Education for 400 children in Guatemala

I hope all is well with you. We've had a great start to 2024 in Guatemala with one hundred scholarship students starting the school year in both secondary school and college and we handed out a further one hundred bags of necessary supplies to primary school students. Whilst the Government does supply the basics at the start of the year a more complete set is always needed which the parents cannot provide so these extra utensils give the children the best chance of a good education during 2024.

As has always been the case, education tends to be the first sacrifice when there is no money. Many days over the past two months have been spent visiting families in several villages and hamlets around the lake to find those in the most need and who are willing to continue their studies. Some students have underlying health issues which have taken precedence too though with the necessary tools they can now continue their studies.

The classroom materials are not just for the younger children entering education. They are also for older students who had dropped out of primary school due to lack of money to buy these materials. They now have the chance to continue their education, graduate primary school and enter secondary school with our scholarship programme.

We supported two community-led schemes to clean the lake’s shore around Santiago Atitlán where our scholarship students and their parents filled seventy sacks with plastic and other rubbish. This year we want to continue to emphasise the importance of team sports in the schools and our scholarship students got stuck into a football competition.

Work will soon commence on school Plan Huertas to provide additional daily meals and we plan to extend our Plan Costura (sewing business) to involve more single mothers and University students.  

It goes without saying that you cannot study on an empty stomach though the vast majority of the families where we work cannot provide much more than the absolute basics at home, usually a few boiled or dried potatoes or noodles in hot water with some herbs. Some governments have become more proactive with school meals over the years by providing some supplies like rice and beans though these generally run out well before the next delivery.

Our school Plan Huertas aim to provide sufficient vegetables sustainably for the students on a daily basis with any extra used to barter for other products which cannot be grown or shared with the families to eat at home.

As you can see we've had a great start to the year and to help us continue our work over the next few months GlobalGiving will be matching all donations up to $50/£40 by 50% this week (Monday 8th - Friday 12th April) whilst available funds last as part of their Little By Little Campaign which is a fantastic opportunity for the projects. 

For those of you with Instagram we have started to update our account once again after a couple of years’ hiatus so please do seek us out on phoenix_flying_2020

We are nearing capacity for the Patagonia Charity Challenge (please follow the link below for details and costs) which is raising money for all the projects so if you are interested in joining us in November 2024 please do let us know by emailing info@thephoenixprojects.org 

We will also be taking on the London Bridges Charity Challenge again on Saturday 3rd August followed by a reunion in a pub. If you are interested in getting involved with the bridges or just coming to the reunion afterwards please do let us know by writing to the email shown above!  

All the best for the rest of April and we'll update you in the near future.

Cheers

Links:

• Charity Challenges 2024