Pueblo a Pueblo
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • OUR MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
    • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
    • OUR SUPPORTERS >
      • COFFEE INDUSTRY PARTNERS
    • Annual Report
    • FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY >
      • AUDITS & FORMS 990
    • Partnership with Natik
    • Our COVID-19 Response
  • PROGRAMS
    • WHAT WE DO
    • WOMEN'S RIGHT TO HEALTH >
      • MATERNAL CHILD HEALTH
      • WOMEN'S HEALTH CHAMPIONS
    • SCHOOL HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND NUTRITION >
      • WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS
      • PRIMARY EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS
      • PATHWAYS TO LITERACY
      • SCHOOL NUTRITION
      • ORGANIC TEACHING GARDEN
    • SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS >
      • BEEKEEPING
      • YOUTH LEADERSHIP
      • WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
  • BLOG
  • MULTIMEDIA
    • IN THE NEWS
    • PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
  • DONATE
  • CONTACT

Pueblo a Pueblo Blog

Right from Santiago Atitlán to your computer. Your window into our world. Thanks for reading and comments are welcome! ​

In Their Own Words: Diana

12/13/2018

0 Comments

 
December is a rewarding time at Pueblo a Pueblo because at the end of each year, we take stock of each of our nine projects, analyzing the fruits of our team’s hard work in preparation for another year of collaboration and innovation. Our Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools project is no exception. One of the most important ways we measure our projects’ success is by interviewing community partners to hear them speak about the changes a project brought to their lives in their own words.

​This year, one of the community partners we interviewed was Diana Juarez Azañon, principal of San Juan Mirador Primary School. Here’s what Diana had to say:
​
PicturePrincipal Diana Juarez Azañon
​Four years ago, before this project, our school had problems related to water; even though we are located at the edge of a river, we did not have access to running water. We also had another even more serious problem: the bathrooms. We only had three bathroom stalls for the whole school and they were in terrible condition. They usually did not flush, the students had to wait in line for a long time in order to use the bathroom, and we only had one sink for students to wash their hands in. It was a difficult situation.

The WASH team at Pueblo a Pueblo became aware of the situation at Diana’s school and conducted a visit. Our team found the conditions Diana described, but they also found a school full of teachers and administrators like Diana: passionate about providing a cleaner, healthier learning environment for their students. Pueblo a Pueblo then worked with Diana and her team of educators to install new toilets, new handwashing stations, and hand soap dispensers—San Juan Mirador's first step toward a healthier school! They also converted an unused bathroom into a classroom, creating a brand new space for student learning. Diana reflected on the results of these efforts:

​
Before the WASH project, my students’ lives were difficult. They lived in unhygienic conditions because we did not have the resources to provide them a sanitary environment here at school and their families could not provide that at home either since most of our students come from families of few economic resources. The changes in habits that my students have acquired because of this project are many: they now know to use the bathrooms and how to wash their hands; they are now aware of their own health and they take care to avoid getting sick due to poor hygiene. Pueblo a Pueblo’s support means so much to me and to my school because it has equipped us to prevent illnesses among our students by promoting personal hygiene.

Want to support efforts that keep students like Diana's healthy and happy? Consider a year-end gift to Pueblo a Pueblo today! Your support fuels our WASH project's success.

Visit www.pueblodonate.org to make a gift, read more about the WASH in Schools project on our website, or reach out to us at communications@puebloapueblo.org.
0 Comments

School's Out...But Reading is In!

12/6/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Lidia leads students in a game
​Our Pathways to Literacy team works hard alongside primary school teachers to provide young students with access to school libraries full of good books to read. They also collaborate with teachers to lead activities that help students learn to read and write. But what happens when the school year ends? In Guatemala, school lets out in early October and classes don’t start again until January. That’s more than a two month break from the regular reading practice kids need to keep working toward literacy! Without constant reinforcement of literacy skills, young students tend to lose ground in their learning.

That’s why our team leads vacation literacy programs at each of our active partner schools every winter. This year, Pueblo a Pueblo’s Pathways to Literacy team is leading sessions in the communities of Patzilin Abaj and Nueva Providencia. By the end of the last session, the project will have provided two weeks of literacy-oriented activities to fifty children across the two communities.

The first session of this year’s vacation literacy programming began on October 29th. Pathways to Literacy Project Manager Lidia Quiejú arrived at Nueva Providencia Primary School early in the morning and unlocked the door to the library for the first time in weeks. For the next two weeks, she worked with younger children from first through third grades in the mornings, and with older kids from fourth through sixth grades in the afternoons. Each day, Lidia focused on a different theme, like stories, games, art, or theatre. “They are literacy classes,” explains Rebeca, Pathways to Literacy Project Consultant, “but they are more fun than the regular classes the students receive during the school year. The vacation sessions are more engaging, more creative, more dynamic for students—we want to give them a chance to unwind a little bit after the long school year.”
PictureLidia reads a story from a tablet
​This year was particularly exciting one because of a generous gift from a group of American volunteers visiting from ASI Solutions, a robotics company based in Utah. The group was in Guatemala for a week of volunteering with Pueblo a Pueblo, and they brought a donation of thirty electronic tablets, already loaded with Spanish-language children’s books and carefully-selected educational applications. At Nueva Providencia, Lidia passed out a tablet to each of the students and soon they were all reading the same story about a mischievous monkey, swiping through page by page in unison. Afterwards, Lidia quizzed the students. “What kind of animal was the main character in this book?” she asked. “What was the moral of this story?”

Pueblo a Pueblo’s vacation camp is the only activity of its kind available to young students in Nueva Providencia and Patzilin Abaj. This summer, fifty kids will spend two weeks reading, writing, playing, and laughing—and now they are even more excited to return to school in January to have more fun in the library! Thank you for helping our team inspire a love of reading, writing, and storytelling among young learners.

0 Comments

Laying the Groundwork for Women's Health Champions

12/4/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Vilma demonstrates the reusable cloth pads
Every morning for a week this past November, instead of coming to work at the Pueblo a Pueblo office, Women’s Health Champions project manager Vilma Mendoza traveled by boat to the other side of Lake Atitlán. She crossed the lake each day to participate in a training led by Days for Girls, an organization which, like Vilma, advocates for the health and well-being of young women.

During her week at Days for Girls, Vilma received workshops in sewing and business planning as well as a primer in Days for Girls’ own menstruation-centered women’s health curriculum. She is preparing to act as mentor and health advisor to a small business, still in its infancy, which will produce and distribute reusable cloth menstrual pads in and around Santiago Atitlán.

This social enterprise will play a key role in the Women’s Health Champions project: it will supply the pads that participating peer educators, or “Champions”, will distribute to other women in their communities. By selling pads, Champions will make valuable income for themselves at the same time that they promote environmental sustainability and good menstrual hygiene. The pads, which last for at least three years, are an economical alternative to the disposable pads that most women in Santiago Atitlán buy each month, an important option for women who must often find creative ways to meet their own needs in the allocation of scarce familial resources.

Vilma's time with Days for Girls also left her newly inspired to engage girls in conversations about women's health. "Menstruation is not a disease, and it does not have to be debilitating," she notes. "We must speak to young girls to interrupt these harmful beliefs and attitudes before they take root." The Champions will offer girls new knowledge of how to care for their bodies as well as a concrete tool to help them do just that: reusable pads.

The small business is still in its early stages, but Vilma has started meeting with a core group of women interested in participating to set expectations and map the way ahead. In November, the business also got a boost from a group of volunteers visiting Pueblo a Pueblo from the United States. The volunteers, all members of Utah-based ASI Robotics, Inc., brought a donation of six hand-powered sewing machines to be used in making the pads.  Volunteers also led a three-part entrepreneurship workshop, providing valuable guidance on the group's business plan. The wheels are in motion for the development of a successful woman-led social enterprise here in Santiago Atitlán!

To support Vilma, the Champions, and the production of reusable menstrual pads here in Santiago Atitlán, consider making a gift to Pueblo a Pueblo today! Your year-end gift is a commitment to comprehensive women's health education, environmental sustainability, and economic empowerment through entrepreneurship. Visit pueblodonate.org to donate, check out our website to learn more about the project, or contact us at communications@puebloapueblo.org for more information on how you can help this project succeed!
1 Comment

    Categories

    All
    Child Education Support
    General
    Maternal Child Health Program
    Moments Of Impact
    Primary-education-scholarships
    Primary-education-scholarships
    School Health And Nutrition
    School Highlight
    Staff Highlight
    Sustainable Livelihoods
    Women's Right To Health
    Youth Leadership

    Archives

    April 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

Guatemala Office
Cantón Tzanjuyú 
Santiago Atitlán, Sololá 
(+502) 7721.7449 (Callers in Guatemala)
+1 (920) 383-1506 (Callers in the U.S.)



​U.S. Mailing adress
Natik Esperanza
2700 Mayan Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
Home

About Us
Our Mission
Our Team
Board of Directors
Our Supporters
Financial Responsibility

Programs
Women's Right to Health
Child Health and Education
School Health and Nutrition
Sustainable Livelihoods


Multimedia 
Blog
In the News
Photos and Videos

Support
Donate
Join Our Team 

Contact


Privacy Policy
Pueblo a Pueblo has been awarded GuideStar's 2019 Gold Seal for Transparency, meets the BBB Wise Giving Alliance's Standards for Charity Accountability, and was named a finalist for the National Coffee Association's 2019 Origin Charity of the Year award.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • OUR MISSION
    • OUR TEAM
    • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
    • OUR SUPPORTERS >
      • COFFEE INDUSTRY PARTNERS
    • Annual Report
    • FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY >
      • AUDITS & FORMS 990
    • Partnership with Natik
    • Our COVID-19 Response
  • PROGRAMS
    • WHAT WE DO
    • WOMEN'S RIGHT TO HEALTH >
      • MATERNAL CHILD HEALTH
      • WOMEN'S HEALTH CHAMPIONS
    • SCHOOL HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND NUTRITION >
      • WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS
      • PRIMARY EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS
      • PATHWAYS TO LITERACY
      • SCHOOL NUTRITION
      • ORGANIC TEACHING GARDEN
    • SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS >
      • BEEKEEPING
      • YOUTH LEADERSHIP
      • WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
  • BLOG
  • MULTIMEDIA
    • IN THE NEWS
    • PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
  • DONATE
  • CONTACT