Alicia Avilés is a

Costa Rican Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

educator and activist. Avilés worked for 12 years as an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

teacher in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. After settling in La Carpio, she helped create an arts organization, ''Sistema Integral de Formación Artística para la Inclusión Social'' (SIFAIS). Avilés is the community director of SIFAIS.

Biography

Avilés was born in

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

. She was educated at Lumen Christi and at Loyola High School. She went on to become an

teacher for 12 years. Avilés left

in the 1990s when she was persecuted for her involvement in a teachers' strike in that country. She was also seeking a better economic opportunity in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. Avilés started working as a

maid A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

. Avilés has become the civic leader of the La Carpio neighborhood in,

San José San José or San Jose (Spanish for Saint Joseph) most often refers to: *San Jose, California, United States *San José, Costa Rica, the nation's capital San José or San Jose may also refer to: Places Argentina * San José, Buenos Aires ** San ...

. She is the community director of the Integrated System of Art Education for Social Inclusion (''Sistema Integral de Formación Artística para la Inclusión Social'' SIFAIS). Avilés helped create this organization along with Maris Stella Fernández in 2011. Also in 2011, Avilés helped create a youth

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

in the neighborhood. This orchestra now plays throughout Costa Rica. SIFAIS also provides classes in various other skills. In 2017, Avilés was honored in '' The Tico Times'' list of "Women of the Year."

References

External links

An interview with Alicia Avilés
(2017 video in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Avilés, Alicia People from Managua People from San José, Costa Rica Nicaraguan educators Costa Rican activists Costa Rican women activists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people