Voluntourism with Planeterra


 

Guatemala Scholarship Fund

Location: Antigua, Guatemala

The aim of this project is to improve the living conditions of children who come from poor coffee-growing families, by providing meaningful education opportunities to help them gain the skills and confidence needed to create a brighter future. Through Planeterra, a scholarship fund has been developed that will be provide children interested in working in tourism with an opportunity to further their studies. In return, students are required to keep us informed of their progress.

In order to help facilitate this, we have partnered with a local organization that provides educational opportunities for over 1000 children in the community. All programs are free and open to the general public, with priority given to those who have greater financial need and who lack the opportunity for education. Programs include computer classes, tutoring to improve reading and writing skills, English classes, recreational activities and a bi-monthly health clinic.

Why is this project needed?
This project is located in the town of San Miguel Dueñas, just 15 minutes from Antigua, Guatemala’s famous Spanish colonial city and tourism Mecca. Despite its close proximity to Antigua, Dueñas does not benefit from its prosperity. It has a substantially lower standard of living, the average monthly income is less than $80, many homes do not have running water or electricity, and the level of education is very low. There is a great need to improve education is this community. In Guatemala the literacy level is only 71%.  The average child completes only five and a half years of school, more than half fail 1st grade, and only 1% of the population read for pleasure.

Dueñas is an agricultural town of 12,000 people, of which 4,000 are school-aged children, and yet only 2,000 attend school. The rest do not go for various financial and cultural reasons; a lack of resources for the bus fare to school, or to purchase pens and paper; or, the child being the sixth or seventh sibling or youngest daughter, for whom literacy is seen as unnecessary.


DONATE to our Youth Tourism Scholarship Fund
With your support we can give youth in this community the opportunity to further their studies and to create a future for themselves working in tourism. Your donation will help cover the cost of a student’s school fees, uniforms, books, and transportation.
 
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Donate to The Guatemala Scholarship Fund

100% of your contribution goes directly toward helping these projects achieve their goals. All individual donations are matched dollar-for-dollar by Gap Adventures.



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