Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta
Pachaj, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Status: Completed
Funds provided: $3000 for computers, $3000 for construction
The public school in Pachaj, Quetzaltenango is a bilingual school, teaching in Spanish and Quich’e, the local Mayan language. They also teach traditional Mayan mathematics, a Base-4 system, as well as the Base-10 system that most of the world uses. In the nearly ten years that PEG has had a relationship with the school, the enrollment has continued to expand, causing the school to need more classroom space. In 2012, that classroom space was added on in the form of a second story.
PEG was initially going to fund the construction of a small classroom, but as the project progressed it became clear that what was actually needed was a solid concrete and steel railing for the students to be safe on the second floor. Though building a classroom sounds somehow more appealing than building a railing, we try hard to address real needs rather than being “donor driven,” a common and significant issue in this work. We celebrate safe kids in the overflowing public school in Pachaj.