Alvaro is 16 years old, and is in his second year of high school, he has been chosen as the class president due to his leadership skills and trustworthiness. Alvaro has been very committed to GSE’s activities since the program was started in his school. He has showed a lot of hard work and initiative, often staying over hours and doing green house maintenance during his free time. Alvaro loves soccer and spending time at the beach. Alvaro has struggled for most of his life, trying to do his best in the school while at the same time working sporadically to help his family economically.
Alvaro has a family of 6, his dad José Vera, his mom Amparo Piguave, his grandfather Mauro Piguave, 19 year old brother Mauro Valderramos and his 13 year old brother Andy Vera.
Alvaro’s dad has not been able to work for almost a year now, his diabetes led to blindness. This makes it also hard for her mom to find employment out of home, since there is the need of someone in the house to take care of her husband, she works washing the clothes of other people to make a living. Luckily Alvaro’s grandfather and older brother work in carpentry, getting work from time to time. Their already quite deteriorated home has been greatly damaged by the earthquake. All of the pillars had either been sunk or broken. In such economic conditions they cannot afford rebuilding it. For now they sleep in the backyard and spend the day in the facilities of the extended family.