The new school year brings new challenges for the children of our community. Niños del Lago helps our children meet those challenges head-on to create a better future. From February 7th, this social project of San Pedro Spanish School will resume its activities.
Founded in 2003, Niños del Lago offers educational support to children of the San Pedro community. The organization doesn’t replace the children’s regular schooling but instead, enhances it. It does this in several ways:
- Children receive support in the form of scholarships to pay their school fees, and supplies. This isn’t just a simple hand-out, though: the children need to show commitment to their schooling, for example by completing their school assignments, in order to continue receiving support.
- Volunteer tutors help the children with their homework and school assignments.
- Volunteers help children enhance their cognitive, social and individual skills and discover new ones through a range of extracurricular activities. These include language lessons in Tz’utujil and English, chess, sports and games and environmental activities
It’s not just the educational aspect that Niños del Lago focuses on, though. The best education in the world won’t help a child much if that child is hungry or ill. So, the project also works with children and their parents or caregivers to create a plan for their nutrition and health. For example, it helps them schedule regular check-ups with doctors and dentists to ensure that they are thriving physically as well.
Successfully running a project like this does not happen on its own but is a communal effort. To this end, we welcome volunteers to work with our children. Our volunteers can help teach subjects like English and Math, assist in homework, or share skills such as arts, crafts, or music. We are currently especially in need of volunteers who can help us organize our English curriculum.
While part of the tuition fees for students at San Pedro Spanish School or any of our sister schools go towards funding Niños del Lago, we also welcome your support in the form of monetary donations. Only a few dollars can go far in paying for a child’s educational needs and helping to forge the well-rounded young people who are the future of our community. To donate, simply follow this link: https://www.guatepay.com/ninosdellago/.
We would like to thank Jane, Gregory, Frank, Fu-Yin Wang, and David for their generosity.
