Our goals for 2021
Expanding the sewing project with the single mothers with small business initiatives to help them to continue with their education, fifty scholarships for secondary school and college students, medical checks for the elderly and sustainable income plans.
It is generally accepted that the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic will affect us all for months and possibly years to come. Over the long-term we aim to provide hand sanitizer and supplies of soap for all our students for when they enter and leave the small business hub each day to reassure their families that it is a safe place and also to reduce the chance of bringing the virus into the hub and taking the virus back home and potentially afflicting the elderly.
For information about 2022 Charity Challenges in Perú and Ecuador please follow this link. Over the coming years we will aim to get more recently graduated teachers into local schools and sustainable income-generating plans for families to be able to cover the costs of further education.
Please donate here to our 2021 Appeal which is raising money to help cover project costs including local teachers’ salaries, classroom materials, Covid-19 hygiene programmes and sustainable income plans.
How we are achieving our goals:
December 2021
Our scholarship college students graduating in Guatemala and we plan to continue to support them through University over the coming years. Normal classes are set to resume in February 2022 after two years from learning from home.
November 2021
Thanks to this year’s Appeal we have been able to start buying solar lighting for families without electricity meaning our scholarship students, as well as other things, can continue to study after dark.
October 2021
Many of our college scholarship students graduated. A fantastic effort as classroom-based teaching has not been possible since March 2020 and they have had to travel from the six communities where they live around the lake to collect homework from the central school.
The first 150 trees were planted at Lake Atitlán thanks to this year’s Appeal as we aim to 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.
September 2021
Final exams for all our scholarship students this month having completed all their learning at home. Some of the students are graduating which is a fantastic effort. As the Delta variant continues to drive up cases in Guatemala, especially around the lake where our scholarship students live, classroom-based teaching is limited to collecting and handing in homework and the teachers dropping of homework.
Many of our scholarship students have serious underlying health conditions which had previously prevented them from continuing their studies due to economic constraints until now with some just starting their secondary education in their twenties.
June 2021
Our scholarship students are gearing up for mid-year exams despite learning from home with no classroom-based teaching. The mothers in the sewing project continue to learn new techniques and we plan to add in more mothers over the coming weeks.
May 2021
With classroom-based teaching still cancelled our secondary school and college students are working from home with regular visits to the school to collect homework. More mothers have been added to the sewing project and they are learning different techniques.
April 2021
Classroom-based teaching has still not resumed so all our scholarship secondary and college students continue to work from home with regular meetings in the school to receive homework.
We have opened up our sewing project to the elderly generation who want to learn how to sew and receive an income.
February 2021
The new school year was postponed until the last week of February with classes staggered on re-opening. We have paid for fifty secondary school and college scholarships this year for students from six different communities around Lake Atitlán. The sewing business continues and we are adding more mothers over the coming weeks, including mothers of the recipients of our scholarships.
December 2020
Looking ahead to 2021 we are increasing the number of scholarships to fifty students in secondary school and college in three communities around Lake Atitlán. Investigations are being made to ensure the scholarships go to the students who really need them.
November 2020
Our secondary and college scholarship students finished the school year this month despite the logistical problems involved.
The single mothers continued to benefit from the sewing business we implemented and are now learning different techniques. The income they have generated for themselves has been a massive help for them and their fledgling families and some are considering going back to school at some point in the future.
October 2020
Our scholarship students in secondary school and college are gearing up for final exams having continued their lessons away from the classrooms over the past eight months.
More emergency supplies are being prepared for the elderly in the community in the coming weeks and our single mothers continue to make face-masks and other clothing in the sewing project.
September 2020
Thanks to the Appeal we have provided emergency food to the elderly and disabled. The supplies included rice, pasta, cooking oil, oatmeal, beans, salt and face masks made by our single mothers. We plan to do further emergency food drops over the coming months whilst the Covid-19 pandemic continues to restrict movement.
August 2020
With the Covid-19 peak still some weeks away all schools remain closed although our scholarship students are continuing their studies from home, receiving worksheets from the school. The single mothers are continuing to produce face masks in our Plan Corte.
May 2020
We continue to make face masks in our Plan Corte sewing machine project at Lake Atitlán to provide for the elderly and most at risk. A little bit of practice needed sometimes though we’re getting there!
April 2020
As Guatemala makes wearing face masks obligatory due to Covid-19 our Plan Corte in Lake Atitlán so far has made and distributed 1,000 double-layered washable masks to the elderly and 300 families who cannot afford them.
We plan to continue producing more to make sure that anyone who needs a mask has one, especially the elderly and physically disabled, including amputees due to diabetes.
March 2020
All schools have been closed due to Covid 19 until further notice.
January and February 2020
Our new project at Lake Atitlán got underway with the purchase of sewing machines for the Plan Negocio (small business) with teen single-mothers to help them learn new skills and generate income in their homes which will help them get back into school.
Our new scholarship program started for students in básico (secondary school) and colegio (college) with the focus being on teaching, accountancy and administration courses.
October 2019
A very successful year in Chimaltenango comes to a close with the local teachers and community taking control of day to day management and future direction.
August 2019
A fantastic visit from the team from Whole Foods Market as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility program, visiting their micro-credit partners in Huehuetenango, funding and helping to build a kitchen for a family at Lake Atitlán and reforesting an area on Pacaya Volcano. Our school in Chimaltenango continues to take full control of their future direction and funding.
April 2019
A good month in the school albeit a limited schedule due to Semana Santa (Easter) and other national holidays.
March 2019
The first set of exams are coming up with our local Phoenix teachers once again doing sterling work. The community has now taken control of the school with decision making, direction and the day-to-day running which is essential for future sustainability.
January 2019
The new school year gets underway in Chimaltenango with our local teachers ready and eager to impart their knowledge once again to around two hundred students. This year Phoenix will be concentrating on funding the local teachers whilst other costs like rent and events will be funded from other sources generated by the local community, including income from sustainable plans.
October 2018
The school year draws to a close with yet another brilliant set of final results and a well-deserved two month break for the teachers before we start up once again in January 2019!
September 2018
Final exams and the end of the school year are almost upon us though it didn’t stop the students taking time out for reforestation in the surrounding hills. Over the past fifteen years around 300,000 trees have been planted which goes some way towards the increasing deforestation in the area.
The Plan Moo herd continues to grow as we welcomed yet another calf this month and further cows to the main herd. Plan Moo should be a main sustainable funding source of the school for years to come.
August 2018
Our ten local teachers have been working extremely hard these past few months, preparing the children for their final exams in the coming weeks. By taking on recently graduated local teachers, both male and female, we are not only providing an income for them though they themselves are sharing their knowledge and expertise whilst being role models for the next generations of male and more importantly, female teachers in the future…it can be done!
Whilst we are supposed to be in the wet season the country is once again suffering from 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.
It would be great if you could join us on our Inca Trail and Machu Picchu Seven Continents Charity Challenge in 2019 in Perú. Please follow this link for more details.
If you have any questions about our work in Guatemala or you want to receive our newsletter, please contact us.
