Fund a teacher and teach a class in Latin America

With 2020 well into it’s second month we want to share with you our plans for the coming year.

In Guatemala we are initiating new projects with single teen mothers (more below) with small business initiatives to help them to continue with their education, giving University scholarships for recently-graduated female teachers and help in overcrowded classrooms, scholarships for secondary school and college students and medical checks for the elderly and sustainable income plans.  

We started our new projects with teenage single mothers and Plan Corte sustainable plan where we purchased five sewing machines so they can learn new skills and generate extra income. We are also paying for secondary school and college scholarships for teenagers who can’t afford further education. Depending on donations we aim to help between 600-1000 students over the coming years as well as purchase new sewing machines to involve more teenage mothers. If this trial is successful we hope to duplicate the program in other areas of Guatemala.  

In Honduras we plan to undertake an ambitious sustainable income plan implementation program in various communities for the local families to increase their personal income whilst helping with costs in the schools. There is also more construction and maintenance of classrooms in the pipeline. Paperwork has also been started to add agricultural studies to the curriculum in 2021.

We started the year adding one more local Phoenix college teacher, bringing the total to nine Phoenix teachers. We also supplied text/workbooks for all the students in the primary, secondary and college as well as classroom materials thanks to the 2020 Appeal. In December last year, Girl Power was represented at the Phoenix College Graduation as all the graduates were girls! See below a photo of Norma, who was one of our first graduates from the Phoenix College and now works with us as a teacher, handing over the diploma to one of her own graduates – full-circle!  

We hope to restart the food program for the children in Ecuador with more investment in Plan Huerto (vegetable gardens) and Plan Pollo (chickens). We will also be implementing sustainable plans for the local families and adding another local teacher for the start of the new school year in September bringing the total to five Phoenix teachers and of course the Charity Challenge in June. 

The third set of exams are upon us and to celebrate them the children from 4th to 7th grade will head out for a day at Peguche waterfall. Phoenix teacher David has also been teaching 6th grade intricate weaving techniques. We have started a Plan Pollo as part of the children’s food at the school. At the end of 2019 we once again celebrated the community Christmas party for the youngest to the oldest with plenty of food and traditional dance as well as treating our local teachers to an end of year meal.

Finally in Perú, we hope to add another local teacher whilst covering their University costs, investigate potential sustainable plans, construction in the school including fencing off the area for security and our Inca Trail Charity Challenge in May.

At the end of 2019 fifty-two children and parents headed out for the annual Phoenix beach trip this month to celebrate the end of the school year. For many it is the first time they have seen so much water as they live in the desert outside of Arequipa with very little water. A successful Summer School followed in January which concentrated on going over maths and language as well as planting some trees in the community. The school returns for the start of the new year in March.

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far to our 2020 Appeal. We are just $3,500 and 250 trees short of our target of 10% of our budget for 2020 so if you still wanted to donate, please do so by donating to this page.

The teams are building for our Charity Challenges in Perú and Ecuador in May and June 2020. Whilst our Inca Trail challenge is now full we will be opening up a tandem group via Salkantay to reach Machu Picchu on the same day. For those of you wondering what to do in 2021, we will be taking on one of our hardest challenges yet, Cotopaxi Volcano in Ecuador (which includes some glacier training!) in February and also the Inca Trail once again in May. Please do contact us by following the link to the Challenges below if you want to get involved in any of these events in 2020 or 2021 and help us reach our goals for the decade.

Have a great February and we will keep you updated in a couple of months!

Cheers

Links:

• Charity Challenges in 2020