Born in Leon, Nicaragua on April 23, 1965, her parents are Carlos Manuel Benavides and María José León de Benavides. For the first six years of her life, Georgina lived with her parents before later moving to Colón, Panamá in 1973 to live with her aunt. It was there that she began her studies at a school run by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.In 1976, Georgina returned again to the city where she was born in Nicaragua to continue studying junior high and high school at Colegio La Asunción. She graduated with a diploma in Arts and Sciences.
In 1983, she entered the University of Central America at Managua to study psychology, a degree that was interrupted two years later when she joined the congregation of the Sisters of Charity in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
At the end of her formation at the convent, she was sent to the Fray Felipe of Jesus Moraga orphanage in Santa Ana, El Salvador in 1988, where she had the opportunity to work with youth as director. There, she led many activities to benefit the girls that were entrusted to her care.
Time passed and in 1993 she was sent to the St. Vincent de Paul Orphanage in the barrio of San Jacinto, San Salvador. There she served as director of the infant wing, taking on the responsibility of caring for the many young children abandoned by their parents.
In 1995 she continued her work as a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, this time being assigned to the San Jose orphanage in San Pedro Sula, Honduras where she served as director, helping to bring scholarships to the children for education. Working with Atlántida Bank, she worked on developing a scholarship program allowing the children at the orphanage to complete their primary studies and continue with their education. Before the scholarship program was set up, the majority of girls at the orphanage usually didn’t study beyond sixth grade, due to the lack of economic resources at the orphanage.
In 1998, Georgina was reassigned again, this time to Antigua, Guatemala, where she worked as a guidance counselor for girls studying basic education at Colegio Santa Familia. In Antigua she accompanied the girls from the school to their homes, helping them not just with academics, but with the many other challenges they faced.
Later she became sub-director of the Marillac Orphanage in Sonsonate, El Salvador, and began her studies again in 2000. She graduated with a business degree in 2005 from la Universidad “Dr. Andrés Bello.”
In 2003, Georgina left the congregation and began working for the Department of Public Relations for the government of Sonsonate, El Salvador. In 2003 she received a special placement with “Ludotecas Naves de Sonsonete,” an organization dedicated to defending the basic rights of children, especially their right simply to be kids and enjoy recreation. As part of her work at Ludoteca, she studied towards her masters degree at the Universidad Pedagogica of El Salvador. She graduated in 2006.
