Educate 300 Guatemalan Children

As the closure of schools in Guatemala reaches and passes 18 months with no sign of opening any time soon, the children of Guatemala have suffered greatly due to COVID-19. There is light at the end of the tunnel, however, as the vaccination programme is beginning for children over 12 years old with the aim of getting children back to school. As the school year ends in October, though, it is likely that schools will not open until early 2022.

One of our students currently waiting for the schools to reopen is 13-year-old Otilia, a student in the Etapas Programme in 2020. Otilia did not have the chance to study when she was younger and so is now catching up with us. In 2021 she is in 6^th grade having almost caught up to her age group.

Otilia lives with her sister and mother in Vista Hermosa, right next to the Scheel Center School. Her mother is originally from Joyabaj, Quiché. Their native language is Quiché and it is sometimes difficult for Otilia and her family to express themselves in Spanish. Otilia has another sister who lives in Ciudad Vieja with her partner. This is quite far away from Jocotenango and so Otilia does not get to see her sister very often. Otilia’s father abandoned the family when she was a baby and has never been a part of her life.

The family’s house is made up of two small buildings. One is made from sheet metal and the other is a ‘Casa Azul’, a house built by the Project. Some wooden parts of their house have been burnt, however. The family uses a latrine because they do not have a bathroom in the house. They use firewood to cook their food and Otilia shares a bed with her sister. The house is on a steep slope and during the rainy season is at risk of landslides and flooding.

Otilia’s mother makes tortillas and watches parked cars in the streets of Antigua at night. She earns around Q320 ($40) a month. Otilia and her family do not always have enough money to be able to eat three times a day. Their mother takes any work she can to earn money to feed her children.

The Project has worked hard to support Otilia and her family. In addition to building her a house, Otilia’s mother regularly receives vegetables from our distribution to make sure that the children do not go hungry. Otilia has also received clothes and school supplies which she and her family could not afford to buy. This year we provided Otilia and her family with a new woodburning stove. The stove uses 50% less firewood meaning that the family can save money and use it for their other necessities.

Otilia has ambitions for the future and would like to be either an actor or a teacher when she graduates university. She would like to be a teacher because she likes to teach children to read or an actor who stars on television. She also wants to help her mother with the household costs and to provide a better life for her family.

Links:

• The GOD'S CHILD Project

It has been more than a year since the Guatemalan government closed all schools as a precaution to fight COVID-19. In that past year it has been extremely tough for the children of Guatemala to continue their education from home, with many unable to access the resources they need to be able to study at home.

At the beginning of 2021 we made the difficult decision to keep our schools closed for the year.  We believed that restrictions on schools were not going to be lifted for a long time - something which has become apparent as we are six months into the year with no sign of opening anytime soon - and that our children’s needs would be better suited going to schools closer to home. There are many children in our schools who live a long way away from the school and found it difficult to access transport to come in to collect study guides last year. We haven’t abandoned our schoolchildren, however, as we have a scholarship programme to cover their school fees for this year.

Emiliano and his sister Angelina have studied at our Dreamer Center School for a number of years now. This year they are studying in a school closer to their home, meaning that they do not have to spend as much time outside their house and potentially at risk. Emiliano is in second grade and his older sister Angelina is in fourth grade. Both Emiliano and Angelina were hardworking students in the Dreamer Center and this has translated over to their new school where they are continuing to get good grades and complete their work to their own high standards.

That doesn’t mean, however, that it is easy for the children to complete their schoolwork. Much of their work needs the internet to access it, a luxury that most of our former students including Emiliano and Angelina can barely afford to have. Some schools have teachers sending instruction videos via WhatsApp which many of our children have no way of accessing, meaning that the schoolwork is completely beyond their grasp. It is also hard to work with no light or electricity, something that is very temperamental in Guatemala. With no light in the house the children cannot complete their work.

Nuestros Ahijados is working hard to make the lives of our students such as Emiliano and Angelina easier and to take away some of the stress of the pandemic from the family. Every two weeks Emiliano’s mother receives a large amount of fruits, vegetables and other foods such as pizza, sardines and flour to make tortillas. This not only helps to feed the family but also allows the money the family has saved to be used for other things such as internet access, photocopies and school supplies. We have also been giving a number of families solar-powered lamps so that in case of a blackout or light bill not being paid the families are still able to continue their learning. Emiliano’s mother told us that the lamp has been a lifesaver. Finally, through our sponsorship programme we were able to provide Emiliano and Angelina with some much-needed school supplies, as well as a colouring book for their younger sister so that she could take part in study sessions with her older siblings.

Even though our schools are closed this year we still consider the children and families to be a vital part of our project. That means we continue to work hard to ensure that they have what they need and get a fighting chance at success. The rest is up to them, and we are delighted that many children are like Emiliano and Angelina and are working hard to give themselves a better education and future.