My name is Liz Morlas. I am 15 years old and I live with my parents, 3 older sisters and my younger brother. I spend practically all of my day in high school so when I am not there I like to spend time with my family and friends outside of the Institute. What I like most about the Institute is the professors. They work as hard as they can to give us a good challenging education. We learn quickly and easily there because of our quality Instructors. I like coming to the Institute a lot because I know that every day I go there I am going to learn something new. Being in the Institute is one of the best things that have ever happened in my life because this provides opportunities of a lifetime for me and my family. I learn something every day that will help me succeed in life. When I am older I would like to be a psychologist to help support my family and my community and to complete my grand dream of being a successful professional. After some years I would like to build my own clinic.
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About Tobatí:Tobatí is both a town and a provincial district within the department (state) of Cordillera, Paraguay. The population of the district of Tobatí is 21,315 of which 16,538 (75.5%) are under the age of 19. Over 33% of this population lives beneath the international poverty line while as high as 70% live in relative poverty. A large percentage of the houses in the region lack running water and electricity.
This poverty is especially prevalent in the region's rural villages, known as compañías. Most men and boys in the region work in small brick or tile factories that pay at most one or two dollars a day. A large number of girls work as domestic servants. Schools run in three or four hour shifts in order to allow for children to work and also due to overpopulation and a lack of resources in the local schools. Many children in Tobatí are employed.
About Macchi School: The education of a single person can have a positive effect on the lives of thousands of people. This principle is the foundation of the Macchi School. Located in a part of the world plagued by poverty and short horizons, the Macchi School is a tool that is being used to transform the South American district of Tobati into a better place for future generations to live.
The school provides a means for the community's brightest minds from the poorest neighborhoods and villages to be nurtured with the hope that they will not only complete a university program, but will return to to Tobati afterward to take up the difficult task of solving some of the town's most serious problems. To reach this goal the Macchi School offers a rigorous academic curriculum while at the same time, imparts a strong sense of public service on all of its students.