Child Aid - Building Brighter Futures

At five and seven years old,  Joselyn and Karen Guarchaj already face the sad possibility of living lives of extreme poverty, just as their family has for generations. But thanks to Child Aid and its supporters, the two sisters also face another possibility: a future in which they know how to read and possess the education they need to lift themselves from poverty. That opportunity is one that their parent’s never had.

Joselyn and Karen Guarchaj (at right) are second-year participants in Child Aid’s school-break reading program.

Joselyn and Karen are participants in Child Aid’s Reading for Life literacy program. Thanks to the program, they now have a fully stocked library in their village and a full-time librarian, trained by Child Aid. Through the program, all of the teachers in their village are receiving training so that they can learn how to teach reading more effectively. (As throughout Guatemala, most of the teachers in their village are young and have little training beyond what they received in high school.) 

Outside of the school year, Joselyn and Karen also have access to a school-break reading program called Adventures in Reading.  Child Aid created this program to keep children engaged in reading activities during Guatemala’s three-month school break. The girls have participated in the program for two years in a row.

For Child Aid, improving literacy in a village like Joselyn’s and Karen’s goes far beyond delivering books and creating libraries. We do both of these and know they are critical components of an effective literacy program. But we also know that to truly improve literacy in a community that has never even had books, we must go further.

For this reason, we make long-term commitments to the villages where we work. We provide one-on-one training for teachers for a minimum of three years. We help communities identify, hire and train librarians from their own villages so we can foster local investment and ensure that the libraries we help create stay open to children every day. Reading for Life is a multifaceted program and, because of this, it works.

Joselyn and Karen could easily have faced a future where illiteracy and poverty were their only paths. But thanks to Reading for Life and Child Aid supporters, there are others.   

Before Child Aid brought Reading for Life to their village, these children in Guatemala had no access to books or reading programs. By helping them learn to read and succeed in school, Child Aid provides children opportunity and the hope for a better future.

Recently, I had the immense pleasure of showing three of our Reading for Life program staff members from Guatemala around Portland, Oregon. The purpose of their visit was to spend time shadowing teachers and to share their experiences in literacy work with students, volunteers and Child Aid supporters. Child Aid recruits and trains its literacy staff from regions where we work.

Graciela Sajbochol (right), a Child Aid literacy trainer, reads a book out loud with a student during her visit to the U.S.

U.S.-based international organizations routinely send workers to villages in the developing world to carry out their missions. But rarely do nonprofit workers from the developing world – particularly indigenous people – have a chance to come here to share their perspectives with people in the United States.

Carlos Pos Ben (right), a Child Aid literacy trainer, learns about classroom activities with a school principal.

Carlos Pos Ben, a Kaqchikel Mayan, was one of the staff members, and this was his first time ever on an airplane. “All I’m hoping from this experience is to learn,” said Carlos, who, along with coworkers Graciela Sajbochol and Norma Guzmán, visited several Portland-area schools, as well as Portland State University’s Bilingual Teacher’s Pathway program, where they had the opportunity to observe classroom activities, as well as discuss ideas about literacy and educational practices with educators.

In the end, our staff were absolutely thrilled from the visit. “My family is so proud of me,” said Carlos. He stepped back and expressed his life-long passion for literacy and education. While many growing up around him didn’t give it much thought, Carlos loved reading and the many opportunities it allowed for him – such as being the first in his family to finish school. “I want to share what I have learned from this visit with the children I work with. There are many opportunities out there for those who have a passion like me for reading and education,” Carlos said, smiling.

Graciela, Norma and Carlos share stories about Guatemala with U.S. students.

We’d like to thank Milwaukie Elementary School / El Puente Bilingual Program and all the schools for opening their doors to our organization.

I met Gerson Barreno (pictured) earlier this year, and he told me he used to struggle to teach reading to his first and second grade students. His classroom lacked books and he had almost no training in how to teach reading or keep his students’ attention.

Gerson Barreno teaching inside his corrugated metal classroom in Xecotoj, Guatemala.

Things began changing for Gerson when Child Aid delivered hundreds of children’s books to his school and started its Teacher Training program for Gerson and his fellow teachers. The program includes one-on-one, classroom-based instruction.

I thought about Gerson when I ran across this recent New Yorker article, by Atul Gawande, in which he describes a study that demonstrated the great importance of classroom-based coaching for teachers:

California researchers in the early nineteen-eighties conducted a five-year study of teacher-skill development in eighty schools, and noticed something interesting. Workshops led teachers to use new skills in the classroom only ten per cent of the time. Even when a practice session with demonstrations and personal feedback was added, fewer than twenty per cent made the change. But when coaching was introduced—when a colleague watched them try the new skills in their own classroom and provided suggestions—adoption rates passed ninety per cent. A spate of small randomized trials confirmed the effect. Coached teachers were more effective, and their students did better on tests.

One-on-one, classroom-based coaching is precisely what Child Aid does for hundreds of teachers in neglected rural schools in Guatemala. Last year, we conducted more than 1,000 classroom-based training sessions for teachers who have little or no access to ongoing education that would help them teach reading better.

Child Aid literacy programs do much more than help children learn to read. The literacy trainings we provide are transformative and empowering to librarians and teachers and have rippling effects across local communities.

Teachers and librarians learn skills and tools to implement effective reading programs, but they also gain personal confidence with these new abilities. Before participating in Child Aid trainings, Luis, a librarian in the community of Chicacao, had a fear of public speaking which gave him “cold hands.”  Now he says he has completely overcome this fear, enabling him to be a more effective educator.

Luis follows up with Claudia, a Child Aid trained teacher, in her classroom.

Other teachers echo the same sentiment expressed by Luis. “I used to be afraid to try new things or to speak up for what I wanted,” says Flor de Maria, “but now I have the courage and skills to be a better leader.” Flor was a teacher who was recently promoted to school director in her community of Chicacao. She travels to nearby communities to promote reading and train other teachers.

Flor de Maria presents the new Child Aid training manual to a group of teachers and librarians.

After participating in Child Aid trainings, many teachers and librarians are taking an increasingly active role in their communities, not just in their schools. These teachers and librarians are becoming more vocal community advocates, such as the librarians of Pasaq. (Read previous story about a student in Pasaq here.) After learning of an upcoming meeting with the regional school superintendent, all three community librarians wanted to attend in order to express their opinions and show their support for Child Aid literacy programs. One of the librarians said, “I feel better equipped and motivated to participate in the development of my community through education.”

Child Aid’s literacy programs not only teach young students essential skills, but they help develop inspired local leaders who are dedicated to community transformation through education.

For the past 12 years, beginning when he retired from his teaching position at a local school in Tecpán, Guatemala, Don Ramón has been doing everything he can to make his local library a better resource for children. Year after year, he requested help from the mayor’s office. He pounded on embassy doors in Guatemala City. He handwrote letters to international organizations and asked local residents to donate any books they had.

Each year, Don Ramón accomplished a little more: a bigger room, a set of encyclopedias, a new shelf. But after more than a decade of hard work, he still lacked one key ingredient: books for children.

Don Ramón, inside the library he helped bring to Tecpán.

That changed in 2010, after Child Aid met with Don Ramón and local teachers, and agreed to begin Child Aid’s Reading for Life program in Tecpán. We provided hundreds of children’s books for the library and hired a local carpenter to build colorful wooden furniture so the children had a place to sit and read. We provided training for the two librarians and helped them start story hours for the children. We also provided literacy training to 34 local teachers – most of whom had never stepped foot in the library.

Books, physical improvements and training are the key components of Reading for Life. The fourth is people like Don Ramón, who exemplifies our belief that people – not projects – are the best way to affect lasting change.

By working with Don Ramón to promote and improve the library, and by training local teachers and librarians, we help ensure local commitment to literacy. The result is more teachers reading to children, more children in the library, and more kids reading books. In the country with the lowest literacy rates in Latin America, that’s the result we want.

Guatemala has the lowest literacy rate in Latin America and for indigenous women, the situation is even worse: As many as 75% of the women in the communities where we work cannot read or write. Child Aid is working to change this by developing partnerships with schools like Socorro de Belen.

These young women will be the first in their communities to from graduate high school.

Socorro, where Child Aid has been working for many years, trains young indigenous women from rural villages to be primary school teachers so they can bring literacy to their communities. (See blog posting for previous story on Socorro). The high school aged students come from nearly all of Guatemala’s 21 states and together speak at least 10 indigenous languages. For many of these young women, they are the first in their communities to finish high school and they will return to their towns with a teaching certificate.

Since we began working with Socorro, we replaced the library’s outdated, musty books with new storybooks, reference and text books. We helped the librarian catalogue the entire inventory and students are now able to borrow books through the lending program we helped them establish.

Learning to read will change this young woman’s life.

“Many of these young women had never read a book in its entirety before,” says Norman Guzman, Child Aid’s regional coordinator. “Now they read just for fun. One student says she can’t go to sleep without reading and is currently finishing the fifth book of the Harry Potter series.” (The books, in Spanish, were donated by Child Aid.)

These young women are beating the odds in Guatemala. They are multilingual and becoming the first in their families to graduate high school. They are developing a love of reading which they can pass on to children in their communities when they return as teachers. With continued support from Child Aid’s donors, even more young women will return to their home towns as motivated educators of literacy.

Last week, Portland-based author Ann Cameron visited Socorro de Belen, a school in Antigua, Guatemala, where Child Aid has been working for many years. Socorro is a school for young indigenous women training to become teachers. Norma Guzman, a Child Aid literacy trainer, coordinated the visit because she has used Ann Cameron’s books with her students. Needless to say, the students at Socorro were thrilled to have this opportunity.

For many of the students, Ann’s book Colibri, was the first novel they had ever read. Many of the young women were amazed by accuracy of the book and enthusiastic to read a book about their own country. According to Norma, their interest in this novel and participation in Child Aid’s programs has inspired many to become avid readers. One young woman expressed that she is now on her 11th book of the year.

In Guatemala, where quality children’s and young adult’s books are nearly impossible to find, the impact Ann’s books, combined with our programs, is immeasurable. Thanks to our outstanding trainer, Norma, for arranging this visit and to Ann for all she is doing to help the youth of Guatemala become readers for life.

Ann has written several award-winning Spanish language books for children and young adults. The book that Norma uses, Colibri (Hummingbird), is a contemporary adventure story of a young Mayan girl and is set in Guatemala, where Ann lived for over 20 years.

To purchase Ann’s books, available in Spanish and English, click here.

Last year, in the highland community of Pasaq, Guatemala, second-grade teacher Andres Choc noticed a remarkable student with a keen interest and ability in reading. After being impressed by the student’s enthusiasm and skill, Andres asked the student where he had learned to read so well. The student replied he had spent the school break participating in Adventures in Reading, a literacy program at his local library created by Child Aid.

Andres Choc, pictured with his family, is helping bring Reading for Life to Xojola.

This is how Andres’s interest in Child Aid began. Soon after, he attended a Child Aid teacher training in Pasaq and borrowed books from their library to bring home to his own children in the neighboring community of Xojolá, where there is no library. Seeing the affects of the literacy programs in Pasaq and the response from his own children, Andres became determined to bring the same resources to his community. He arranged meetings with local and school leaders and finally presented Child Aid with a formal request.

Since August, a volunteer librarian from the community has attended various Child Aid trainings, visited the library in Pasaq and is preparing to lead literacy programs for the community’s new library. Also, with support from the mayor, community members have renovated a storage room for the children’s reading room. At our U.S. office in Portland, we have been working hard to raise funds to open the library and begin our literacy program in January. (For more details on the project see previous blog posting.)

Kids reading new books in Xojola.

We were thrilled to see these concrete achievements in the performance of students who participate in Child Aid’s literacy programs, and this great example of how our programs are expanding to new communities. And like Andres, we want to bring the opportunity of literacy to his home of Xojolá. We still need to raise $9,000 and we hope you can help us reach that goal. Please donate here. Your contribution to this project will help to create readers like the exceptional student that motivated Andres to bring a library to Xojolá.

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.

Most teachers in rural Guatemala have received no teacher training (they generally just have the equivalent of a high school degree), so most have never learned how to manage a classroom of 40 or more grade school students. Especially when teachers lack a strong personality, classrooms can resemble Union Station in New York City! Combine this with a lack of books and materials in classrooms, and it’s hardly surprising children find it so difficult to learn to read.

During our teacher training workshops, we always try to include tips and practices of classroom management. Not only do these help us in keeping teachers tuned in, they’ve given teachers ways to implement rules in their own classrooms. One practice that I was recently introduced to for getting students’ attention and getting them to focus is Superbrain Yoga!

In Superbrain Yoga, the idea is to try to get more oxygen to the brain by doing a simple exercise: deep knee bends combined with crossing the arms and holding and massaging the earlobes. It supposedly helps the practitioner activate both sides of their brain for learning, basically supercharging the brain.

Superbrain Yoga admittedly seems to be a wacky way to start a workshop, but who knows? Maybe it works! There is some research out there that indicates that this simple exercise can enable people to be more attentive and active in their learning. Maybe it’s just hocus-pocus. At the very least it is a fun way to start the morning and get people laughing and engaged in the workshops.