Guatemalan Educational Crisis Fundraiser

I first became involved with Project Somos through a nonprofit consulting project the fall of my freshman year and have been fortunate to become more involved through becoming a Board of Directors member in the summer of 2021. I would greatly appreciate any assistance with donations or spreading the word about the work Project Somos does!

Students in Guatemala have been out of school for the past 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, before the pandemic had even begun, Guatemala had the lowest literacy rate in central America at 74.5%. On top of this, nearly one-half of Guatemala’s children under age five are chronically malnourished, one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world. The pandemic has exacerbated educational and nutritional access issues, leading to a crisis outlined in this New York Times article from June 26th.  

Project Somos is a charity working on the front lines of this crisis through free childhood education and sustainable food distribution in the Tecpán region of Guatemala. Founded 10 years ago, Project Somos is an eco-sustainable learning community aiming to break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala by providing quality education and locally grown, healthy food to families in need. Education programs consist of free preschool and primary school with extracurricular programs, gardening, cooking, nutrition, and English classes (Guatemalans who speak English fluently earn double that to their counterparts).  The Project has a psychologist on-site to support children and families suffering from trauma. See more on the Project Somos website. 

This fundraiser is to provide school supplies to children until schools reopen in January 2022. As children struggle with learning from home without instructional support, internet and very minimal resources, we are doing everything we can to help these children learn. We are providing school supplies kits for families who cannot afford to purchase them. School supplies are not provided by any schools or programs here and are very expensive for families to have to purchase on their own. Sometimes, the cost of these school supplies is so high that families make the difficult choice to spend their money on other necessities and the child is removed from school. 

Each kit that we prepare and deliver to the children costs $50

The kits are age appropriate for each child and include things like:

Workbooks

Notebooks

Pencils

A backpack

Hand sanitizer

Reusable masks

Age appropriate artistic supplies like crayons, paint or pencil crayons

A gym uniform (for when in person classes resume in January 2022)