Lauren's Life in Guatemala: Project Pueblo Modelo

On the OB/GYN trip we did a clinic in a village by the name of Pueblo Modelo. As we entered the village it was obvious just how poor the people here were. There were homes made of sticks, plastic, cardboard, material, pieces of wood, tin, pretty much whatever could be found to make walls. When we got the the school where the clinic was to be held, the children were filthy. Absolutely adorable, but extremely dirty and poor. The school was in decent shape, but we didn't know the half of it. We started asking the teachers questions and ended up having a little meeting with a few teachers to learn more about their program. These were our findings:
There are 12 teachers working at the school teaching grades preschool - 6th. The state has promised them supplies, but thus far they have nothing. In the 3's classroom there are 37 children, Pre-k has 33 children and Kindergarten has 27. All these children are in the same classroom with 3 teachers and very little supplies. 1st grade is broken into 2 classrooms, has 4 teachers and a total of 120 children. 2nd grade has 2 classrooms, one is inside the building and the other is set up on the front porch/sidewalk of the school. There are 43 children combined and 2 teachers. 3rd grade has 1 teacher and 33 children that are packed into one classroom. 4th grade is actually taught down the dirt road a little ways in a tin shack because there is not classroom for them in the actual school. There is 1 teacher for 28 children. The children learn shoulder to shoulder with virtually no air. I was shocked at the heat inside their "classroom" But they were so excited to learn! The 5th and 6th grades are combined with 1 teacher and 30 children. As you can see, the numbers drop significantly from 1st grade (120 students) to 6th grade (15 students). There are differet reasons for this, but it is something we would like to see change. In March we had a group of education majors here for a week. We spent 2 days at the school making different art projects and sending penpal letters to a school that had written them from Wisconsin. The Education students from Arcadia did a fantastic job and the teachers were so very thankful. We have taken them school supplies twice now and will continue to take what we have when we have it. The teachers are amongst some of the most dedicated I have met! They have virtually zero supplies but continue to come day after day after day! Please take a look at how the people of Pueblo Modelo live their lives. If you are interested in making a difference here, please let me know!

PUEBLO MODELO

The School & children