The Project
Volunteer on Teaching and Building Projects in Guatemala

Education

The indigenous Maya in Guatemala make up a huge percentage of the population, yet many live off just $1 a day or less. Global Vision International is currently working with two indigenous communities in Guatemala: San Andrés Itzapa and Santa Maria de Jesus, which are both within a 45-minute bus ride from Antigua through lush mountain scenery and typical Guatemalan villages.

GVI’s aims are first and foremost in education, paying particular focus on literacy and educational reinforcement for the children of each community. Any extra money the families have goes towards primary education for the boys, with the girls sadly neglected. Illiteracy rates are high and the standard of education for those that do go to school is low. Many children can only attend school 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. These include basic literacy and numeracy, and education reinforcement (paying particular attention to Maths and English). Further areas include Spanish grammar, geography and sciences.

All our children now receive scholarships to attend National School, including primary, secondary and college education.

Energy Efficient Stove Building

Almost all indigenous families use three-stone fires to cook. Yet as the families often have only one room in which they cook, sleep and eat, wood burning is extremely detrimental to the health of the children and other family members. Burning wood on an open fire is a very inefficient way to cook and also causes many trees to be cut down each day. Our stoves are simple wood burning stoves made from cement, block and bricks that encase the fire and provide a chimney to vent smoke out of the home. They cut down the amount of smoke and carbon dioxide in the home by 70% and use 75% less firewood than three-stone fires, thus saving the families money, resources and time (used collecting firewood).

Volunteers each build two stoves within a week, with all materials and local masonry work funded by the volunteers. Additionally, each volunteer will fund a new set of cooking utensils and pots, and work alongside the local mason and family in mixing cement and constructing the stove from start to finish.