MLR Forestal contributes to curb school dropout in Siuna

Students at schools near MLR Forestal in Siuna already recognize the company’s vehicle. They know that it arrives, punctually, twice a year: at the beginning and at the end. At the beginning with school supplies and at the end with toys. Teachers and parents know this, too. This has been the case for six consecutive years. The presence of this vehicle in schools is a symbol of MLR Forestal to help stop school dropouts.

At the Flor de Pino school, in the Empalme La Bú community, this objective has been met. “So far we have no school dropouts. We have one hundred percent students. Of course, there are students who have left due to changes of address, but with transfer sheets and that is not considered school dropout because the student enters the system, “said Donald Guido Medina, director of the Flor de Pino Educational Center.

“Every year, as always, the children are very excited waiting for us, they run to help us with the supplies. Our mission is motivational because in each delivery a call is made to parents to keep their children in class. It is our contribution to stop school dropout in Siuna. Achieving that smile in children and parents when they see us arrive goes beyond something material, “says Mabel Lazo Quino, responsible for the Social Management area of MLR Forestal.

Schools supported in Siuna

The students and teachers, who are provided with teaching materials, belong to the San Francisco de Asís schools in the San Miguel community, Primero de junio in Unión La Bú, Flor de Pino in Empalme La Bú, La Primavera in Bethel #1 and Nuevo Amanecer in Bethel #2. A group of neighboring children in the sectors of Tadazna and Waylawás and the Danlí Arriba school where there are sons and daughters of MLR Forestal workers also benefited.

Teamwork lasting at least two months

The key to successful deliveries in the schools near MLR in Siuna during these six years is teamwork. “Behind this coordination are the purchasing area of MLR and, in the communities, leaders, school boards, parents, management, teachers. It is a collective work that takes place between December and January when schools provide us with enrollment. Then, once the supplies are delivered to the social area, we make a schedule with the directors, with specific dates for delivery,” explains Lazo.

Once the delivery dates are set, the packages are prepared: preschool children are brought coloring books, crayons and everyone in general, lined notebooks, pencils, pens, cutters, erasers, unstriped pads, scissors, glues. Teachers are given university notebooks, reams of letter-size and legal paper, colored sheets.

The head of the Social Management area recalls with joy the receptions of this year: “In the school of Bethel # 1, a child sang, they made us a mural, where they drew the teak, the ambulance (the company’s vehicle), they drew me and that fills me with a lot of emotion. There is always talent, creativity and gratitude from children and teachers and we feel it.”