Sustainable Income Plans in Latin America

Over the past several years we have been investing in sustainable income generating plans with the families in the communities. These not only provide extra income for the family though also help to cover some of the projects' costs. For example, Plan Moo in Ecuador now cover most of the students' secondary and college costs from the sale of milk and Plan Café (our coffee plantation) covers graduation costs in Honduras. As we continue to invest in more plans over the coming years we hope to start covering our local teachers' costs, THE key component of the projects: education!

It has been an excellent few months in Guatemala with final exams done and dusted and the results showing vast improvements in many areas. The children learn a very varied curriculum including three languages (Kaqchiquel, Spanish and English), math, sciences and dance giving them an all round primary education. During the year our ten local teachers (many of whom were once students in the project) taught over 200 children. Our sustainable plans we have implemented over the years also helped many children continue their studies due to the added income. This is an area we would like to continue building on in the future – it’s in the community’s hands!

In Honduras our students in the secondary school and college are gearing up for their final exams in December with fifteen potential graduates leaving us with glowing results. We have seen over the years that all our graduates find jobs straight away with local NGOs due to the expansive and varied education they receive with us, including rural sustainability, healthcare and business knowledge. This success proves to the local families that education is indeed necessary, rather than choosing not to educate their children in the past so that they can help in the fields. By having solid proof like this the parents are more likely to send their children to school in the future and we are happy to have them!

As part of the final year of the Phoenix College the students have to teach 5 hours a week of adult literacy in the communities. The majority of the adults cannot read and write so this is a crucial part of the course. The female students even teach their own fathers which is a huge step forward and unthinkable in the recent past. With the current dire situation in Honduras causing thousands to find work elsewhere, basic literacy skills are crucial no matter the age.

Our work in Ecuador continues at pace with our new local Phoenix teachers helping to reduce the teacher to class ration. Much of the science classes have been dedicated to learning about Natural Disasters, their inherent risks and how to avoid them – the children got quite artistic and as part of next year’s Ecuador Charity in June we hope to reforest some of the surrounding area. The children and teachers took part in the Baile Cayambeño wearing the traditional dress from Cayambe. New Phoenix teacher Cristian donned his traditional mask! We hope to repaint the whole school in December, the first time in years, so 2019 will get off to a great start! To celebrate the traditional Day of the Dead, we celebrated with Colada Morada and breads with the children and parents in the school – it is so important to continue such traditions.

In Perú, our twelve month anniversary of working in Maldonado was celebrated recently with dance, traditional dress and food. Incredible how the time flies! With school coming to a close for the school year in December, once the exams are out of the way we plan to host our annual trip to the beach. As our children spend all year living in the desert with very little access to water the annual trip is a great escape for them, many of whom haven’t seen the sea before, let alone a body of water that big! It will be a fantastic day!

Our Appeal this year, in conjunction with Giving Tuesday on 27^th November, aims to raise funds towards our local teachers’ salaries and materials for 2019. On average each teacher will educate between 25-30 children per class and will often teach more than one class so the more teachers we can bring on board for 2019, the more children we can give a vital education to whether this is primary, secondary or college.

Our local Phoenix teachers are the backbone of the projects. Their daily dedication to hundreds of indigenous children in Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Perú cannot be commended enough. They are the future of the projects as well as their communities and we must guarantee this future with funding, both through donations in the short term and through sustainable income plans over the medium to long term.

Guatemala: For example, Ana was one of our first students when started our school in Itzapa, Guatemala back in 2002 and has been teaching in the school for the past few years.

Honduras: Norma was among our first graduates from the Phoenix college in Honduras in 2014 and has since been part of the Phoenix team teaching up in Barbasco.

Ecuador: We took on Cristian this year in Ecuador who grew up in the community where we teach and

Perú: Ediluz has been with us since the start in Perú, where we have just celebrated twelve years.

Over the next two months we hope to raise a large proportion of the $100,000 we plan to spend during 2019 on local teachers and materials so please do dig deep this Giving Tuesday on 27^th November if you can and donate to this page 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 can cover 1 teacher for 25-30 children for one year
$1,860 can cover1 teacher for 25-30 children for six months
$930 can cover 1 teacher for 25-30 children for three months
$310 can cover 1 teacher for 25-30 children for one month

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

On behalf of all the communities where we work, thank you so much in advance for anything you, friends and family can donate for the communities and their future!

Our investment in sustainable income plans has continued this year with Plan Moo, Plan Huerto and Plan Business which are already showing great results. We continue to strive to provide education for the children and also implement sustainable income plans for the families so they can help themselves with the extra money these plans can provide. During 2019 we plan to increase our sustainable plans even further to remove this unwanted barrier: having to choose between food, education or medicine. We want the families to be able to choose all three.

The students in the primary school in Ecuador aren’t the only ones starting a new educational year. Many children are continuing their studies into secondary school, college and University thanks to our sustainable Plan Moo and Plan Cuy which provide extra income to be able to cover these costs. We hope to expand these plans over the coming months and years to reach more families as well as introducing new plans including small businesses and different agricultural techniques.

Whilst we are supposed to be in the wet season in Guatemala and Honduras, climate change has been rearing its ugly head once again with a sustained dry spell wreaking havoc with the crops. This will have a serious knock-on effect in 2019 when the households run out of food and prices rise, leaving the families to decide between education or food – the latter being the only choice. This has now gone on for years and highlights the importance of our free primary school education and also our Sustainable Income Plans for the families, including alternative businesses and agricultural techniques, which help towards their further education costs. We will be monitoring the situation over the coming months.

This year’s Phoenix Appeal aims to raise funds towards our local teachers’ salaries and materials for 2019. On average each teacher can educate between 25-30 children per class and will often teach more than one class so the more teachers we can bring on board for 2019, the more children we can give a vital education to, whether this is primary, secondary or college. Please donate to this page to help us reach our goals for 2019. Alternatively you can crowd fund with friends, family and co-workers in your office or school and aim for one teacher’s salary for the whole year!

GlobalGiving will be offering a donation bonus day on 12^th and 13^th September, a fabulous start for this year’s Appeal!

Also, a date for your diary for 2019: The Seven Continent Charity Challenge #5 will be the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu in Perú from 27-31^st May – please contact us if you are interested on dom@thephoenixprojects.org . There are limited spaces so please let us know as soon as you can!

Have a fantastic September and we’ll be in touch later in the year with another update! Cheers

Links:

• Inca Trail and Machu Picchu Charity Challenge 2019