Give a brighter future to women in Latin America

My dreams only grow every time I go to classes in Siramá as I learn a lot. 

Alisson is an 18 year-old Salvadorian studying the Bakery course in Fundacion Sirama in San Salvador. Her studies are providing her with the education and the necessary skills that will help her improve her livelihood. In her own words:

I chose to study at Sirama because I wanted to complement my cooking studio with bakery. 

I haven't let adversity stop me and thank God I've had the support of my parents. Right now, I'm finishing school and working in a restaurant to save money. My dreams for the future are, first to find a good job in a hotel or big restaurant and then to have my own cafeteria. 

The skills learned here helped me noticed a lot of mistakes I made when cooking and I'm improving them little by little. In addition to the technical workshops, I have learned about costs in business. 

At WONDER, we recognize that simply providing access to resources is not enough. Mentoring can help improve school attendance and overcoming certain gender-specific barriers to education. This is why we pair each woman to a mentor in our programmes. Talking about her mentor, her classmates and her experience at Sirama, Alisson tells us:

My mentor has helped me a lot in accepting and loving myself. I'm excited to start preceptorships because I want to keep working on my self-esteem. 

The truth is that I learn from all my teammates. We have classes with women of all ages and we learn a lot from each other because we all have different talents. 

I’m proud to be able to organize my time between school, work and Sirama. This effort, even if it is tiring at times, I know that it will bring positive results. 

Sometimes it's tiring to study and work. But with the skills I’ve learned, additionally to the income from my work and I already have some clients. 

The courses are usually expensive and you don't learn much, but here the price is affordable and the courses are quite complete. May God bless you. Thank you very much, it's a great opportunity.