More about the N.U.F.E.D. Academy

NUCLEO FAMILIAR EDUCATIVO PARA EL DESARROLLO

Roughly translated, this means

Nucleic Family Education for Development.

The NUFED Schools began in Guatemala in 1978 in the Department of Chimaltenango as a means of providing secondary or intermediate education to the youth that make up the rural population of Guatemala.  The schools are administered, and classes often taught, by the parents of the students, and each school is focused on responding to the needs of the community, based on its socio-economic and cultural characteristics.   There are now well over 300 NUFED Schools in Guatemala, with over 10,000 students in attendance.

The NUFED School of El Remate was begun by a concerned group of parents about 13 years ago.  Original funding came from a group of ONG’s, but the funding was minimal and up until recently, the school still had no windows, doors or floors, no running water, and no clean bathrooms.

Project Ix-canaan began working with the school a couple of years ago.  We began by sending volunteers, like Anne Moon, who taught English,  Adam Neilson who taught Phys. Ed., Francisco & Ok from Campus California who taught cooking, and Aleta Leigh who also taught English.

Soon, Friends of Ix-canaan (from Calgary, Alberta) realized that the school needed help with infrastructure, and donated the funds to rebuild and add plumbing to the bathrooms, which you can see before … and after.

Over the past year, the Parent-Teacher Association has been strengthened, and they began actively searching for funding to complete their original plans.  A school in Santa Elena decided to use the NUFED School as its “project”, and did fund-raising to earn enough money to buy 2 doors and the fencing material to cover the windows.  Then, a group of ex-alumnos fund-raised to earn enough to buy the cement for the floor, and lamina for the roof of the corridor, and paint for the entire building.  The parents of the students supplied labor, as well as the posts and the wood for supports and window frames.

Project Ix-canaan has opened the doors to its computer center for the students to learn how to use computers.  The classes are taught by Byron Perez, who is also the School Director.

There is still much work to be done to the infrastructure to achieve the goals that the teachers, parents and students have set … goals of finishing up the present renovations, building a kitchen (now in progress through Friends of Ix-canaan), an office for the Director, a small library, a computer lab, and dorm facilities for the distant students.

Meanwhile, there is an great ongoing need for volunteer teachers of trades or crafts … particularly teachers of English … if you are interested in changing the future for youth of this disadvantaged area, GET INVOLVED NOW.  Contact Anne at Project Ix-canaan to find out how you can participate.