Griselda Portillo

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About

Profile

I am 16 years old and I live in Rosado which is a village of Tobati where I live with my four siblings and my parents. I am the oldest of all the children. In my free time I work with my father in the artisan shop to help him support our family. When I am older I would like to be a professional of some sort. These days it is very difficult without a title to obtain a good job and enjoy life. I want to have a good job because I have been poor my entire life and I know how hard it is to raise a family like this. When I am finished I think I may want to be a dentist. I enjoy studying at the Institute because the education is more advanced and complete. In addition, the professors are very responsible, professional and demanding and I like that. I live 3km from the Institute and I walk there and back everyday, twice a day. When I return I home I complete all of my homework due for the next day.

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About Tobatí:Tobatí is both a town and a provincial district within the department (state) of Cordillera, Paraguay. The population of the district of Tobatí is 21,315 of which 16,538 (75.5%) are under the age of 19. Over 33% of this population lives beneath the international poverty line while as high as 70% live in relative poverty. A large percentage of the houses in the region lack running water and electricity.

This poverty is especially prevalent in the region's rural villages, known as compañías. Most men and boys in the region work in small brick or tile factories that pay at most one or two dollars a day. A large number of girls work as domestic servants. Schools run in three or four hour shifts in order to allow for children to work and also due to overpopulation and a lack of resources in the local schools. Many children in Tobatí are employed.

About Macchi School: The education of a single person can have a positive effect on the lives of thousands of people. This principle is the foundation of the Macchi School. Located in a part of the world plagued by poverty and short horizons, the Macchi School is a tool that is being used to transform the South American district of Tobati into a better place for future generations to live.

The school provides a means for the community's brightest minds from the poorest neighborhoods and villages to be nurtured with the hope that they will not only complete a university program, but will return to to Tobati afterward to take up the difficult task of solving some of the town's most serious problems. To reach this goal the Macchi School offers a rigorous academic curriculum while at the same time, imparts a strong sense of public service on all of its students.