It's deworming day!

At the Alberto Lovera School in rural region of Delta Anacuro, Venezuela 1000 students are stepping up to the plate.

What's being served? A simple but very effective strawberry flavored tablet.

Press play for a taste of your impact!

Across the world, kids getting worms (intestinal parasites) is very common. For many of us, we can go to a pharmacy, purchase some tablets and then forget about it...

In rural communities such as this one in Tucupita, that's just not an option.

Left untreated, this common problem can have critical effects on a child's reality and future.

This is just one activity of an amazing holistic program your gift is supporting.

The program focusses on education, health, nutrition, safety and climate and is being conducted alongside amazing local partners and administered through the local schools.

Three happy students with their strawberry flavored de-worming tablet.

Luis Colmenarez

Principal and incredible champion of this program, Rosario Marquez explains...

"We are really very happy that this blessing (program) has arrived. I have always said it from the first moment, it is a blessing sent by God here.

For this educational institution, most of the children are from very low-income families and this program has come as the blessing that this educational institution was missing.

There's been a 360-degree turn. Initially, when we started during this 2024-2025 school year, we made many visits to homes to call on parents and children to see why they were not attending. Parents and guardians were asked to bring their children to their classes.

It was getting difficult, because they did not have food to send them for breakfast, they lacked uniforms, and many of the things that we have been correcting and helping them, through this partnership 9with World Vision).

And what can I tell you? We have seen change! Now the children come with more dynamism, they come active, they come happy, they don't even want the day to end. I am not lying, they would not even want the day to end, because they are happy with all of the benefits of the program. Their meals, their snacks, their fruits, their juices and health services.

They are really, really happy.

You can see it in the children's faces, you can see the joy that they bring every day to see their classes.

We are extremely happy. All these communities that have been covered, we are very happy, because it is a wonderful blessing that support has reached every home.

How happy we are that this program is here.

And everything, you can see the work happens, hand in hand, working together, educating together, it is so beautiful."

Principal Rosario Marquez is a light in this community. She is an advocate for children's futures, working hard to build partnerships that ensure children are healthy, have access to food, health resources and are building an educated future.

1000 students received de-worming tablets through school, they also are screened by a nutritionist and given medical attention where needed.

Luis Colmenarez

Andrys Francys, WV Nutritionist

Through World Vision's Nexus program, we are supporting everything that has to do with food, safety, nutrition, protection and risk management.

Here today, we're focussing on one of the first problems that a child may have, intestinal parasites. This affects development and growth of children.

If they are not dewormed, they will present several related problems.

One of them is that there is not going to be a good absorption of nutrients. There is going to be poor digestion, intestinal problems such as diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, weakness.

The impact is positive!

The impact is positive because we are ensuring that children are happier, more active, we are strengthening and improving their immune system.

That is why we have to somehow incentivize this type of holistic program.

What can I do?

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    Raising awareness is vital. Help make people aware of the situation and the difference we can make, together.

Your gift is delivering small strawberry tablets across indigenous communities in Venezuela and it's making a big difference to children's realities and futures.

Luis Colmenarez

Learn More

Education

Eighty per cent of brain development happens in the first three years of a child’s life. World Vision’s Early Childhood Development programmes are unique because we take a holistic approach to education and integrate nutrition, health and economic development work to bolster children’s learning skills.

World Vision’s Early Childhood Development Centre in the Afghani village of Kabarzan is providing opportunities for the community like:

  • Learning to read and write for more than 30 children
  • Developing good health habits to prevent the spread of disease
  • Skill training for mothers, who also learn about women's rights and the detrimental effects of child marriage, which are all too common in the region