Today Nicole, Julie and I attended an “escuelas
saludables” (healthy schools) event in San Marcos La Laguna. The initiative, led by the Ministry of
Education as well as a network of twenty NGOs and local community-based
organizations, aims to certify schools across Guatemala as “healthy schools”
based on specific criteria including sufficient education surrounding nutrition
and hygienic practices, environmental appreciation, the implementation of
recycling, composting and proper trash disposal as well as adequate
infrastructure, among other things.
Today’s event was a chance for the network of people and organizations
working toward this goal to come together, celebrate the project, and receive
the official healthy schools manual which provides relevant information
regarding the purpose of the initiative as well as what the schools can do to
reach this goal. These manuals will be
distributed to every teacher working at a school which is part of the project.
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A pannel of important leaders shared a few words about the importance Escuelas Saludables. |
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Here's all the organizations involved in this initiative! Notice MPI in the third column :) |
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Many of the organizations set up tables so we could learn about one another. |
I learned about the initiative a few months ago from
a friend who works with the Mancomunidad La Laguna, an association of governmental and
non-governmental people and resources around Lake Atitlan who work to improve
environmental, health and economic conditions of surrounding communities. Luckily we made this connection in order to
become part of the initiative, because otherwise it can be difficult for
schools from rural communities to gain access and information to such projects.
This past week Nicole
and Julie began the first step of the process by administering a diagnosis of
the two primary schools we work with in Central and Cooperativa. Once the diagnosis has been analyzed, we will
be able to see what gaps exist in the school’s current activities, resources
and infrastructure in order for them to meet the criteria of a healthy
school. From there we can begin planning
how to support the schools to reach the certification by implementing more health programs,
seeking outside funding and collaborating with other organizations to create
access to a healthy school and environment for the schoolchildren and teachers
of Chaquijyá.
The first project we will be working on which
relates directly to the initiative is creating a community garden for the
school of Cooperativa. We have made
contact with another local NGO, Ceiba, who has already been planning to create a community garden for the school in Cooperativa. Our first Spring break group, Vanderbilt, will be
working side by side with Ceiba and students from the Cooperativa school to begin creating a garden
which can eventually be used to teach schoolchildren about nutrition. It’s amazing to see how interconnected our
efforts and goals are with other local NGOs and the government, and as we know,
working together we are able to accomplish so much more.
-Jess
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