The Project
Volunteer Work in Guatemala

Please note: GVI’s education projects in Guatemala are unique to Global Vision International. All funding of these projects comes directly from Global Vision International and all volunteer contributions are included in the programme fee. We receive no other outside source of income, apart from that raised through GVI and volunteer contributions. Suffice to say, without this funding from GVI and the volunteer contributions, the projects simply would not exist.

Working with Indigenous Mayan Communities

The indigenous Maya in Guatemala make up a huge percentage of the population, yet many live off of just $1 a day. Global Vision International is currently working with two indigenous communities – San Andrés Itzapa and Santa Maria de Jesus – to improve the standard of education for the indigenous people of the area. Both communities are within a 45 minute journey from Antigua, through lush mountain scenery and typical Guatemalan villages.

GVI’s aims lie first and foremost in education, paying particular focus to literacy and educational reinforcement for the children of each community. What extra money the families have goes towards primary education for the boys, with girls are often being sadly neglected. Illiteracy rates are high and the standard of education for those that do go to school is low, with many having attended for just a couple of years before being unable to continue due to economic constraints or being sent to work in the fields. Coupled with this, there is a lack of knowledge in basic hygiene and nutrition. Global Vision International, with the full support of the indigenous leaders of the communities, aims to tackle these issues in many different ways through education.

When it comes to teaching, we work very closely with the leaders of the communities, to the extent that we eat with them each day to discuss any issues. Before initiating each project, the leaders put together an idea of areas of education to be addressed, which include basic literacy, numeracy and education reinforcement; paying particular to maths and English. Further areas include Spanish grammar, geography and sciences. We have a Guatemalan teacher putting together basic lesson plan structures for the volunteers to follow and elaborate on so that the children receive the required education.

Thanks to volunteer donations and contributions, over 250 children in our San Andrés Itzapa project and over 150 children in our Santa María project now attend National School for half-days (the standard timetable). However, due to large class sizes, erratic timetables, and the lack of education among the children’s parents, reinforcement is of paramount importance, so the children receive their ‘passed’ certificate at the end of the year. We plan to have all the children in both our San Andrés Itzapa and Santa María de Jésus programmes attending national school over the coming years.

San Andres Itzapa

In October 2003, with the help of the indigenous leader, Elena Siquinajay Suy, GVI set up the Pajaro de Fuego (Phoenix) project. On a piece of disused land we renovated two buildings, with the help of volunteer donation money, into suitable teaching areas for over 60 children. In 2005, due to an increased number of children, we also rented out an abandoned house for more classrooms and at the start of 2008, rented further space as the number of children passed over 300, split into nine different classes, both in the morning and afternoon. Thanks to volunteer donations we were able to act quickly to help over 80 families affected by Hurricane Stan in October 2005; providing shelter, basic food supplies, medicine, clothing, water, cooking utensils, livestock and reconstruction.

Santa Maria de Jesus

In July 2004 we set up our next project in Santa Maria Jesus – an indigenous community on the foothills of Volcan Agua – with the help of Santiago Colin providing first time education to many children whose ages range between 5-13. In 2005, due to the increased number of children we opened our second project in another house, and now give education to over 200 children.