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Morgan Hill's Learning and Loving Education Center
needs software.
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Published Sunday, November 23,
2003, in the San Jose Mercury News
Opening
doors for immigrants
SPANISH-SPEAKING
WOMEN DEVELOP ENGLISH SKILLS THROUGH NUN'S PROGRAM
the group
of immigrant women sit squinting at their binder paper, pencils
tap, tap, tapping on the tables in front of them. When it's quiet,
you can hear the voices of their children down the hall. Then the
spelling test is over, and the women start to speak.
Haltingly, but in English.
There's Veronica Chavez, 32, mother of three, who sobbed through
her first parent-teacher conference because she couldn't speak English.
And Mirella Arellano, 32, mother of four, who started out cleaning
bathrooms at an RV park then worked her way up to office receptionist
as her English improved. And Maria Eugenia Chambers, 38, once a
dentist in Mexico, now pregnant with her second child, still hoping
to someday becoming a dentist in America.
The women in this English class at the Learning and Loving Education
Center in Morgan Hill come from all over the world, but they're
here for the same reason: to make their lives, and the lives of
their children, better through education.
The center, which serves about 250 low-income women each year,
has been the 10-year mission of Sister Pat Davis, who heard a calling,
she says, to help ``the hidden immigrants'' in and around Morgan
Hill.
``The men in these immigrant families are the ones forced to go
out and learn English,'' says Sister Pat. ``The women are at home
raising children. They're sort of like the hidden part of the family.''
Resourceful Sister Pat has rounded up quite a few donated computers
for her students to take home. Educational software ($25)
(12A) would help families continue their learning after
class, and the kids could use backpacks ($15)
(12B), binders ($3
each) (12C), flash cards ($12)
(12D) and dictionaries ($15)
(12E).
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