AN EXTERIOR SHOT OF OUR BUILDING IN PRIMERO DE MAYO
Open Five Days a Week: M – F
2013 Average Daily Attendance: 100
2013 Total Meals Served: 23,105
THE LAND AROUND OUR CENTER IS VERY HILLY , WITH SMALL POOR HOUSES SCATTERED ON THE HILLS. NO PLUMBING IS AVAILABLE, BUT MOST HOUSES HAVE ELECTRICITY.
Primero de Mayo, or 1st of May, is one of the earliest communities that VAMOS! has been involved in. It is located close to the small colonia of La Nopalera in Temixco, where Patty and Bill Coleman first started to meet with people in small Base Christian Communities. VAMOS! joined with the leaders in this community as they built a small building that could be used as a chapel on Sundays and as a community center on other days. The land here is very hilly and the houses very poor, mostly dirt floors and one or two cinder block rooms. Since first opening in late 1996, the facility has expanded as spaces for another classroom and an area to work with the mothers have been carved out of the rocky hill. Electricity and bathrooms were also added!
Today we have programs here five days a week, working with an average 100 children and mothers each day. The programs include a healthy meal, academic instruction from pre-school through 8th grade, music, computer instruction, plus regularly scheduled doctor and dental exams along with workshops and crafts for mothers.
IT’S A BUSY DAY FOR THE FIRST GRADERS!
ALMOST 100 STUDENTS A DAY PACK THE BUILDING.
EVERY CHILD WASHES THEIR HANDS AND BRUSHES THEIR TEETH AS PART OF OUR HYGIENE PROGRAM.
SOME BOYS GATHER FOR A CHESS GAME.