School Uniforms

Dominican children almost invariably look smart and clean as they walk to and from school. Because different age-groups attend school at different times of day you can see this sight at various times each day.

 The basic uniform for government-funded schools is a blue shirt or blouse and beige trousers or skirt. Kids must have this uniform (plus some other basic equipment) before they are allowed to attend school.

The normal cost of this uniform (including shoes and supplies) is approximately 1,500 pesos (42 US dollars)  per child. Many parents cannot afford this. Therefore, SOSUA KIDS provides uniforms for children who otherwise could not attend school. We do this by issuing vouchers to deserving boys and girls who then use them to purchase their uniforms from Casa Nelson, a department store in the nearby city of Puerto Plata which gives us a discount on the normal cost.  By issuing these vouchers we ensure that your money is only used for the purposes you intended.

Deserving children are brought to our attention by educators, pastors, neighbours and co-workers. Also, mothers who become aware of the Sosúa Kids program seek one or the other of us out directly to ask for our help. The hardest part of our program is rejecting many children that are deserving of help, but the available funds are limited.  In general it’s for all the school children of each family that we provide the funds for uniforms and supplies.

On only two occasions has it been necessary for us to withdraw help to a particular family because the children had not been sent to school on a regular basis

 

 Casa Nelson, the store opposite the cathedral in the centre of Puerto Plata, which collaborates with our voucher scheme for providing uniforms to the children