I will write more about our discoveries and tours around Bogota. So until next week, ciao!