News

The registration deadline for our youth competition “go4peace” is closed. Now we have to wait for the award ceremony on September 11 in the Pestalozzi Children’s Village in Trogen. You can have a look at submitted projects on our Facebook page.

Camp no. 11 has come to end, and on Thursday 12th of August, 80 Moldavian children and their 15 carers left Trogen for home. Their two-week stay in the Pestalozzi Children's Village was varied and rich, including medical treatment, intercultural encounters, excursions, games and friendship building. The Swisscor Foundation was created in 2000 by former Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi. This year's camp no. 11 was able to welcome the 1000^th child.

www.swisscor.ch

The tropical storm Agatha which hit Central America in late May 2010 has caused devastation in our project country Guatemala, leaving 174 people dead and 113 missing. 163,000 survivors were evacuated and 64,000 are homeless, now living in emergency shelter. 40,000 houses were destroyed, among them Julajuj Aq’ab’al, a secondary school in one of the projects we support. With the building’s roof blown away, 171 pupils cannot go to school. Houses and fields belonging to 80 families of children in our projects were also destroyed. The Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation supports an emergency project with 36'500 CHF.

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Projects in Guatemala

Situation in San Lucas Toliman:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7U8zzIHpns

During Lao New Year holidays on 17th April 2010, the storm and heavy rain had destroyed the dormitories in our projects in the two districts Boakbor and Soploi. Other facilities and equipments like kitchen, sleeping materials, classrooms, teacher’s office, text books learning materials and student’s clothing were also damaged by the storm. Luckily during the storm no students were injured because they visited home. However, they have lost their shelters to continue and finish their semester. Their class rooms that are in better structure and have not been damaged by the storm are presently being used as temporary sleeping quarter for the children. It is very inconvenience for the students to use the class rooms for both learning and living purposes.

Some students went back to their own villages and dropped out from school because the unsecured shelter and food deficit. This will probably affect the passing rate to higher level in the next school year. Moreover, if dormitories were not built for the next school year, it would continue to affect the enrolment rate of the children to the schools especially at the secondary level that were just established in the two districts.

In 2009-2010 school year there are 173 students, of whom 38 are girls, living in the dormitories and the numbers of students have increased every year. Dormitories and other facilities such as kitchen, toilet, water source and latrines have been upgraded and expanded every year with contribution of the parents to accommodate the increasing number of students. Dormitories are very necessary shelters for the students from the remote and mountainous villages with no road access. All secondary school students stay in those dormitories during the school year and they visit home during weekends and school holidays. Those dormitories were constructed by the parents and the structures were not storm proof.

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Projects in Laos

One thing is clear – when it comes to relating to people from different backgrounds freely and without prejudice, knowledge about their ways of doing things is the key to success. Test how much you know about different cultures in our quiz!

Quiz

72 million children worldwide are still prevented from enjoying their right to quality education. The education projects of the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation reach almost 300,000 children per year, thus contributing to achieving the UN Millennium Goal of primary education for all boys and girls by 2015. The knowledge and experience made accessible through primary education will enable future generations to beat the vicious circle of poverty.

1Goal is this year’s motto of the Global Campaign for Education. The 1Goal campaign seizes the power of football to ensure that education for all is a lasting impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. It appeals to donors, governments, organisations and the public to contribute towards achieving universal education. 1Goal calls on all citizens to sign up and make their support known. You can add your support at www.join1goal.org

If issues such as education for disadvantaged children and adolescents, intercultural exchange, peaceful coexistence instead of marginalisation, and children's rights and human rights are close to your heart, you are the right person to join our Circle of Friends. Our members identify themselves with the spirit of the Children’s Village and are prepared to support us financially on a regular basis.
Circle of Friends