Kim Esterberg, founder of the Sister Islands Association, stands with MariaElena Martinez, a retired teacher and former director of the Ruben Dario school. The Sister Islands’ logo is painted on a wall of the school library, a multi-year project of the “Kids Can Make a Difference” calendar project many years ago. The building had seriously deteriorated, and Jorge Espinoza, a current teacher, spearheaded a refurbishing project, resulting in what Kim calls “an excellent tribute to the value to the community of the library.”
The newly refurbished library at Ruben Dario.
Thanks to connections made by BOSIA board member Holly McIver, Wilkes Elementary School on Bainbridge and Ruben Dario Primary School in Altagracia are now Sister Schools. Ruben Dario is Ometepe’s largest elementary school, with 500 students.
According to Wilkes’ newsletter, this program is motivated by the school’s efforts to learn about the world through global education and to practice Global Kindness. Wilkes joins Ordway Elementary in sistering with Ometepe schools: Ordway and La Concepcion have had a sister school relationship since 2006.
Classrooms will share information about school and community life to learn about children in the other’s country and how lives may be similar and different than each other.