Kenia looks towards the school in her community and says with satisfaction: “It's a safer space now. I trust that nothing bad will happen to them there.” Seventeen children study under the palm-thatched roof, three of them her children. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has contributed to Kenia’s new sense of protection.
Learning blooms in the middle of the savannah
At 27, Kenia is a single mother who makes a living from handicrafts, a common activity in her area. She lives in one of the many Venezuelan indigenous communities found in Apure state.
Located in the heart of Venezuela’s vast plains, these communities are so remote that the world's most famous online map does not show them. But, at the same time, they are so close to neighbouring Colombia that people often come and go between the two countries.
Celebrating knowledge
On 23 April, both World Book and Copyright Day and Spanish Language Day are observed. The United Nations has dedicated the date to the defence not only of the Spanish language, but also of creativity, diversity and equal access to knowledge.
This year, Silvino, the schoolteacher, will celebrate these days for the first time, supported by the complementary guides provided by NRC to educators in line with the national curriculum.
At 27, Kenia is a single mother who makes a living from handicrafts, a common activity in her area. She lives in one of the many Venezuelan indigenous communities found in Apure state.
Located in the heart of Venezuela’s vast plains, these communities are so remote that the world's most famous online map does not show them. But, at the same time, they are so close to neighbouring Colombia that people often come and go between the two countries.
Celebrating knowledge
On 23 April, both World Book and Copyright Day and Spanish Language Day are observed. The United Nations has dedicated the date to the defence not only of the Spanish language, but also of creativity, diversity and equal access to knowledge.
This year, Silvino, the schoolteacher, will celebrate these days for the first time, supported by the complementary guides provided by NRC to educators in line with the national curriculum.
“The children have been reinforcing their knowledge,” says Silvino, 49. He holds classes in Spanish and then repeats the lessons in the community’s indigenous language.
Silvino has been taking part in NRC’s educational levelling programme. This programme, based on Venezuela’s national curriculum, equips teachers with techniques to help reinforce learning in students with low academic achievement. Students take tests at the beginning and end of the programme to measure their progress.
NRC recently supported the training of nearly 150 teachers, including Silvino, along with 20 community education agents in Apure state.
Growing like flowers
“Sometimes what we had was incomplete, but with training we grew more and more, like flowers,” Silvino reflects. “Now I have the whole tree so that we can train others and create energy. At noon, there’s no boredom to be seen in the classroom.”
Kenya has seen progress in her three daughters: Yetzi, 10, can now read, Yenifer, 9, is more academically prepared and more engaged in class, and six-year-old Keilimar has learned numbers and syllables.
Silvino teaches them to value the knowledge from school, but also from farming. “Our daily routine is to sow and harvest the fruits of the land. So in the classroom we value the effort of how, for example, an elderly woman from our community goes to the garden,” he explains.
A new school extension
Yenifer, Kenia's second daughter, defines school as the place where she learns study skills, the alphabet, and reading and writing. The nine-year-old feels that learning is happening more smoothly now. “I see that my school is nice and comfortable, now we sit at desks,” she says.
Yenifer's school used to be further away, and parents and children would have to walk for hours each day. Then they encountered the NRC team. In 2023 they succeeded in creating and bringing to their own community an official extension of the school.
Thanks to European Union Humanitarian Aid, NRC provided furniture and whiteboards to 14 schools in lower Apure, including Yenifer’s school. Norilme, the institutional coordinator at the school, stresses the importance of the whiteboard: “Now they practise writing on the whiteboard, and they have learned about felt-tip pens. Everyone can see how letters are combined to form syllables and words. This used to be done orally.”
Silvino facilitates learning with musical instruments and sports equipment provided by NRC. “Some children didn't know how to write ‘guitar’, so they went to the whiteboard and learnt how to write it, and we learn it by singing,” he says.
“They already know that ‘guitar’ is guitar, ‘cuatro’ is cuatro*, ‘charrasca’ is charrasca*, and ‘drum’ is drum. In sports, they can also distinguish volleyballs from footballs and basketballs.”
* The cuatro is a Latin American stringed instrument resembling a small guitar, while the charrasca is a traditional percussion instrument.
NRC also provided more than 1,600 children and adolescents with educational kits. Yenifer says she likes all the items in her backpack, especially the pencils and crayons.
Meanwhile, Kenia has benefited from the water filter, hygiene kit, and food preservation sessions she received as part of NRC's integrated response in Venezuela for communities in need.
Broadening horizons
An estimated 7 million people in Venezuela have humanitarian and protection needs, according to the United Nations. In 2024, NRC reached more than 130,000 people through its various programmes, including the Education programme which benefited more than 13,000 students and teachers.
This community's dreams are as immense as the horizon of its plains. Yenifer wants to work in an office where she can help others when she grows up. Kenia is betting that this generation will continue to advance and surpass her own in opportunities. And Norilme notices how children project themselves into the future by imagining different careers when they play.
Silvino is also optimistic about the future: “We are seeing the fruits. I see the school as a protective space for children.”
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