Education Guatemala Project #11981

Fund a teacher and teach a class in Latin America

by Fly The Phoenix

Project Report | Sep 13, 2021
Little By Little for Latin American Education

By Dom Williams | Founder and Director

Staggered classes in Honduras

I hope all is well with you. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to cause major problems in Latin America though the rollout of national vaccination programmes are giving some hope for the future “new normal”, albeit slowly. Our local teachers, who have all now been vaccinated, have continued to maintain the education of our students by travelling to the communities to hand out homework and answer any questions. Online teaching is not an option due to lack of internet and devices. Some staggered classroom teaching, with all the protocols in place, has been possible in some countries though normal classroom-based teaching for all is still months away.

This week’s Little By Little bonus donation campaign gives us a brilliant opportunity to build a foundation to work from as we look ahead to the final months of 2021 and into 2022. GlobalGiving will match each donation up to $50 by 50% from Monday 13^th to Friday 17^th September. It would be fantastic once again to rely on your support this week with whatever you are able to donate to this page.

Thanks to your donations during this time we have been able to keep everything going on a shoestring budget, including buying all the necessary biosecure products to maintain safety, though there has been so much we have wanted to do which has had to be put on hold. Restrictions due to Covid-19 have forced the cancellation of usual fundraising events including our charity challenges over the past nineteen months and the economic outlook remains uncertain.

Whilst the main priority is obviously keeping our current local teachers and the education of the children, once more funding becomes available we want to increase the number of local teachers, undertake maintenance, restock the classrooms and invest in more family sustainable income plans for the future which is even more critical during these times. The sustainable plans will provide extra income for the families to buy essential food and medicines as well as helping to fund the schools in the future.

We will also be planting a tree for every $10 raised during this week to help reduce the carbon footprint of the day-to-day activities of the projects. These include boat travel for the students in Guatemala, pickup transport for the students in Honduras and teachers’ transport up into the mountains in Ecuador and desert in Perú.

Our fifty secondary school and college scholarship students in Guatemala are coming up to their final exams which has been a tremendous effort by them bearing in mind they have had to travel into the main school each week from the six communities where they all live around Lake Atitlán to receive worksheets and drop off homework for marking for the whole year. Those students who are graduating will celebrate by planting trees in the surrounding hills. We are hoping to add more scholarship students for both secondary school and college in 2022.

The sewing project continues to be a great success for the single mothers and parents of the scholarship students as well as some of the elderly population eager to learn new skills. The extra income they have been able to earn through the project has been crucial during these times. Like the scholarships, we plan to increase the number of sewing machines in 2022.

Classes continue to be held on a staggered basis in Honduras with different grades each day with the students continuing to walk up to two hours from their communities to come to school, albeit once a week for now. We continue to transport those who live furthest away by pickup in the evenings.

The centralized Plan Huerto vegetable garden has been successful as part of the college course in agricultural techniques. They are now learning about and planting sweet-corn which yields in three months and can be sold to restaurants in urban areas and export. Having a large centralized Plan Huerto also will provide income to cover some school costs over time and the students can learn how to manage their own plan huertos in the future to help with extra income within the families for medicines and extra supplies.

The new school year got underway this month in Ecuador with staggered meetings with the parents explaining the protocol for the next few months. Different classes will be held on alternate days to reduce the number of students in the school on any given day. We purchased new supplies of hygiene and biosecure products to make sure the classrooms are as safe as possible.

Thanks to your donations we have been able to retain all our seven local Phoenix teachers, including three who we help with their University costs, so all classes now have a teacher.

Work and investment has continued with implementing sustainable income plans, including our Plan Chancho, Plan Pollo, Plan Cuy and Plan Huerto which aim to generate regular income specifically for the elderly population so they can buy medicines and extra supplies. Over the next year we plan to increase the herd in Plan Moo as well.

With Perú still suffering from high rates of Covid-19 the classrooms still remain closed. There have been whispers that staggered teaching may start this month though nothing concrete has been confirmed.

For the whole year our students have been learning from home using the textbooks we purchased at the start of the year. The teachers make regular visits to the community to set homework and correct worksheets. As the parents generally have little or no education themselves they cannot help with home-schooling so the regular visits by the teachers is essential.

Once the “new normal” starts we can concentrate on implementing sustainable family income plans which are now more critical than ever. These may include agriculture in the limited irrigated chakras (fields) in the desert, alpacas for wool and sewing projects.

Many thanks for anything you can donate this week to the Little By Little Campaign. It is such a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to get back on track after these past eighteen months and build a solid platform for the years ahead.

Also, if you are thinking of doing something different in 2022 please do follow the link in this report to our Charity Challenges in Perú and Ecuador in May and June taking in the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu in Perú and volcanos in Ecuador – you can do either or both!

Have a great month and thank you all once again.

Cheers

Scholarships in different communities in Guatemala

New school year starts in Ecuador

Learning from home in Peru

Plan Huerto in Honduras

Classes in Ecuador

Links:

Charity Challenges Peru and Ecuador 2022

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Jun 25, 2021
How the projects have coped so far in 2021

By Dom Williams | Founder and Director

Local teacher Gladys in Ecuador

Latin America continues to struggle to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic with cases remaining stubbornly high, hospitals close to breaking point and a slow vaccine rollout delaying a return to some sort of normality. Classroom-based teaching, apart from staggered teaching in Ecuador, has not been permitted in the countries where we work since March 2020 and the students have been unable to receive virtual classes due to lack of internet or devices. Our local teachers continue to make regular visits to the communities to hand out homework and answer questions individually. Due to their parents’ lack of education or basic literacy, in most cases non-existent, these visits are the only opportunity for the students to ask questions and get feedback.

Our fifty secondary school and college scholarship students in Guatemala from six different communities around Lake Atitlán continue to learn from home with no classroom-based teaching during the first half of the year. They have been unable to receive virtual classes due to lack of internet so walk to the school regularly to pick up and drop off homework. Due to their parents’ literacy capabilities being limited to none, especially in further education, these visits are their only opportunity to ask questions. Teachers are due to start being vaccinated over the next few weeks so it is hoped that some degree of group learning will be allowed in the second half of the year and final exams.

Our local teachers continue to head out into the communities in Honduras regularly for teaching and homework setting due to the Covid situation as virtual classes are not possible due to lack of internet and technology. With the students’ own parents’ literacy capabilities being limited to none, especially in further education, these visits are their only opportunity to ask questions. Staggered classroom opening was due to start from the end of February though rising cases of Covid-19 postponed this indefinitely.

As part of the agricultural course in our college the students undergo hands-on learning with all types of agricultural techniques from start to finish including soil, irrigation, fertilizers and different vegetable cycles for local market and export. By having a centralized Phoenix Plan Huerto the students can learn the process from start to finish and set up their own businesses, with our help, for their future. We plan to increase these plans in the second half of the year.

The school year draws to a close this month in Ecuador with all the children graduating despite limited classroom teaching coupled with teachers’ visits to the children’s homes in the four rural communities where they live. Due to their parents’ own literacy capabilities being limited to none these visits and limited classroom time are their only opportunity to ask questions.

The Ministry of Health had visited the school and given the official green light for classes to be delivered in-person in March a couple of days a week thanks to all the protocols we had and continue to put in place. Previously the parents had given their consent for classrooms to be open on a staggered basis.

With classes being held sporadically and with different grades per day due to Covid restrictions we took advantage of the “empty” school to do some maintenance, including a new paint-job.

With Perú suffering from a severe new wave of Covid infections classroom-based teaching is not expected to restart for several weeks. The children continue to learn from home, as they have done all year, with the text and exercise books we purchased earlier when some restrictions had briefly eased.

As virtual learning is not an option and the parents’ education limited it is hoped the students can get back into the classroom soon to receive their education. In the meantime the teachers try to make regular visits to their homes when they are allowed and go through topics one on one.

This year’s GlobalGiving Bonus Day will be celebrated is on 14th July where donations between $100 and $1,000 will be matched at varying levels whilst funds remain from 9am Eastern Time. The following matching structure will apply:

Donations of $100 - $499 will be matched at 15%

Donations of $500 - $749 will be matched at 30%

Donations of $750 - $1,000 will be matched at 50%

With fundraising events having been put on hold for the past year and half this is a fantastic way to help us raise the extra funds we need to keep the projects and education going in all our countries. If you can, please do donate early from 9am ET on 14^th July to take advantage of the matching bonusses as the extra funds tend to go quite quickly and thank you so much in advance!

We are also looking for partnerships with businesses as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programs as we look to implement more sustainable income plans in all our communities over the coming years. If you know of a company looking to expand their own CSR program and wanting to support projects in Latin America, please do email me on info@thephoenixprojects.org By using the tax benefits for all US taxpaying companies by donating through GlobalGiving it is a CSR program which is beneficial to all parties, especially if the donation is made on the July 14^th Bonus Day!

Thanks again for all your support and all the best for the second half of 2021

Cheers

Handing out text and workbooks

Scholarships in different communities in Guatemala

Learning agricultural techniques

Links:

Corporate Social Responsibility

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Mar 8, 2021
A 50% boost for sustainable plans this week

By Dom Williams | Founder and Director

Social distancing the little ones can be tricky!

I hope all is well. The Covid-19 pandemic still rages in Latin America though vaccination programmes are beginning to be rolled out with front-line health workers slated to be the first recipients. Many restrictions are still in place and full-time classroom-based teaching is still some way off.

We have given out fifty secondary school and college scholarships for students from four different communities at the lake in Guatemala. Due to lack of internet at home the school will be open a couple of days a week for the students to receive brief teaching sessions and homework. We are expanding the sewing project to include many more mothers this year to help them generate income for their fledgling families.

Our local teachers in Honduras continue to visit the communities to hand out worksheets for the students and progress continues with the sustainable plans.

In Ecuador the Ministry of Health officially gave the school the green light for a couple of days' teaching a week, thanks to the protocols we continue to put in place. Previously it had been left to the parents to give their permission, which they did.

Perú is still some way off school-based teaching though we have purchased individual textbooks for all the children so they can continue to work at home. Each week there will be a teaching and correcting session in the school, if permitted.

This week – Monday 8^th to Friday 12^th March - GlobalGiving are 50% matching all small individual donations from $10 to $50 as part of their Little By Little Campaign. We want to take this opportunity to add one of each of all our sustainable plans with your 50% matched donation going towards the total cost of setting up each plan. These plans will then provide sustainable income for the local families and the schools well into the future.

Many of you were extremely generous in the recent Appeal so we understand if this isn't possible right now though if you do have some spare change rattling around please do donate to this page to help us take full advantage of this fantastic matching campaign.

Please note, the matching will only be applied once per person though feel free to share this with friends, family and work colleagues and club together to fund your own plan.

The amounts shown below are the total costs of each plan to give you an idea of how your 50% matched donation plays a vital part. For example it could be used for seeds or piping in Plan Huerto (vegetable gardens – the total cost is $200 with rain-capture irrigation and poly-tunnels); chicks or feed for Plan Pollo (chickens - $200 including coop and feed); gas or hobs for an industrial stove in Plan Negocio (cottage industries from $250); needles, thread and materials in Plan Costura (sewing machines - $250); a hoof or leg in Plan Moo (milking cows – from $500 for each young cow); a male & female starter pack in Plan Cuy (guinea pigs - $600 including house) or hundreds of fry for Plan Tilapia (fish farms - $800 including pools and feed).

Despite Covid restrictions being lifted slowly this year the thought of international travel is still far from many people's plans though when that itch demands to be scratched it would be brilliant if you could join our Charity Challenges in Perú and Ecuador in 2022.

The dates for the Inca Trail in Perú are Saturday 21st to Saturday 28th May with the itinerary for Ecuador still to be confirmed. There is still plenty of time to decide though feel free to get in touch on info@thephoenixprojects.org

Thank you all for your amazing support as ever and have a great March.

Cheers

Plan Moo

Socially distanced parent meeting

Keeping the classrooms safe

Scholarships in different communities in Guatemala

Links:

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