Ninos del Lagos Gets a New Home

Six months after the Niños del Lago building was submerged by the rising waters of Lake Atitlán, the school has a new home in San Pedro. After cleaning and painting the building, students, parents and volunteers carried the desks, furniture and other supplies to the new location on Seventh Avenue.

Founded in 2003, the school was founded with the awareness that education is the key to development, and that the educational needs of many poor children were not being met. The original name was Child’s Lake. The idea was to provide educational assistance to children whose parents lacked financial resources.
The San Pedro Spanish School made a commitment, together with Huguette (a former student) and Edward Sams, to help the children and their families realize their dreams. Monique Vreeken, in association with Restaurante D’Noz, was involved from the beginning.

The High Cost of Education in Guatemala

While education in Guatemala is theoretically free, there remains the cost of monthly colegiaturas. These are not high, but even Q25 a month can be prohibitive if your daily income is only Q35 (and students beyond primary school often have a monthly colegiatura as high as Q200). There is also the cost of notebooks, pens, writing paper, and uniforms. Niños del Lago covers all these costs for their students.

Restructuring of the association took place in 2006, along with the name change to Niños del Lago (officially Asociación Comunitaria Educativa Niños Del Lago). Along with this restructuring came Felipe Chavajay, as Director, who continues in that position today.

Spanish and English Language Classes

The students attend Niños for two hours a day, Monday through Friday. Thanks to the founding of a library in 2008, they now have a large number of Spanish-language books for different age groups. Each day’s session begins with a 30-minute reading period, essential in a culture where even most teachers read very little.

Tzutujil Lessons, Too

Older kids, who attend in the morning, have English classes three days a week, taught by a long-term volunteer. They also have a class in Tz’utujil, to reinforce their native language, so important to preserving their culture. With these middle level students, there are frequent talks and discussions on multiple topics such as human sexuality, self-esteem issues, the political constitution of

Guatemala, and logic (arguments and fallacies), among others.
The younger kids, who attend in the afternoon, also have English classes when there is a volunteer, but possibly more important, they receive help with their studies and homework early in their education, before they fall behind.

Keeping Them Healthy

They also receive a daily multivitamin, very important in a country where childhood malnutrition in rural areas has been reported as high as 80%. The students also intermittently collect trash that contaminates the lakeshore. Besides helping to clean up the shore, the activity serves to raise their consciousness about the contamination of our planet.

Niños del Lago also pays for annual health checks, as well as medications if needed. Toothbrushes and toothpaste are distributed, and the kids have also been taken for eye exams.
Students have access to computers and Internet, thanks to the hard work of Monique Vreeken who, through Ninos.isp, gives the association free Internet access. Not only that, but the profits generated by Ninos.isp also are donated to Niños del Lago, a very important source of support. Ramón Peneleu, director of the San Pedro Spanish School, has been unwavering in his support of Niños.

Other Projects and Plans

In the new location, Niños del Lago hopes to initiate a very small flower garden project. As well, the association just received a gift of two microscopes, which are available in their schools; these will open up a whole new area for the kids.

Not all is work. There are occasional excursions, as many kids rarely, if ever, get out of San Pedro. Among them: a hike to Nariz; a day trip to Puerto San Jose and Antigua; a two-night trip to visit Tikal.

What You Can Do to Help

Visit the school’s Web site at Ninos del Lago in order to see how you can help. Volunteers can help in many capacities: teaching English, art projects, helping the younger kids with their homework, and financial support. The only limit is your imagination.