Child Aid - Building Brighter Futures

A year ago, if you took a bus out to the indigenous village of Godinez, high above Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, you’d have found an elementary school devoid of books. It’s hard to imagine a school without books, but it’s true – and not just in Godinez. It’s a reality in rural communities throughout the country. No wonder Mayan children face such difficulties learning to read.

A teacher in Godinez, Guatemala, holds up the only book she has in her classroom.

In 2010, we launched our Books to Villages program to address this problem. Through the program, we deliver rotating boxes of children’s books – by car, motorcycle or truck – to our remotest partner communities. Then we distribute them to classrooms and help teachers set up lending and reading programs.

This year, we expanded the program to Godinez. As in other communities, it’s been a huge success. Now, not only are children taking books home, they’re reading out loud to their parents and siblings. Graciela Sajbochol, the Child Aid literacy trainer who works in Godinez, told us that the kids are even using techniques that they learned in Child Aid’s classroom literacy sessions.

“They read the story once,” Graciela told us, “and then they read it again, but change some important detail. Then their families have to catch the mistake. It’s a simple comprehension exercise that they’re repeating at home. It’s wonderful to see.”

Through innovative and imaginative programs, Child Aid and its supporters are helping indigenous children learn to read and get the education they deserve.

As always, thanks for helping make these programs a reality!

Child Aid Literacy Trainer, Graciela Sajbochol, reads aloud to children in Godinez, Guatemala.

Today is World Literacy Day, and 350 children in Xojolá need your help.

A typical home in Xojolá, Guatemala

Last week, a representative from Xojolá, a tiny K’iche’ community in the Guatemalan Highlands, approached Child Aid for the fourth time this year. He explained the situation again:

They have no library. Their tiny school is completely devoid of reading material. Books are impossible to obtain. The teachers want to learn the teaching techniques that Child Aid has provided to neighboring communities. Even the children who make it to sixth grade lack the academic base they need to succeed in the middle school located an hour’s walk away.

A handwritten petition for Child Aid’s support, signed and fingerprinted by Xojolá‘s teachers, its mayor and several community leaders.

The photo you see at right is a handwritten petition, signed and fingerprinted by the village’s teachers, its mayor and its community leaders. The town has cleared a small building and designated it as a library. Now they just need Child Aid’s support - and you.

The commitment and drive that we’ve seen from people in Xojolá is precisely what we look for when partnering with a community. We do not want to let this opportunity - these bright young children - fall by the wayside. But we need your help.

Here’s the situation: Child Aid must raise an additional $18,000 to bring Reading for Life to Xojolá. As soon as we raise it, we will:

• Help Xojolá create a community library.
• Stock the new library with quality children’s books.
• Help the town hire and train a librarian.
• Help the librarian start reading programs for Xojolá‘s children.
• Provide ongoing literacy training to the village’s 14 teachers.
• Provide books and teaching materials for the teachers in Xojolá.

Again, we can only do this with your support. Please donate to Child Aid today so we can help the community of Xojolá build brighter futures for its children.

Thank you for your help!

Sam Hendricks
Executive Director

Xojolá‘s mayor and several teachers stand outside the building they hope becomes the community’s first library.

A teacher from Xojolá takes a Child Aid staff librarian to the community to meet with other teachers.

Once again, childhood malnutrition in Guatemala has made international headlines (read Miami Herald story here). The drought in Jalapa department, the worst in 30 years, has depleted food supplies and worsened an already existing food shortage among a huge sector of Guatemala’s rural poor.

We see the effects of malnutrition on children in Guatemala ever day, and this excellent video makes it very clear just how bad the situation has gotten. But the same video provides a serious reminder that “food alone is not enough to change the fundamental economic and social problems at the root of Guatemala’s hidden malnutrition.”

For us, this is further reassurance that, even amidst a food shortage, we’re doing exactly what needs to be done. At Child Aid, we’re in it for the long run. Our mission is to help poor Mayan children get the education they deserve so they have greater opportunities to provide for themselves and their families. And we need your help to do this!

Guatemala is a country with 22 distinct languages. Some think that the Maya languages are closely related and that they share many of the same words. The reality is that there are more Spanish words in common than shared Maya words.

Carlos Pos Ben, a native Kakchiquel speaker, reads to a class in Spanish while the teacher translates into Tz’utujil

Child Aid works in regions where different Maya languages are spoken. In the Lake Atitlán region part of the villages speak Kakchiquel (Kaqchiquel), while another portion speak Tz’utujil, and another K’iche. In the rural areas the children learn their mother tongue at home and then begin to learn Spanish while they are in school. The first few years are hard for them, the teachers begin teaching everything in their home language, as they graduate to higher grades the teachers use more and more Spanish. By the fourth grade all classes are typically taught in Spanish. While they do well in school, it is still obvious that their first language is not Spanish in that their vocabulary is limited. Reading can make a difference. Through books the students are exposed to more words, and the words they hear are reinforced by words they read. Furthermore, they can take their time in understanding the context of how the words are used. One school director told me that students whose first language is not Spanish do not do as well in high school because their vocabulary is typically not well developed. However, she told me, that by reading more, they can do very well.

Guatemala’s multiple languages present both challenges and great opportunities for us. Our regional coordinator in the lake region, Carlos Pos Ben, speaks Kakquichel, while people in the community of Tzanchaj, which we’ve partnered with, speak Tz’ utujil. When Carlos is working with the teachers and students of the first three grades, he relies heavily on assistance from the teachers. Carlos and the local teacher read a story “tag-team” style. The teacher will interject with Tz’ utujil words when he realizes that the students won’t understand something. In this way, the students get further exposure to books, their mother language is reaffirmed, and the kids can enjoy the book instead of be frustrated by not understanding what is going on.

The teachers in the Tzanchaj school are grateful for Child Aid’s assistance. One teacher told me that it is difficult for him to read a story by himself and keep the attention of the kids because he tries to translate the whole book. He said Carlos’ assistance makes it easier for him and more fun for the kids.

Have you ever tried to calm a bunch of kids who just ran into the classroom after recess? This teacher in Santo Domingo Xenacoj, Guatemala, has her 3rd grade students sing a song before they sit down to listen to a story, just to release any extra energy. In this song they are counting to ten in their native language, Kaqchikel, one of more than 20 Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala.