The main school building, with its Kaqchikel name K'ak'ak K'aslem
Nueva Vida School has about 260 students, ranging from preschool to 6th grade. The school is located in a community of the same name approximately an hour from Santiago Atitlan. The school and community are also known by the Kaqchikel name, K’ak’ak’ K’aslem, meaning “new life.” Nueva Vida is a small, rural community with limited economic opportunity, where the majority of families work as laborers on the nearby coffee and dairy plantations.
Pueblo a Pueblo first began working with Nueva Vida School in early 2015 with the Organic School Gardens and WASH in Schools projects. Unlike many of the other schools we work with, the school is owned entirely by the local community, rather than by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education, meaning that community leaders are also committed to helping the school progress. Since day one of this new partnership, the school and the community have shown considerable dedication and leadership.
The WASH in Schools project was the first project implemented at the school, helping to address the school’s sanitation issues. Project Manager Tomas explained that “the situation at the school was very bad because they only had 4 latrines for all of the students.” He called it “a worrisome situation,” and added that there was a “very unpleasant smell because of the hot climate.”
Pueblo a Pueblo first began working with Nueva Vida School in early 2015 with the Organic School Gardens and WASH in Schools projects. Unlike many of the other schools we work with, the school is owned entirely by the local community, rather than by the Guatemalan Ministry of Education, meaning that community leaders are also committed to helping the school progress. Since day one of this new partnership, the school and the community have shown considerable dedication and leadership.
The WASH in Schools project was the first project implemented at the school, helping to address the school’s sanitation issues. Project Manager Tomas explained that “the situation at the school was very bad because they only had 4 latrines for all of the students.” He called it “a worrisome situation,” and added that there was a “very unpleasant smell because of the hot climate.”
The school's only running water source before WASH construction
The new WASH facilities!
Since the project began, the school has made great strides. After beginning WASH trainings and construction last spring, the students celebrated the inauguration of their new bathroom facilities in September. Teachers, students, and community members have been exceptionally active in promoting sanitation and hygiene at the school and in the community. So far, the community support group and the student WASH ambassadors have put on several events, including a community sanitation awareness march and a celebration for International Handwashing Day.
As part of the WASH project, students clean up their community
Celebrating International Handwashing Day
The Organic School Gardens project at Nueva Vida School has proved to be one of our most successful school garden partnerships yet. After planning the garden in the first half of the year, classes and trainings began this past summer. In its first 6 months, the garden produced a whopping 547 pounds of fruits and vegetables -- more than any other school garden produced in an entire year!
Organic School Gardens Project Manager, Ana, credits the school’s success to the commitment and involvement of teachers, students, and community members: “They are very responsive to any suggestions we might have and go above and beyond the goals they set for themselves monthly.”
Organic School Gardens Project Manager, Ana, credits the school’s success to the commitment and involvement of teachers, students, and community members: “They are very responsive to any suggestions we might have and go above and beyond the goals they set for themselves monthly.”
The flourishing school garden
Proud students with some of their harvest
Most recently, we have worked with Nueva Vida School to implement our new Youth Leadership Project. The project, which officially began this January but first began as a pilot at the beginning of 2015, has brought a group of youth together to serve as community leaders in the organic school garden. So far, Pueblo a Pueblo staff have carried out several trainings with the group of youth leaders with great success.
Ana explained that the youth have helped a lot in preparing and maintaining the garden and have learned many gardening and project management skills. She added, “Another benefit is that they serve as role models for the younger students, who see them getting involved and volunteering their time and effort to help out in the community.”
We are very excited by this new partnership with Nueva Vida School and cannot wait to see it thrive even more in the future!
Ana explained that the youth have helped a lot in preparing and maintaining the garden and have learned many gardening and project management skills. She added, “Another benefit is that they serve as role models for the younger students, who see them getting involved and volunteering their time and effort to help out in the community.”
We are very excited by this new partnership with Nueva Vida School and cannot wait to see it thrive even more in the future!
The youth leadership group in the office for training
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