The catch phrase on the tip of everyone's tongue is quite simply, "It's for the kids."
As in Guatemala, the idea of Quetzaltrekkers in Nicaragua is to support streetkids. When we arrived in León we decided not to set up a project ourselves but to look for an existing one to raise money for. We found many organisations helping children, and after talking to some of the women at Las Tias we decided that this would be a good place to direct the profits.

Las Tias
Association Las Tias (The Aunties) is an independent non profit organisation set up by a group of merchant women in León. The organisation started in 1989, focusing on children with drug problems, such as glue sniffing. But, seeing the needs of children who were at a high risk of getting into drug taking, they extended their focus to younger ages to prevent others falling into the same habits. To give the children better attention, Las Tias was divided into two programs for different age groups.

The first is a Preventative Program for children from 6 to 14 years that directly helps 100 child workers from a local market and indirectly helps 500 children, offering them support and opportunities in school, art and dance.
The second is a Vocational Program for 14 to 18 years, focusing on a group of 30 youths. These youths receive psychological and recreational therapy and are also incorporated into workshops for carpentry, photography and leatherwork, as well as primary and secondary schools.

Objectives
• Reduce child labour
• Provide education to children and adolescents
• To integrate youths into technical schools and workshops
• Offer a comprehensive focus that includes the children and adolescents as well as their parents.
• To provide attention, rehabilitation and vocational training to youths with drug problems or who are at a high risk of developing drug problems and who face problems of domestic violence.

Results
Preventative Program (6-14 years)
A 90% increase in school attendance and a 77% improvement in school performance. 98% of the children continue on to higher grades at school. 60% have left work, the number of hours that the children work has reduced and others work only on the weekends. Vocational Program (14-18 years) After 2 or 3 years the youths are qualified with a trade (carpentry, bricklaying, leatherwork etc.). In many cases they have overcome their drug problems and have improved their family relations and reduced domestic violence.

For more info contact us: leon@quetzaltrekkers.com