NUFED School
El Remate’s local public school is located just by the lakeside. It’s a great spot with a lot of potential and, over the years, volunteers from various organisations have helped to shape it into a good space for learning.
Kids attend for three years, spending six hours every weekday in lessons. The timetable includes Spanish, English, math and art with the lessons being given in one of two classrooms, depending on the age of the kids. There is a computer room, kindly funded by Vivent Solar, and the kids enjoy breaktimes in the jungle garden at picnic benches.
There is a building ready for use as an auditorium and cafeteria and a sports ground that has nearly been completed, but both of these projects need funding and volunteer assistance to get them off the ground so that they can be of use to the kids.
While the education kids receive at NUFED is good, they do not leave with any specializations; in Guatemala, specialization begins after Grade 7, which is when pupils have to begin paying for their school. The closest high school is also a few kilometers away, so not only do many local families struggle to afford education for their kids beyond Grade 6, they also have to be able to afford transportation costs. This is why Project Ix-canaan now runs an education funding initiative – you can find out more about our scholarship programme here.
The director at NUFED wants to introduce skills-based learning to the school curriculum, including cookery, metalwork, woodwork and sewing, giving her pupils the chance to move towards careers in tourism, hospitality, construction and vehicle maintenance. Her hands are currently tied due to a lack of funding to pay for materials and teachers for these subjects.
Over the years, Project Ix-canaan has gained funding to allow the computer center and school bathrooms to be built, as well as the guardian’s (security guard’s) house. Many of the girls who attended this school are now in our scholarship programme, which sponsors them through the rest of their school careers and on to their chosen career paths. We also welcome many of the younger pupils at our children’s center after school each day, where they can relax and play together, have space to do their homework and use the computers and internet connection for research. Depending on volunteers, the kids have access to professional psychologists or speech therapists, and can also learn English or French, gardening, arts and crafts, songs and musical instruments – anything at all!
There is still so much to do at NUFED that will improve the quality of the next generation’s lives immeasurably and we look forward to continuing to work with this great school.
If you’d like to find out more about how you, too, could help to improve the quality of life for the people of El Remate, find out more about volunteering with us, making a donation or sponsorship – or just drop us an email to say hi (we always want to hear from you!).