Nikauris Vaquez Humer

I maintain communication with the parent so that we can ensure a good and successful education, and that the child can develop adequately and the parent practices it at home. So we're already doing it. Similarly, among young people right now, I'm like a projection for the youth here, because many young people perhaps don't really know. And lately, every time young people leave school, they have nothing. They're thinking, 'What am I going to do? Nobody tells me.' Many young people come to my house to talk with me, to tell me, 'I don't know what to do, what should I do?' And for me, that's wonderful, that they see me as a projection, an image of achievement, or perhaps of vision, and they can too. I show them that I can also help them achieve their dreams, that anything is possible. If I see a scholarship or something, let's go find this. I will help you. I send them all the necessary information, and that's hardly ever seen around here.

mentor who supported Nikauris in her journey

mentors who supported Nikauris in her journey

Cultural Hearts - the organization that gave Nikauris the opportunity to start her school

The first thing was that I felt that maybe I wouldn't be able to have enough support, but thank God Cultural Hearts was there, which gave me the opportunity to start. Laura, you all at CA and Laura Pena as well are truly wonderful people who have been in my life, who have supported and helped me. So I truly hope that every single person on their own path, throughout their journey and process, can also find truly wonderful individuals who are able to see that incredibly beautiful side that everyone possesses.

The impact that my passion has, the one I so deeply desire to see manifest in others is that I genuinely feel that with this I am changing the world. I mean the world, because you know there's only one parent. There can be a parent and a child, but all that learning, everything the parent observes, and I maintain communication with the parent so that we can ensure a good and successful education, and that the child can develop adequately and the parent practices it at home. So we're already doing it. We're succeeding because that father will tell another father, that child will teach another child, and will create a chain. So I am not just changing the community I'm in. I'm changing the entire world.

I wake up happy every single day. I wake up feeling excited every day. I greet my child with so much love. It truly shows that I love it, that I like it, that I adore it, and that I do it with so much passion, which is not the same when you don't have that feeling. I truly believe that everyone will feel much freer with a different kind of expression because the more we do what we truly enjoy, we are actively pursuing our dreams, then life, the overall quality of life, I feel, becomes quite different. It's not just that we are, because many people perhaps have, they're working somewhere else, and they feel their life is monotonous, that nothing brings them happiness, that nothing truly holds importance. But when you're doing that, I feel the whole world would wake up with energy.

But what truly hit me was during the quarantine, which impacted my life because I saw, I could see how, I even moved from my community. Therefore, it was quite a significant impact because when I moved there, I truly observed this vulnerability that existed, especially within this very community where I currently live. During the quarantine period, I was able to realize the number of families with young children and what those young children were actually doing. Those young children were on the street or stayed with their siblings. At that age, from one to five or even six years old, a child is like a sponge, learning so many things, absorbing all knowledge. Seeing all that knowledge they weren't receiving, and that there was no nearby community center, really impacted me. I would just start crying simply from seeing those children like that.

Believe and create your reality. Keep pursuing your dreams, your own path, everything, because everything is possible. All that you believe becomes reality. We must see it, dream it, and yearn for it. One piece of advice that I would really like to share with everyone is to never give up. Never give up, pause, because everything is possible. Absolutely everything is possible.

Even I myself was in that very situation because throughout that process I encountered individuals who kept telling me no, that I wouldn't be able to succeed, that it was merely my imagination, that I should just keep dreaming, and that I would never ever achieve this dream. There are many people who are like that too, who have so many people around them telling them no, that they won't achieve that dream. By only having those people around them, only those people influence their minds. It's truly disheartening that so many young people with dreams and aspirations are forced to sit idly by or do something they truly don't want to, simply because society dictates what they should do and doesn't let them be free.

I even had two interviews, one when I was about eleven or twelve and another when I was around seventeen, and I said exactly the same thing. It was incredible because I said exactly the same thing. What was my dream? My dream was to have a school, to have many children, and to give them the opportunity to attend from one year to five years old, those ages. I mean it was all the same. It was incredible. Something that really impacted me. I already had that dream. We must possess a very clear vision of the specific actions we need to undertake to ensure its continuity. All that you believe becomes reality. We must see it, dream it, and yearn for it.

One piece of advice that I would really like to share with everyone is to never give up. Never give up because everything is possible. Absolutely everything is possible. Keep pursuing your dreams, your own path, everything, because everything is possible. The first thing was that I felt that maybe I wouldn't be able to have enough support, but thank God Cultural Hearts was there, which gave me the opportunity to start. Once I truly grasped that reality, during that process there were actually so many challenges, things that kept telling me no, don't do it, many voices. Being able to get started, I truly believe that being able to start was the biggest and most significant thing and the most enormous process I've ever gone through because when I decided to start, I really had to concentrate completely on the project. Beginnings are always difficult. They're never easy, but the entire process is truly beautiful. I can definitely say that to start is to make a commitment. There will be inevitable ups and downs, much like the ebb and flow of ocean waves, waves that we are swimming through and constantly reaching for.

At my house, I had just finished moving in and I remember saying, I told my mother, 'Well, what was it that I did when I saw those children like that at my home?' I built a little stand. My stepfather helped me. He found some wood that had been given to him, and I built a little stand. I started teaching the children, and I saw the parents super excited. The kids would go, and they learned everything. In three months, I taught a child to read and write completely, from scratch. The parents were truly surprised when they saw the children, who were very young, already knowing all of that: the animals, fruits, colors, and all those subjects. The parents started calling me teacher, teacher, teacher, and I saw the impact it had on the community.

How do I know this is my path in life? My path in life feels as if I have always known it. It is like an instinct I have had since I was a child. I have always been with younger children, always teaching them how to do things, always being creative. Ever since I was little, I knew what my path was. I even had two interviews, one when I was about eleven or twelve and another when I was around seventeen, and I said exactly the same thing. It was incredible because I said exactly the same thing. What was my dream? My dream was to have a school, to have many children, and to give them the opportunity to attend from one year to five years old, those ages. I mean it was all the same. It was incredible. Something that really impacted me. I already had that dream.