Education for 400 children in Guatemala

As part of the Fly The Phoenix Seven Continent Charity Challenge on Saturday 6th June, the communities themselves will be undertaking events to raise awareness and funds. In Guatemala our local teachers, students and families will be planting 5,000 trees and hiking around the communities. Please sponsor the communities as we strive to move towards sustainability over the next few years by donating to this page.

Impressive first-of-the-year exam results in Itzapa were handed out to the mothers in April with the next round of exams being undertaken as I write this report! Our local teachers have been tremendous, mostly all ex-students from years back. It is so nice to see the children being treated as equals. Mother's Day was excellent in both Santa María and Itzapa with plenty of folkloric dance. Our daily breakfast and fruit program continues with great success. We also held a meeting with the mothers of our graduating students to explain our proposed plan to help generate family income to pay for further education costs with chickens which we will provide - this was met with resounding happiness and enthusiasm.

During June we plan to plant 29,000 from our tree-nursery (5,000 on 6th June). The families of the children in the school will be given as many as they need to plant around their fields to form wind-breaks and avoid soil erosion.

Thank you all for your support and please do sponsor the community as they take on their hike on 6th June. Cheers

Both our schools in Guatemala have started the year really well. We now employ twenty local teachers, most of whom were our ex-students we have helped through teaching college - full circle! As ever the daily fruit and breakfasts are provided. New toilets have been built in Itzapa and we plan to start on a new covered area in Santa Maria. The paperwork is underway to formally legalize Santa María as an official school, like Itzapa four years ago. Hundreds of families benefit from our schools and with the sustainable income plans we are putting in this year we hope to secure family income to allow the children to continue on to secondary school, college and university. So much to get excited about in the coming months and we will keep you up to date with all the goings-on!

Thank you to all our donors who continually help to make this happen and who will make this happen in the future. Remember that on 6th June we are undertaking The Phoenix Seven Continent Charity Challenge, where you can undertake any fundraising event at home, knowing that fundraisers are being held on the same day around the world. Please do get involved and use this page as your fundraising page - every cent counts!. For more information click here. 

Thank you and have a great March! 

Links:

• The Phoenix Seven Continent Charity Challenge 6th June 2015