About
The Educación Plus Association is a Costa Rican non-profit Christian organization that works actively and comprehensively, through close friendship relationships, with boys, girls, young people and their families, in marginal urban areas in high social risk, to prevent them from dropping out of school and ending up on the streets.
There are many pressures of growing up in a broken home in the shanty towns around San Jose - where substance misuse can often be a regular challenge, lack of electricity / plumbing or private space to live and study in - in their makeshift shacks. The pressure to decide upon going to school or skipping in order to work or beg for money to bring in the next meal, the pressure of living in broken families that often don't hold a high degree of education so support in difficult topics is limited/unforthcoming. Educación Plus must navigate these difficult situations to encourage and support the children and families, giving the opportunity for the disadvantaged to have a better life
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Contact
Reach out to Educación Plus UK. Help us support the workers
and Children in Costa Rica
Support
The UK financially support a lot of the work of Educación Plus. There are various pots of money required. These include a stipend for Juan Carlos, money for other workers, grants and equipment for the children and families, support for the camps, and expenses of all sorts. Recently there was an appeal to help purchase the office, in Costa Rica, that up to then was being rented. Thank you to all those who contributed.
Juan Carlos is the lead worker in Costa Rica. He relies on the funding as his salary.
The work concentrates on three areas around San José. There are many children and families who need a lot of support with many complex issues. This requires a lot of "feet on the ground" and there are many volunteers. Some of them grew up with Educación Plus and it's now wonderful to see them involved in the work. Funds are needed to pay expenses and support.
The main aim of the charity is to support children, who otherwise would not be able to go to school as they cannot afford the necessary books, equipment or uniform that is required. Some of these children are kept at home to look after parents or other reasons. The work not only includes kitting them out but making sure there are no other barriers preventing them from continuing their education. This often means that other family welfare issues need to be sorted. Sometime there are legal reasons that a child cannot attend class, for example they have never been registered at birth. With a few hundred kids on the books you can see that there is a lot to do - but what a difference it can make.
Camps are normally the only time the children get away from their homes and can be a very important and memorable time. There are two main camps run in the summer holiday (January) one for boys and the other for girls. During the rest of the year the weekly activities include a lot of football and other sports. The work is "Bible based" and every week and during the camps there are lively clubs run where the children start to learn good values and hear about Christ.
If you are able and wish to start supporting the work, here is a link to our Gift Aid deceleration form. You only need to fill in the form and send it to us if you are a tax payer and would like us to claim back tax (that's a whopping 25% extra to your giving). Even if you are not paying tax, the form also tells you our bank information.
Thank you.
Links
Why not visit the Costa Rica Educación Plus website?
You can view it in English or Spanish
