The New School Year

Children across Guatemala started the new school year this past week. Ventura and Bartolo gave speeches talking about the hopes for the coming the year and the continuation of the project. I also spoke giving recognition to our new staff members and gratitude for the support of the families and community council. We are fortunate to be able to provide the children with fruit this year. At the moment the government has suspended funding of the snack program and the children were not receiving their atol drink giving the fruit program even more significance. We had a lot of fun this first week back. Some of the students saw an iguana on the trail in the cornfield. The children were excited to see this animal and many thought it was dangerous. They are more frequently spotted in the lowlands here in Guatemala, it was rare to see this animal at such a high altitude. It provided a great teaching moment to talk a little about the iguana and the other animals that populate the region. The lunch program for the children has started and we made our weekly trip to the market to stock up on rice, beans, eggs and fresh produce. Everyone has pitched in and helped in the food distribution and supervising the lunch line. We still had new students arriving this week and are expecting around 200 students to attend the school this year.

The New School Year