Education for 400 children in Guatemala

Formal classes continue in Guatemala where our scholarship students and members of the community will be planting hundreds of trees as part of our annual reforestation programme next week. They have already held litter-picking days around the communities taking the lead in educating the community on the advantages of a clean environment.

Extra classes have been held throughout the year to make sure all our students have caught up from the pandemic before final exams in the next few weeks. The curriculum they are studying is extremely varied including the traditional maths, sciences and languages to more vocational subjects like electronics.

Our scholarship programme has been extremely successful getting more teenagers and adults into further education with which they can secure better paid jobs which help put food on the table and pay for the extras needed for their siblings’ primary education.

Our sewing business continues with the single mothers, creating an income which they can use to pay for the education of their children and provide daily meals. Education and food – basic human rights which we are trying to uphold in the communities.

This year The Phoenix Projects are celebrating twenty years in Latin America and thanks to you around five thousand children, teenagers and adults have been able to receive a quality education during this time in Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Perú and previously in Brazil, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

We have built schools, extra classrooms, kitchens and energy efficient stoves, provided employment for dozens of local people, planted hundreds of thousands of trees, distributed educational materials, daily meals and hundreds of tonnes of fruit and implemented sustainable income plans on an average annual budget of around $100,000/£85,000.

Additionally, over three hundred families have benefitted from the implementation of sustainable income plans including cows, chickens, weaving, vegetables and small businesses.

To celebrate our 20^th Anniversary we are launching this year’s Appeal today and all donations up to $50/£40 will be matched at 50% by GlobalGiving from Monday 12th September - today - until Friday 16^th September. Larger donations can of course be made although the matching will only apply to the first $50/£40 and only once per individual donor.

We still have so much more we want to do over the coming years with the experience we have gained, including replicating the projects in other communities with sustainable plans covering running costs from the start.

Your continued support in helping to fund local teachers’ salaries and scholarships, school materials, food and sustainable income plans is as important now as it has been in the last twenty years.

We realise that times are uncertain though anything you can donate to the Appeal this week to take advantage of the 50% matching will help us start the next twenty years in the best possible way!

Thank you so much in advance.    

Cheers

In Guatemala our scholarship students continue to receive in-class teaching which over the past few months has involved electronics! It is key to receive vocational classes for future jobs. With our sustainable sewing project teaching many single mothers and the vocational subjects the students receive at school we should see many more opportunities in the future to generate income for the local families. Over the coming months we plan to plant more trees on behalf of the students to help with climate change which they themselves will be involved with for their graduation in October. We also plan to build a new sewing centre for the single mothers in the next couple of months as numbers increase. Whilst there is demand, donations permitting, we will aspire to do all we can do to help the local families generate their own income.

For all our donors who live in Ireland, Wales and England we are arranging some individual day fundraising hikes and events in September including Dublin on 17th, Kinsale on 19th, Anglesey on 22nd, Chester on 24^th and The Peak District on 26th. If you happen to be in the area and want to join us please do get in touch by replying to this email or heading to the website link at the bottom of this page. As we strive to regain our momentum and funding post-pandemic, fundraising events play such a key role so if you have any in mind, no matter how small or big, please do let us know and thank you so much.

We already have the dates for our major charity challenges in 2023 including The Lost City challenge in Colombia between 6-13^th May and the Inca Trail in Perú between 8-15^th July. If you are interested in either please do get in touch by replying to this email or following the 2023 Charity Challenges link at the bottom of the page.

Thank you all for your continued brilliant support, without which our work would be impossible. We realise the current cost of living crisis has added to the hardships of the past couple of years so everything you can continue to do to support our work is very much appreciated – thank you!

Cheers

Links:

• UK and Ireland September fundraising hikes
• Colombia and Peru Charity Challenges 2023