Educate 300 Guatemalan Children

Since November 2021, we have been collaborating with Guatemala’s Ministerio de Trabajo to form a new programme called CAIPETI (Centro de Atención Integral en Prevención y Erradicación del Trabajo Infantil). The goal of this programme is to begin to eradicate child labour in Antigua Guatemala through education and runs alongside our catch-up classes and homework support.

We began with 20 children, who our social workers had identified as being vulnerable due to working in the streets of Antigua, and have now grown to 33 children. These children come to the Project every Friday morning to receive classes from our teachers. These classes are designed to empower the children as well as give them useful skills that they will be able to use in the future. Many of the children did not previously go to school when they were younger and need to catch up the learning that they previously missed. This year we have also added ICT classes to the curriculum and are helping our older children to gain qualifications that they can add to their CV.

Many of the children who come to our classes have previously been involved in internal migration, moving from other departments of Guatemala to Antigua for a better life. Their living conditions are therefore very precarious, with many hoping that their landlords do not take advantage of their desperate situation. Our social workers have been identifying the needs of these families and some of them have been added into our scholarship programme for next year to take these children off the streets and put them into school. Some families have already received beds, stoves and water filters and others will receive them later this month so that they no longer have to sleep on dirt or concrete floors.

After receiving their classes, the children also pass through our weekly vegetable distribution and receive bags of vegetables, fruit, and pizza. They can take this home to their families, meaning that they don’t have to work as much to pay for the family’s food.

Not only are the classes fun and educative for the children, they are also giving them a real sense of purpose. At the beginning of the programme many of the children had no ambitions or ideas of what they wanted to be or do when they are older. Now, many have set themselves goals and are working hard towards them. We are feeling really positive about their futures now. 

The GOD’S CHILD Project has been working for 30 years to break the chains of poverty through education, housing and healthcare. Please click the link below to donate to support us in our ongoing mission.