Newsletter #19: New Year, New Merch!
March 2nd, 2023
March is here, and so is our 2023 Merch!
Inspired by our “Seeds of Hope” program, this LIMITED EDITION design (by local illustrator @paigejung_) represents our desire for our students, families and communities both here and in Guatemala to cultivate a growing desire to learn to do good.
In this image, children (two girls in traditional Guatemalan clothing and a boy) tend to a garden bursting with maíz (corn, a staple of the Central American diet) and flowers inspired by Guatemalan embroidery.
Click the button below to grab your totes and tees before they sell out! Pre-order open until March 9th, limited quantity available afterwards.
In Guatemala, a new year has begun with big and exciting changes!
As we announced in our last newsletter, we received the long-anticipated news that our program was officially approved by the Ministry of Education to qualify as full-time school. This has been a goal of ours for quite a while now, because previously we were not able to give grade completion accreditation and our students had to attend public school in addition to our program. This was super discouraging for our students, as the quality of education was poor in public school but they still had to attend in order to pass their grades. Many students felt the need to drop out of our program because of their inability to prioritize double school time over helping their families earn income.
The start of the Guatemalan school year is in January, so our team put in everything they had to make sure everything was ready for our students by the first day of school! Transitioning from hosting two grades per day for a tutoring session to all of our students coming in everyday all at the same time was not an easy task, but we are so thankful for the determination and sacrifices made by our Guatemalan educators who made it possible. We also expanded our program from Grades 1-6 to now include Kindergarten and Grade 7, which marks the start of our early childhood and middle school education departments.
We are happy to announce that the school year started successfully at the end of January with lots of singing, dancing, learning and laughter, and that our team and students have all settled into a nice rhythm as they head into their second month of school!
As you can imagine, our program expansion has caused an increase in the need for resources. We've had to add 8 new teachers and upgrade all the equipment in all of our classrooms to meet Ministry standards, as well as the general increase in operation costs needed to sustain an education program for 80 children everyday.
If you are able and not already doing so, please consider joining this story as a monthly sponsor! Your ongoing support allows us to provide consistent support for our students and their families.
Thank you for your continued support for our teams here in Vancouver and in Guatemala!
Until next time,
Team EDUPAVI Canada