The Phoenix run secondary school is located in rural San Rafael, Honduras and is coming along leaps and bounds. Donations are helping us to pay for the salaries of three local teachers ($350 a month each). Which wouldn’t be possible otherwise and the children would not have access to further education due to the rural areas in which they live. 

Results are positive and depending on further donations, we hope to open up a “Carrera”, or further education in 2013. This will further open up the prospect of brighter futures for the children of San Rafael and the surrounding rural area. 

The fifth year of our secondary school started up recently, a tremendous achievement for these tiny communities on the outskirts of Copán. When you think that these teenagers from four different communities would have no chance of further education, seeing over 100 of them involved is incredible. Funds raised pay for the teachers wages, so it isn't just education, though employment creation.

cheers

We would like to share the most recent trustee report from the GVI Charitable Trust. This report covers the six month period from July to December 2011.

This has been by far the most successful period. In six months we have raised nearly as much as we did the whole previous year. This increase in funding has brought a corresponding increase in the impact we have been able to create on our programs around the world.

During this period we have invested in sustainable education across Latin America. This includes support for the elderly in Guatemala and income generation schemes to support education in Honduras and Ecuador. In Mexico we have worked with a community to establish a recycling centre and in Kenya our partners in Mombasa will now see impoverished students complete primary education to earn qualifications for the first time.

These are just a few highlights of an amazing, productive and rewarding six months. Thank you to everyone who has supported us and played a crucial role in these achievements.

• GVI Charitable Trust Annual Report (PDF)
  

On the Phoenix project in Honduras we have developed a new income generating initiative to secure Secondary education for students in the communities of San Rafael and Barbasco.

Project director Dom Williams explains:  ‘After numerous meetings with the communities of San Rafael and Barbasco everyone is in agreement that is it a good idea and Plan Café has been given the green light to begin! Both communities have given a total of 2.5 hectares of land to the project and now Phoenix has bought roughly 12,000 small coffee plants to be planted on the land. The coffee, once the plants are mature in 2-3 years, will then be cut and sold, and the profit will go towards the secondary school to help pay teachers salaries year-on-year. All of this will help create a sustainable income for the school.

This initiative clearly demonstrates the long term vision we try to implement on our projects which enables communities to take the lead and provide and themselves provide the needs to secure continuation of the project.

In addition to ‘Plan Cafe’ donations to the GVI charitable Trust have helped to fund the food and fruit program in the school, bring in much needed educational materials, fund birthday celebrations four secondary teachers and the local dialect, Chorti teacher.

This project provides a sustainable secondary education for children in rural Indigenous communities in Honduras. Support for this project has helped us to bring in resources and secondary level teachers making it possible for children in the Copan area to earn their secondary education for the first time.

In addition we aim to empower local people through income generation and food security projects and encourage traditional culture.  

Ch’orti’ is the local indigenous dialect in the area of Honduras where we work. As the language was being used less and less it was an area we wanted to focus on encouraging. Bringing the language back also brings back local culture and belonging which is extremely important in Latin indigenous societies.

Thanks to donations to the GVI Charitable Trust, we are able to pay the wages of a local Chórti´ teacher, thus providing an income and keeping this dwindling language alive. The community are 100% behind this initiative and it has grown to become a valuable part of the overall project.

Plan Semilla is the seed plan in Honduras which is another of our sustainable income generation initiatives whereby profits from work by community members will help to cover the costs of education for children.

Recently GVI staff, volunteers and community members worked together to plant maize and bean seeds to kick start the initiative.

As our GVI project manager explains ‘With help from the community we started planting maize and beans. That turned out to be the easy bit, however. The next day we started building a fence. If you have never done this before, let me tell you it is a lot of work.

First you dig a very deep hole. Then you look for the biggest heaviest post you can find and put it in that hole. While refilling the hole you have to make sure the dirt is packed very tightly so the post won’t move. Repeat every 2 metres. Only then can you nail the fence to the post.

We feel immensely proud of the work done this week. All the blisters and sore muscles were well worth it. We hope to fund the next phase of this project (coffee planting) with the proceeds from this harvest, which will help fund our secondary school.’

On our projects in Latin America we run many sustainable 'plans' which are essentially sustainable income generation schemes aimed at empowering the local community members and providing a sustainable source of funding for education for children of the community.

In Honduras donations have helped us to fund teachers’ salaries for secondary education teaches in the community, offering this opportunity to local children for the first time. In a bid to make secondary education sustainable in the community we wanted to implement a sustainable ‘plan’ for this cause.

After numerous meetings with the communities of San Rafael and Barbasco discussing ideas and how they may work ‘Plan Café’ has been given the green light to begin! Plan Cafe, as the names suggests will focus on coffee, an extremely popular crop in Central America.

Both communities have given a total of 2.5 hectares of land to the project and now we will buy roughly 12,000 small coffee plants that will be planted on the land. The coffee will then be cut and sold, and the profit will go towards the secondary school to help pay teachers salaries. All of this will help create a sustainable income for the school.

So now that the land has been given, the next step is to clean it, terrace it, put a fence around it, and plant the coffee plants. All of which needs to be finished by June. It will be a lot of work but with the collaboration of the secondary school students, their parents, and GVI volunteers and staff we have no doubt that it will be successful!

Thank you to everyone who has donated to this project and watch this space for news from Plan Cafe!

The Honduran government provides its public schools with rice, beans, maiz, and oil so that the primary school students can have a hot, filling meal…though not this year. Normally the government food can expect to arrive sometime in February, but this year we still have yet to receive it. However, thanks to the generous support for this project through donations and fundraising the students at San Rafael and Barbasco have continued to receive the daily school lunch that they should.

Every week for the past two months staff members have purchased 55 pounds of rice, 55 pounds of beans, and 30 pounds of maiz to feed the 140 students that attend both schools. We will continue to buy these amounts of food until the government food arrives

Donations also helped us to fund a consistent electricity connection at the school. As we fund Secondary education classes at the school in the early evenings light can be an issue, now the secondary students will be able to see better during their early evening classes and the school can be lit on cloud covered days!

School meals for students in Honduras

With the rainy season now at an end in Honduras, the school at San Rafael is having some general repairs done.  The priority and most important of these was to repair the fence surrounding the school.  The repairs were conducted by a couple of local workmen with help from some of the fathers of the children that attend the school. The secondary school students also lent a hand after classes!  The fence was repaired over 3 days  thus providing greater security for the school.

The materials were bought with donations

The secondary school students in San Rafael, Honduras have been busy over the last 4 weeks working on their art project. They were provided with painting materials and broadly instructed to paint either still life or scenery. However, the key was to use their imagination and creativity.

They spent about 2-3 hours a week on their art project. For students that do not have exposure to art outside of the school, they showed real promise. The results were stunning! As can be seen, the students were very proud of their work (as were we)!

The Secondary school is completely funded by donations, before we brought teachers in for the older kids they had no access to higher education, thanks so much for your support.

The Students show off their work

Work is going well at Angelitos Felices (the orphanage we work near to Copan Ruinas in Honduras). As well as giving fruit, we are providing sheets and activities for the children attending School to practice their studies, and when they have done that, they are free to join the little ones, colouring and playing outside (the colouring is very popular ).

The only problem now is that the kids enjoy working so much, especially the attention, help and praise they receive, that after finishing their work, instead of going to play, they want to do more!

They have a lot of energy, and it can be a challenge to try and give time and attention to all the kids, but to work with them is a real joy, and nothing can replace that feeling that these kids are now getting the chance to enjoy themselves and develop.

This Friday on the project the two communities in which we work, Barbasco & San Rafael came together to take part in an annual inter-school football competition. Both teams couldn't wait to take part and had their football jerseys on before they were even in the truck to make their way down the campo.

In total there was 7 schools taking part, playing at the campo of the school of "Sinai". San Rafael & Barbasco played really well, and a good time was had by teachers, volunteers and students alike. Barbasco was only pipped to first place by an extremely tall group of players from the school of "La Pintada", and San Rafael coming in just behind in 3rd place.

The boys didn't mind too much though, as both enjoyed scoring in the double figures in the few matches they played. We are all looking forward to next years competition with the 2 schools battling it out for top spot once again.

During a week-long school holiday, GVI volunteers and a bunch of brilliantly keen kids, gave the school at Barbasco a facelift. The walls in both classrooms were cleaned and painted a fresh shade of blue, while a smaller room - previously being used for storage - was converted into a brand new classroom for the 1st Grade students.

With bright yellow walls, complete with the alphabet and numbers, it´s the perfect space for the younger kids to learn... and have fun! With help from all the kids and Sandra - teacher and director at Barbasco - the main classroom was also decorated, and we all agree it looks GREAT!

Barbasco After

1st Grade

This year, we are continuing with the secondary school, now with three grades functionning well. These past couple of months, the kids and young adults, have been concentrating on arts and crafts, with some excellent results. The regular exams are showing great progress for the children and young adults from five communities in the one school. Many thanks.

All our children in our 100% funded secondary school in Honduras passed the grade andc will continue on once the holidays are over in March 2010. Yet more children from 4 communities will also be joinig us for first-time secondary education bringing our total number of children up to 70. We may have to emply another teacher, bringing us to 4 teachers, which whilst increasing the wage-bill, improves the standard of education yet more. Happy New Year and cheers

Dance

Home education

Greetings. Our school in Honduras is coming to the end of the second year and the children's results have been superb. To start fundraising for next year, I will be embarking on a Charity Challenge this weekend, climbing 4 volcanoes in 6 days, so please, if you can, spare a penny or two to help raise funds for such a good cause. cheers

Despite all one reads in the news and sees on the TV, Honduras is trying to continue as normal. Our project, especially the secondary school has continued without break, allowing the children to still receive their secondary education. Exams so far this year have produced incredible results, and all the children should be moving up a grade at the end of the year. Numbers are expected to double for next year, which is an incredible feat. Secondary education is paramount, and our roject allows many children and adults to be able to take advantgae of it.

Our secondary school in Honduras is going well. The four Honduras secondary school teachers we emply are doing excellent work, and the numbers of children over the coming years is growing as interest spreads throughout the region. To think these children would never have dreamt of getting this far....an outstanding achievement

Roll-play

Music classes

Well, our first year passed as our own secondary school gave secondary education to 24 children. These children have now moved up a grade, with a further 30 children inrolled for the new term. This has meant we have had to hire two more secondary school teachers and children are now coming from surrounding comunities to receive secondary education....a very exciting year in prospect.

The children in our new secondary school, where we pay for the salaries of the teachers, have recently taken their mid-term exams, and the results seem to be good, which is a great step forward for the future. With 25 children between the ages of 12 and 24 receiving first-time secondary education now, the future looks good. In 2009 we plan to open up the school to surrounding villages and the numbers of students will rise dramatically.

Teaching English

Hard at work

Links:

• GVI Phoenix Blog

GVI’s education program in Honduras is part of a multi national, multi faceted commitment across Latin America. A few of these programs are listed on GlobalGiving and with your help we can increase our commitment to include secondary education within these communities. Please give generously and imagine how it would be for you or your children if you did not have the opportunity for a proper childhood and an education.

These children are getting an education and learning what its li

Links:

• Why not also volunteer your time in Honduras through GVI?