You’re Making a Difference Here
GUATEMALA
In Guatemala, where over 50% of the population lives below the poverty line, socioeconomic status is one of the biggest barriers to accessing a quality education (World Bank 2013). The average length of schooling for a Guatemalan child is only 4 years and 24.1% of the population is illiterate (US Aid 2014; World Bank 2014).
Pencils of Promise works with over 180 communities in Guatemala to ensure our students overcome these, and other, barriers to accessing a quality education. To date, PoP has impacted over 226,000 lives in Guatemala.
BOCA COSTA REGION
The region of Boca Costa, located southeast of PoP’s Guatemala headquarters in Xela, is home to a more tropical climate than any of the other regions in Guatemala in which we work. PoP expanded to Boca Costa in early 2012, with our regional office located in Santo Tomás La Unión.
To date, we’ve built 80 schools in the region and plan to continue to scale our builds, along with educational programming, across PoP schools in the region.
Before a PoP School Build
Previously, the students of the Linea A-13 Sector Ican School had limited access to formal, dedicated classrooms. Some of the spaces that were used as classrooms included: 3 semi-formal classrooms made of block and wire with a roof in very poor condition, and 1 classroom that resembled a shed with thatch roofing, no walls and a dirt floor. These provisional classroom structures were leaving students exposed to the elements as well as outside distractions. Overall, the lack of proper classroom spaces was creating an unfavorable learning environment and hindering students from reaching their full potential and promise.
Your Impact with a New PoP School
Denik recognized that these conditions were not conducive to learning and responded by helping PoP and the Linea A-13 Sector Ican community build a new 3-classroom build. The community members, parents and teachers are actively engaged in the build process and have committed to contributing up to 20 percent of the labor and resources necessary to complete the build. 140 students at Linea A-13 Sector Ican School will benefit from the new classrooms. Students now have the opportunity to attend classes in formal spaces complete with constructed floors, windows and roofs, and new furniture. Denik’s generosity is ensuring the growth and development of students and teachers in the Linea A-13 Sector Ican community.