The Girls Home

Richard and Karol Popkin were on a trip to the beautiful country of Nicaragua with Adventure Life. When they were touring through the city of Granada, they came across the girl's shelter run by nuns. They saw what this shelter does for the youth of that town and got inspired to help. 

The girls shelter in Granada is a home that has the girls enter from any age from 4-14 and can stay up until 18 when their schooling is completed. There are grants available to attend university after leaving the home.

The girls follow a definite structure to the day, cleaning and washing clothes early in the morning and then school. The schooling is outside the home, which means the girls do not become institutionalized. The nuns teach them, beside religious education, how to fend for themselves with basic life skills ranging from sewing to washing their clothes to cooking. The nuns treat them firmly but kindly and the girls enjoy the security the Hogar offers.

There is little government funding for the Hogar and it survives with random donations from USA, Germany and UK. The home has now grown and offers more facilities for the girls, due to more donors on board.

The nuns are not just religious figures; they are teachers, diplomats, mother figures and housekeepers. The purpose of this home is to protect and educate these girls in order for them to have a chance of a better life in the years ahead of them