“Hugs, Happiness and above all Hope”.

We have been in Guatemala 9 days now and there is so much to write about – the friendly Guatemalan people, the stunning town of Antigua where we are living, the spectacular volcanoes we can see from every street corner, the cool bars and restaurants that we have frequented (and the many we have yet to visit) but these will all have to wait until future posts. Today is about telling you a little bit about ‘The School of Hope’ and a few of our experiences after our first week as volunteers.

The ‘School of Hope’ is situated in Jocotenango ( pronounced“Hoco-ten-ango”) a town which, although very close to the picturesque and vibrant town of Antigua, seems a million miles away in so many respects. The poorer parts of the town of Jocotenango and its suburbs have little more than shanty dwellings and overcrowded housing. Alcoholism, domestic abuse and other social problems create immense difficulties for the families living there. Many of the children at the school come from the precarious community of Vista Hermosa, where homes barely cling to the side of a mountain. Almost 400 squatter families live in this community which lies open to the elements and lacks even the most basic infrastructure found in a normal town. In the rainy season residents of Vista Hermosa can find themselves trapped between torrents of rushing water, mud, rubbish and falling rocks and, in some cases, homes are washed away.

In these extreme cases of poverty there is no way that parents can afford to send their children to the state run schools in Guatemala. To access state education, parents have to provide uniform, transport, food and books before a child can be admitted into any school, many just cannot afford to fund these things and without ‘The School of Hope’ hundreds would never receive any formal schooling. The school is run by the charity ‘Education for the Children’ and provides free education to all those in Jocotenango who are unable to access the state system. EFTC is the only charity in this region to offer completely free educational scholarships to those who need it, from kindergarten all the way through to graduation from University.

Knowing the backgrounds of many of the young people attending the school we had no idea what to expect and, it is fair to say, we were all a little nervous when we reported for work at 8.00am last Monday. We need not have worried because at the end of the week the 3 of us all agreed that this school is truly a unique place.

We were met by Kellen and, along with another volunteer from Austria, we were given our induction. We had a tour of the school and saw the 20 different classrooms, the spotless kitchen (I will talk about the excellent nutritional package in a later post), the playground/recreation area, ‘The Garden of Hope’ and a walk around part of the coffee plantation, Finca La Azotea, in which the school is located.

After the induction came the moment of truth – we were sent our separate ways and into the classes where we are to be classroom assistants for the next 3 weeks. Karen is with the Segunda Class (8/9 year olds), Jan is with the Primera Class (6/7 year olds) and I am with the Prepa Class (5 year olds). As soon as I walked into the classroom I knew I was going to love it – 21 adorable faces looked up at me and said “Good Morning” in perfect English. The top three learning priorities in school are computer skills, English and extra-curricular activities so each class, throughout the school, has half a week of lessons in English and half a week of lessons in Spanish. Although the official language of Guatemala is Spanish there are also twenty-four distinct indigenous languages spoken in various parts of the country. One of the difficulties the school faces is that a few parents only speak ‘Kaqchiquel’ an indigenous Mayan language so communication regarding their children can sometimes cause problems. However, the school is also positively trying to embrace the importance of these particular students maintaining their roots and offers some lessons in ‘Kaqchiquel’.

There are 2 classes per school year, and for the first 3 years of school one class has lessons in English – Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and the other class has English the remaining days of the week. The good news is this means that the 3 of us are always in the English classes as our Spanish is almost non existent. In my year there is ‘Prepa A’ and ‘Prepa B’ with 42 special little people for me to get know and all of them are learning to speak English from the age of 5 – how fantastic is that?

Outside there is a multi use recreational area – it is the place for PE lessons, it is the football pitch and it is the playground where, I am sure, lifelong friendships are made. It is where, at break time, you hear constant laughter wether it be from the smallest children running around playing ‘tig’ or the older students (girls and boys) entering into a fast and furious game of football. It is a dusty area with nothing much but a couple of goal posts and a few old tyres for entertainment but it is a place of happiness and hugs. We have all lost count of the number of hugs we have had this week. It is a place where everyone smiles and no-one cries – not even when they fall over – they just jump up, dust themselves down and run off with cheeky grins on their faces.

So apart from getting lots of hugs what else have we been doing? “Miss Karen”, as she is fondly referred to, is listening to students read as well as marking tests – almost a proper English teacher. Jan is singing and, as you would expect, dancing too. She is paying particular attention to the slower learners and is giving them one to one help when they are struggling in class. You will be pleased to hear that I am not singing but I have done a lot of drawing. Because resources are so limited and visual aids in short supply I have been drawing a picture for every letter of the alphabet. These are now on display in the classroom – I certainly won’t win The Turner Prize but I am getting a dab hand at drawing ants, balloons, cats, dogs etc… The children in my class have only been learning English for 3 weeks but many of them can already count to ten; say and write red, blue, yellow and know a number of key words beginning with A, S and T – the letters we have been focussing on this week. They have also learnt to say “thank you” when you hand them anything from a spoon to eat their lunch with to a pair of scissors to cut out shapes with. Quite amazing when you think English is their second language and they are only 5.

There are some sad stories too. There is the little girl in Jan’s class who split the back of her trousers and was acutely embarrassed. Jan took her to the school office and managed to find an old pair of leggings amongst a very small supply of spare clothes. Then there were the girls and boys in my class who didn’t have anything to bring from home when parents were asked to send a doll or car with their child so we could discuss the importance of sharing and we could learn words like “play” and “toys”. Again in class there were only a couple of ‘stand-in’ dolls and cars. Every single thing and every single person in the school is funded by donations so clearly spare toys and clothing are way down the list of priorities when there are teachers, a nurse, books, paper, computers, class room materials, food and many, many other things to pay for.

The week was busy, we came home shattered, we were in bed by 9.30pm most nights but it is all worth it when the next day you get a ‘high five’ or a “hola” or most importantly that special hug. Although we had all thoroughly enjoyed our first week – that Friday night feeling was great too – a G and T on our terrace followed by a night out in beautiful Antigua with a plethora of bars and restaurants for us to choose from.

So it’s Sunday night again, the alarm is set for 6.30am and we are raring to go for another week. The thing I am most looking forward to is seeing their happy faces – despite the desperate living conditions many of the youngsters live in, they all arrive on time (some walk for over an hour to get to school) and they are always beaming from ear to ear. There is most definitely hope for all their futures.