With the Selvin & Friends Foundation now up and running, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go back to the start, and tell you a little more about the area we will be supporting this year.
San Andreas Itzapa is about a 45 minute bus ride from Antigua, which is a world heritage site. The transformation as you leave the town and approach Itzapa is painfully obvious as the general state of the land and towns diminish. The school itself is located on the edge of the town, close to the farmlands where the vast majority of the children live, and sadly work.
With school starting at 8 in the morning, a good percentage of the children, both boys and girls ranging from 5 years old up to 14, will have spent the morning working in the fields with their families to generate something to sell, but mostly just for something to eat.
They arrive at school often still covered in the dust from the fields but possess the drive and the will to learn. You arrive at the school to be mobbed by a gang of children who want to hug you, it’s hard to tell if this is out of excitement, or the relief that they can be children for a portion of the day.
The hard graft that they have put in before school soon disappears as they get the chance to act their age and to be simply be children. The children really seem to appreciate the opportunity the school presents them with.
The children have a close bond to the local figurehead at the school, Elena. Elena has to make the school’s toughest decisions, from the general running of the school to determining which families benefit from the education. The schooling offered is free, the only requirement being that the children regularly attend school, but with the work needed to be done on the land; this is often difficult for the families of Itzapa. She is also extremely welcoming to the volunteers who assist in the school and in no time at all you are one of the family.
The school itself acts as a booster to the state school. With well over 35 children to one teacher in the state schools and each class made up of a mixture of grades, the education standard is sadly low. The school offers the opportunity for everyone to get a better chance at a basic education, with classes of up to ten children to a teacher, but perhaps most importantly, aimed at the correct grade levels.
Sadly what the school possesses in terms of opportunities for these children, it lacks in terms of equipment. The pencils, paper, text books and rubbers are just used at the same level as any normal school, but as the supply of the equipment is reliant on donations, levels can often be low.
This is where your support can make a difference; every penny we receive will go to ensuring the schools have a decent supply of stationary and school materials.
Capturing the children’s imaginations is never a challenge; they just want to learn and want to delve into the wonders of the core subjects Numeracy, Literacy and Science.
The children amazingly pleasant, they sometimes just need the care and attention that a child so vitally needs. Sadly it seems they are often seen as working hands rather than given the opportunity to explore the wonders of being a child.
It is amazing that in a region of such hardship and struggle that in testing times, something as small as a school can have a huge impact on so many, starting with the children. It is also wonderful how the school manages to act as a haven, not only for the children but also for those who work there.
Like anyone who has witnessed others whose human rights are lacking because of where they come from, you feel the need to try to make a difference. Sadly, Guatemala is not just around the corner to help every day, but we have a chance through the Selvin & Friends Foundation to make a real difference to these schools and local communities.
Your kind support as a friend of the Selvin & Friends Foundation has already made such a big difference and will continue to do so. For this my thanks will never be demonstrated enough, but from the bottom of our hearts, Vicki and I are eternally grateful.
Your friend,
Stu
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