Education Guatemala Project #30720

Help Feed and Support 600 Students in Guatemala

by The Education for the Children Foundation (EFTC)

Help Feed and Support 600 Students in Guatemala

Project Report | Mar 22, 2023
A new school year for 2003 - and a new roof!

By Kate Hendry | Marketing & Communications Manager

First Day Back 2023

The final quarter of 2022 was a stressful time for our fundraising and programme budgeting teams. The twin pressures of inflation and UK currency crisis meant that budgeting for 2023 was fraught with difficulty. Our supporters across the globe rose to the challenge once more and we are incredibly grateful to every person and organization that donated. Final quarter fundraising meant we were able to start the new school year in January continuing and improving upon our programmes.

For 2023, we have added several enrichment subjects to our curriculum. We’re delighted to reinstate arts and music programming which had to be paused during the pandemic. We were delighted to welcome Sandra, our new artistic teacher in January. We also reinstated after-school clubs. Students have signed-up to a wide variety of activities of their choice - such as soccer, dancing and art. Such extra-curricular groups bring a wealth of opportunity to grow students' creative learning and improve wellbeing.

Fundraising success at the end of 2022 also enabled the foundation to replace the School of Hope roof. Many-years awaited, the new tiles keep the roof cooler and less noisy under the all-the-more frequent heavy rains. The school building and maintenance staff will no longer struggle with constant leaks.

As we get nearer to our 20th anniversary in July, we were delighted to again employ a Visitor & Volunteer Coordinator. Susan Garcia joined our Outreach team in January. Post pandemic, we continue to see the number of international volunteers increase. From January-March we welcomed volunteers from the USA, UK and Germany.

The first quarter brings career focus for our older students. Our junior high cohort attended a Career Fair, sat vocational exams and had one-on-one meetings organised by our scholarship careers counsellor. As these students are just a few months away from finishing Junior High, EFTC provides support and advice to figure out what skills they will need for their future studies and careers. All high school paths in Guatemala have a vocational focus so decisions about direction of study need to be decided upon at this mid-teenage stage.

Our scholarship students led the creation of a mural in our new Entrepreneurship, Productivity and Development classroom. It’s a dedicated space that promotes new ideas, creativity and innovation.

Official New Start Of Term Open!

Tiles For The New Roof

New Mural Made By Scholarship Students

Careers Counceling

Whole School In The Playground Jan 2023

Signing Up For After School Club

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Dec 2, 2022
Happy Holidays at EFTC

By Carolyn Meyers | Assistant to the Director

Earlier this week the staff and teachers at EFTC had our holiday party to celebrate before going on school break but also to reflect on everything we have accomplished this year. As we went around in a circle reflecting on our biggest accomplishments and happiest moments it was impossible not to feel a sense of pride. Many teachers talked about seeing their students in-person for the first time in 2 years this past January and working hard to help them catch-up and succeed. Staff talked about the return of additional programs and activities which have included fluoride treatments, anti-cyberbullying presentations, math fairs, health and hygiene workshops, as well as onsite pediatric evaluations just within these past few months.

These past months have been building to this moment as we got to celebrate with the students earlier this November after watching them work so hard all year. We had graduation ceremonies for 6th graders who will move on to middle school at The School of Hope and 9th graders who will attend high school with scholarships from EFTC. 99.9% of our high school students also passed the year which is a huge accomplishment, especially for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in comparison with their peers.

Additionally, we had summer school where our students received reinforcement in math and literacy but also completed holiday activities such as cooking, making decorations, and an end-of-year performance. Our next batch of kindergartens attended summer school as well to get accustomed to being at school. Having them around made everyone so excited to see our smallest EFTC community members! Next week we will be giving out food baskets to our families so that they can have some extra treats over the holidays and our students can eat well as they will not be receiving our nutrition program until they return to school in January.

We have already onboarded many new teachers for next year and are beginning to prepare for our upcoming 20th year celebration this upcoming July. Thank you for your support this year and we look forward to seeing what our students will accomplish next year with your help.

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Aug 22, 2022
Busy Once Again at EFTC

By Carolyn Meyers | Assistant to the Director

The School of Hope is busy and better than ever! As of July, we have transitioned back to our full time education model. This would not have been possible without our amazing education department, administrators and teachers, who worked tirelessly to change the organization, schedules, and teaching methods midyear in order to meet the needs of our students.

Returning back to full time school days was essential to the learning and wellbeing of our students. While our staff was working extra hours in order to make the part time style work, our students were still receiving reduced hours in comparison to their pre-pandemic education. Now the students spend more time at school and have elective classes such as art as well as recess with their friends. For many of our students, these are their favorite parts of the day.

All of our staff has been working hard this summer. Our social services department has recorded height and weight measurements of our students in order to track their nutrition and growth, mental wellbeing screenings for kindergarten through 9th grade, and preventive talks with middle school students about substance abuse. Meanwhile, our outreach team worked hard to send all sponsors a letter and photo from their students. This is an essential part of maintaining contact between our students and their sponsors as well as a brief look into Guatemalan life that helps the sponsors understand the daily struggles of our students. They also hosted a trivia night at a local bar as well as assisted with the preparation of Golf Day in the UK.

In addition, during this time we’ve seen the return of international volunteers. We are so grateful for anyone who takes the time during their trip to Guatemala to volunteer our school. We have had volunteers assist with English class, run an afterschool math program, complete literacy assessments with our students, and much more!

We are already in our third trimester here at The School of Hope and can’t believe how the school year has flown by. We are preparing for our summer school session in November and will be having a fundraiser with GlobalGiving in September in order to fund it. If you’re interested, keep checking our social media and stayed tuned for more information!

Links:

Check out our Instagram for updates!

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