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Angelica Aguilar Hernandez

Submitted by Ruth Burns

 

angelicaAngelica is one of the success stories for Los Niños de Chapala y Ajijic A.C. She has graduated from Tech College and is presently attending Business College.

Doug and Nancy Friend moved to the Lakeside community a little more than three years ago from Montreal, Canada. They have been sponsoring Angelica and two other students since 2004.

Angelica was born August 1, 1989, the youngest of five children. She presently lives in Ajijic. When Mr. and Mrs. Friend started sponsoring her, she was starting her third year of Secundaria School. Angelica has maintained a grade average of 9.9. How near perfect can you be!

Life has not been easy for Angelica. She lived with her mother and her brothers and their families, a total of eight people, in a two-room, one bath house. Fortunately, unlike many of her neighbors, they have lights and water plus a refrigerator, radio, TV, washing machine and a gas stove for cooking.

She has been raised solely by her mother, Alicia. Early in her life her father deserted the family. Her mother works as a domestic and earns $720.00 pesos per week.

Angelica is somewhat shy. She is a very pretty girl with a wonderful personality. Her favorite subject in school was math. She is also an accomplished artist. She has painted many pieces of beautiful art.

She admits she doesn’t like to do housework, but she will help her mother with needed chores. She does, however, thoroughly enjoy taking care of her nephews.

Quoting Mr. Friend: “Nancy & I are both very proud of Angelica. She’s a wonderful, caring and generous girl. We could not have asked for someone more deserving of the help we are able to provide her. When my wife and I first started our sponsorship, we committed to keeping our kids sponsored for as far as they can take their schooling, and hope they will all make through to completing University as Angelica is doing. With good education comes good paying jobs, and in turn, if and when Angelica has a family, I’m sure her children will be able to afford a good education. It really is rewarding to know that through NCA, we are making concrete differences in our sponsored children’s lives.”

NCA really helps to break a cycle of poverty that many children in our community face. Without the financial support to help the children stay in school, many kids quit school before completing Elementary school. Their families simply cannot afford to keep them in school, and need them to work to help to make ends meet. Without a complete education, the only work available to them is low paying construction jobs, working as a maid, and so on. When they grow up and have families of their own, their children will face the same challenges

At the present time there are over 200 deserving children awaiting sponsorship. The cost to sponsor a child is $85.00 USD per year for a child in Primaria (Elementary); $150.00 USA for Secundaria (Junior High); $360.00 USD for Preparatoria (High School); $1,200.00 USD for Universidad (University). There is an optional fee of $120.00 USD as an “Extra Help” package.

If you would like more information about this deserving organization, please visit our website www.lakesideninos.org.