Fund a teacher and teach a class in Latin America

I hope all is well with you. We’re almost at the end of the first quarter of 2019; time is flying by! We are now in the second phase of our 25-year cycle; 1) introducing education, 2) introducing sustainable plans to help cover costs of the projects whilst continuing to cover the costs through donations and 3) with the projects sustainable we will concentrate on employment generation for the graduates.

For many years we have introduced education to hundreds of children and seen them continue from primary school, through secondary school and college so for us now to be in the stage where are adding in sustainable plans whilst continuing to cover costs is a huge advance from when we started. Thank you to you all for helping us get this far and for continuing to support us in the future.

It is Charity Challenge season once again and we will be heading to Perú and Ecuador in May to raise funds for all our projects so please do support the challenge by donating to this page.

In Guatemala, our school got off to a great start in Itzapa with all eight grades of classrooms full and being taught by our local teachers, most of whom came through the system with us from the start (phase 1!). Just the other day we bumped into two of our female students who started with us back in the early 2000’s and who we managed to get experience with a local accountancy firm a few years back: they are both now formally employed with that firm, earning critical income for their families back in the community.

As Guatemala was our first country we are well into the second phase of the cycle with the community taking more control and decision making of the day-to-day running of the school which is essential for future sustainability.

A brilliant start to our projects in and around Copán, Honduras with the main college welcoming more students from seven different communities, many walking hours each day to receive an education. Our satellite school in Barbasco and its new classrooms got underway with three secondary school grades now being taught this year. We will also be supporting a new school in La Pintada, mainly with school materials and hopefully later in the year with more local teachers.

We are well into the second phase in Honduras with many sustainable plans, like vegetable gardens and coffee, helping to cover some of the costs of the projects. There is still a long way to go though we are optimistic in implementing chicken plans in several communities during 2019, spreading the benefits around and most importantly for the students themselves.

The second half of the school year got underway in January with our three local Phoenix teachers doing a sterling job in Ecuador. We are succeeding in getting the local community more involved not just with the school though with sustainable plans for the future, with great success with the upcoming “fiambre” feast being organized which we will be putting some money towards.

Like our other countries, we are into the second phase of our work in Ecuador with sustainable plans, like Plan Moo (cows) and Plan Cuy (guinea pigs) already helping to cover the majority of the secondary school, college and university costs. Donations still cover our primary school costs and we will be working on implementing more sustainable plans during 2019.

In the first week of June we will be undertaking our charity challenge, climbing volcanoes to raise money for the projects. To donate to the challenge in support, please donate to this page and thank you!

Our project in Perú was our last school to get underway this month after the holidays and the number of children is impressive in our project out in the desert around Arequipa. Edyluz ran an excellent summer school during January to help those children who hadn’t gone back to the altiplano and their families with their studies and what they struggled with during 2018 and preparing them for 2019.

We are still in the first phase in Perú though will be implementing sustainable plans for the first time during 2019 so fingers crossed with their success. In the last week of May we will be undertaking the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu charity challenge so please donate to this page.

Thank you and all the best for the next few months and we will update you on the goings on, especially the Perú and Ecuador challenges!

Cheers

I hope all is well with you. Thank you so much to all of you who have helped us continue our work this year with regular donations, charity challenge participation and one-off donations. To coin the old cliché, we couldn´t have done it without you!

As 2018 draws to a close here is a brief look back at the year and more importantly a glimpse at what 2019 has in store! It has been a good year in Guatemala with over 200 children receiving pre-school and primary education as the community continues to takes more control in the running and direction of the school over the coming years. Looking ahead to 2019 money generated within the community through sustainable income plans should start to help cover the basic costs of the school including rent, internet and materials. Our donations will go towards this too as well as salaries as we continue to give opportunities to recently graduated teachers to gain important experience.

In Honduras the successful graduations from the Phoenix College, including Sindy who walked an hour each way every day to study and who finished the top of her class, capped an excellent year in the projects. Construction continued on the central college as well as our first satellite school in Barbasco. More adults received literacy classes as part of the curriculum and many communities received lectures on health and sustainability from our students who also wowed the crowds on Independence Day with the improved school band! 2019 will hopefully include increased numbers of students in our secondary schools and college in both Copán and Barbasco as well as more help for La Pintada. The year will also include an increased push with family sustainable plans across the communities as we continue to strive for internal funding for the projects over the coming years.

For the first time ever in Ecuador we celebrated a Christmas party including all the children, parents and grand-parents from Muenala, Huayrapungo, Achupallas and Urcusiqui. Adding another Phoenix teacher, Cristian, has really helped lessen the teacher/class ratio and David has continued his fine work. With 2019 ushering in the second half of the school year we hope to add further teachers for the start of the new school year in September whilst concentrating on the implementation of a variety of sustainable plans within the communities during the year.

We celebrated twelve years in Maldonado this year as Edyluz, who has been with us from the very beginning, continues her sterling work! Great results and the annual beach trip, a respite for the children and mothers living in the desert for 365 days a year, topped off a great year as graduations and a Christmas party brought 2018 to a close. Summer school will continue in January before the new school year starts again in March when we hope to add a new Phoenix teacher. We also hope to belatedly start introducing sustainable plans. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to this year’s Appeal, raising funds to go towards the $100,000 we plan to spend during 2019 on local teachers and materials. One final push by donating to this page and we can reach our targets so please do dig deep if you can or even crowd fund with friends, family and co-workers in your office or school and aim for one teacher's salary for the whole year!

Examples:

$3,725 1 teacher for 25-30 children for one year
$1,860 1 teacher for 25-30 children for six months
$930 1 teacher for 25-30 children for three months
$310 1 teacher for 25-30 children for one month

$180 1 child for one year
$90 1 child for six months
$45 1 child for three months
$15 1 child for one month

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu Challenge from 26^th-31^st May. There are now no spots left due to the official limited numbers allowed on the trail each day. Due to demand we will be running a second challenge in tandem, the Salkantay Trek, with both finishing at Machu Picchu on the same day. We have only six places remaining so please do get in touch if you are interested.

The following week we will be taking on the Ecuador Challenge, including volcanoes Fuya Fuya and Imbabura. A great group is forming for that one too so please do get in touch with dom@thephoenixprojects.org if you are interested in either challenge, or indeed both!

Thank you so much to all of you who have helped us continue our work this year with regular donations, charity challenge participation and one-off donations. To coin the old cliché, we couldn´t have done it without you!

Have a great 2019!

Cheers

Links:

• Charity Challenges for 2019