Education for 400 children in Guatemala

I hope all is well with you. We have had a fantastic few months on the projects in Latin America including two Charity Challenges to raise much needed funds for the schools. We are already planning three challenges for 2024 which can be seen by following the link at the bottom of this newsletter.

Work has begun preparing the ground for a vegetable garden in a local school in one of the communities where our scholarship students live in Guatemala. The harvests will go towards daily meals in the school and any extra shared amongst the families, especially the elderly.

Communication with the scholarship students’ parents is key to the success of the programme. Regular meetings are held to discuss education and issues. As part of the scholarship programme the parents of the students get involved in community work including litter clearing during the year. The local Police even got involved to do their part in the most recent cleaning day!

Our scholarship students were involved recently in inter-school sports competitions and came out winners in several categories.

Whilst our priority is for secondary school and college education, there is still a huge need for primary school help with school materials. We have spent the last few months seeking out the families in the most need and supplying educational materials so they remain in school.

All the best from the projects and we’ll update you again in a couple of months.

Cheers

Links:

• Charity Challenges 2024

I hope all is well with you. From today until the end of Friday 7^th April, GlobalGiving will be matching the first $50 of all individual donations to this page by 50% which is a fantastic opportunity for the projects, the children and members of the communities where we work. Thank you so much in advance for anything you can donate this week helping us continue our work in Latin America with the additional bonus of the matching!

You may have seen mention in the past of the week-long Charity Challenges that Fly The Phoenix undertake each year to raise funds for the projects and have thought about getting involved. This year we will be taking on the Lost City Charity Challenge in Colombia in May and the Inca Trail in Perú in July and it would be great to have you on the team if you are interested. For information on the challenges please follow the link below.

In Guatemala we have expanded our scholarship programme to a new school in Santiago Atitlán on the other side of the lake, concentrating on “diversificado”, similar to college education bringing the total of students we support to one hundred. We also pay for a local teacher to hold extra study classes during the week so the students can receive more attention, as well as have the opportunity to talk in private about any personal issues they may have.

This year we are helping primary school students from very poor backgrounds with extra utensils and workbooks. Whilst the government now provides basic supplies there is always the need for more which is difficult for many families living in rural areas to provide. It is hoped that these students will then become part of our scholarship programme in the future rather than losing interest and dropping out just because they didn’t have sufficient school supplies. With this we aim to reach our goal of fully educating between six hundred and one thousand children over the next ten years.

Have a great April and if you can donate to this page this week to receive the 50% matching on the first $50 it would be fantastic and thank you in advance. Also if you are interested in getting involved in the charity challenges, please do get in touch through the link below.

Cheers

Links:

• Colombia and Peru Charity Challenges 2023