It’s coffee season in Guatemala, which means children from our partner communities are spending their days hiking through the dense thickets of red coffee berries that cover the country’s rural landscape.

But in San Antonio Chacaya – a nearby community known principally for the quality of its coffee – this year’s harvest was slightly different.

Instead of heading straight for the fields, children in Chacaya this year were given permission to start their mornings at a summer literacy camp led by four local volunteers and co-hosted by Pueblo a Pueblo at the community’s primary school. For the first time ever, the project’s summer camps were over-enrolled!

For four hours each morning, fifty children between the ages of six and twelve worked to improve their reading and writing skills through activities ranging from skits and plays to arts and crafts. All activities were designed to develop students’ reading fluency, attention span, and creativity, among other skills essential for success in the classroom. 

In addition to a successful camp session, we were proud to see parents and community leaders make a conscious effort to put their children’s education first. Through its support of the school’s literacy camps, the Chacaya community made it clear to its children that education and participation in the household economy aren’t mutually exclusive priorities, but rather complementary parts of long-term strategy to improve life in the community. 

In our last report from August, we told you how your donations made it possible to bring new WASH facilities to three different schools in the past year, increasing our outreach to 785 students. We want to share with you what that means in terms of impact.

Recently we sat down with teachers at the Tzanchaj Primary School, one of our WASH project's beneficiary schools, to talk about their hygiene and sanitation facilities. They told us that since the start of the project they have seen an increase in student attendance and a decrease in child illness, especially in the prevalence of fevers and diarrhea. Additionally, the WASH activities have improved children’s overall hygiene habits and enhanced their self-esteem.

The teachers shared a story with us about a student named Paulo. Paulo, like the majority of students in Tzanchaj, comes from a poor family that doesn’t have the money to buy basic personal hygiene supplies like soap. Although his parents want him to be healthy, Paulo would come to school every day with dirty hands and fingernails.

However, due to WASH activities in school, Paulo has transformed into a model student for hand washing. He properly washes his hands with soap and water and never needs to be prompted by his teachers to wash his hands before eating and after using the bathroom. Instead, Paulo comes to school every day and shows off his hands, exhibiting their cleanliness and his higher self-confidence.  

Paulo isn’t the only student with an inspirational story. Many of the students share what they’ve learned in school with their parents and siblings, thereby creating healthier families and stronger communities. Gaspar Damian Reanda, a teacher at the Tzanchaj Primary School, has had a front row seat to the change. “This project is very important,” he told us. “We, as teachers and as a school, are very grateful to see our students taking better care of themselves.”