Update on the Creative Writing Project

By Rustom Marker | April 4, 2016

Last year we started a writing competition which would foster the creative talents of school children as well as give incentives to the participating schools. Although the last entry we published was in November 2015, we have been working behind the scenes with the two schools; Caserio Chanshenel and Las Barrancas.

A reality for many children in Guatemala is that education is not equally accessible and of the same quality. There is a huge disparity in opportunities available to children living in urban areas compared to those in rural areas. Furthermore there is inequality between male and female students evident in the fact that rural indigenous females have the lowest literacy rate.

Due to lack of funding, government help and structure the two schools (Caserio Chanshenel and Las Barrancas) were closed from the beginning of November to mid February. The children missed out on nearly four months of education and factoring in the lack of resources available to them it is hard not to see why there is a huge disparity in Guatemala.

During the last few months we have been working closely with Asociación Fatima and the directors of the school to see what can be done:

We will be putting pressure on local governments to provide resources to the schools.
We will be setting up programs to prevent exploitation by businesses and farm owners, whose workers are the parents of the children that go to the schools. This allows the families of the students to lead a more dignified life, and allows the children to go to school instead of going to work.
We will be carrying on with the creative writing project. Thanks to the Spanish lessons we have been able to donate stationary supplies and 15 desks to the two schools.