On average, indigenous boys in Guatemala will attend school for 4 years. Indigenous girls, will only attend for 1.8 years. More than 60,000 unaccompanied children have attempted to flee Central America since 2013, many of these coming from Guatemala. About 25% of the country’s population is illiterate, and 50% live below the poverty line and are malnourished. Young girls are often married and have their first child at age 12 or 13. Young boys are pulled out of school at roughly the same age to work to help support the family. The GAAP supports animal health and welfare, but this is a luxury that most families cannot afford in Guatemala.
We believe that healthy families translate into healthy animals. With this in mind, the GAAP offers a sponsorship program aimed at keeping children in school as well as providing financial support to vulnerable households in Guatemala.
We hire local staff to monitor the children’s progress throughout the school year. Each child is individually tutored in English as well as their regular subjects and any classes that are particularly difficult are given extra attention. Report cards are monitored and extra practice before exams is offered.
Some of the issues these children face are problems arising at home. Many homes still have dirt floors, cooking is done over an indoor stove with poor ventilation, regular medical care and good nutrition is lacking. Our staff member visits their homes and talks to their mothers and siblings to find out how the family is getting on. In cases when serious health and nutrition deficits are identified, the child is treated by a local doctor and the food intake altered to improve concentration and performance in school.
We support the cost of school enrollment, books, internet, school uniform and shoes and other school-related costs. We also support the lost wages of the child as he/she re-enters the school system; these are given to the mothers to manage at the beginning of each month.