Workshops provide education to more than 150 people

(MissionNewswire) St. Dominic Savio Center in Cartago, Costa Rica, has been providing educational workshops for people, with a focus on women, for the past 40 years. The goal is for students to acquire a trade and start their own businesses. Currently, the workshops provide education to more than 150 people.

Among the courses that are taught are cooking, beautician skills, relief painting, jewelry making, pastry making, cutting and packaging, among others. The packing course was the first one provided at the center and it has only grown from there.

“Salesian missionaries in Costa Rica and around the globe provide programs that ensure girls and young women have equal access to education and the supports needed to graduate and find stable employment,” said Father Timothy Ploch, interim director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “These programs work to help women achieve long-term self-sustainability, which benefits their families and communities.”

According to the World Bank, more than 1.14 million Costa Ricans live in poverty, which is more than 21 percent of the population. In addition, poor Costa Ricans are more likely to live in a single-mother household and have a higher than average number of children under age 5, as well as other dependents living in the same home. Dependents include children under age 14 or adults over age 65. More than 77 percent of poor Costa Ricans work in the informal sector and have roughly three years less schooling than their peers who are not living in conditions of poverty.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Costa Rica – “Mamma Margaret Workshops,” an option for the advancement of women

Santo Domingo Savio Salesian Center Facebook

Salesian Missions

World Bank – Costa Rica