High school students from Catlin Gabel and Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, OR visited Chajul and helped launch the grand opening of LHI’s Public Library!  The group assisted with crucial work, and connected with the entire community.

Check out great photos and wonderful testimonies on their trip blog.

Jason Bisping has been traveling to Chajul since 2009 to conduct theatre workshops with students and teachers.  Read more about his fascinating work with theatre and energy justice in Chajul in this Teaching Traveling blogpost.

At the end of October, over 200 students and family members attended LHI’s third annual graduation ceremony to honor the eleven LHI students graduating from middle school and all of the 76 sponsored students completing their academic year (71 of whom will continue their education through LHI in 2011). This is a major accomplishment in a region where only around 10% of the population graduates from middle school. Many of LHI’s students are the first in their families to reach this point, and would never have been here if it were not for LHI’s support. Students received diplomas, and awards were presented for achievements like maintaining high grades and most-involved parents.

The festivities continued the next day at a recreation park called Boxbolandia (named after the Ixil region’s favorite food!). Everyone enjoyed a beautiful sunny day swimming, playing soccer and basketball, and eating delicious snacks like fresh fruit salad and chuchitos (corn tamales filled with chicken and tomato sauce). It was a perfect way for the scholarship students from more than six different schools to celebrate the end of the academic year and share each other’s company. Usually busy with school or work, they found a rare opportunity to just be kids. With all the hardships that many of our students face daily in their lives, it was refreshing to see them smiling and carefree.

We did it!  LHI’s Fall Fundraising Appeal came at a crucial point for the organization, and thanks to all of your generous donations, successfully reached its goal of $2,500, all of which will be matched by LHI’s board of directors, bringing the total to an impressive $5,000. This money will directly support LHI’s programing in Chajul and continue the dream of sustainable development in this vibrant community. Thank you for your generosity and support!

This April, LHI kicked off its new teacher training initiative, an effort to improve the overall quality of education in Chajul by developing and sharing knowledge in the community. Steve Mullaney, Director of Development at Quetzaltenango’s Asturias Academy, focused our first training on popular education theory. He addressed oppression in society and what teachers could do to change the way their students think and learn about it.

With Philanthropiece’s support, LHI also hosted teacher trainings in theater, in response to a recent change in the Guatemalan national curriculum requiring theater classes at all school levels. Both visiting doctoral candidate Jason Bisping and the Performers Without Borders group from University of Colorado-Boulder shared their talent with teachers and directors eager to learn how to integrate theater into their instruction. Through basic theater exercises, they focused on confidence, creativity, and general silliness. It was inspiring to see traditionally composed teachers embracing their theatricality and opening up during a couple hours of playing theater games. Teachers learned how to translate simple theater exercises to their classrooms, with topics ranging from math to grammar to creative writing. Overall, teachers and directors have been very enthusiastic about teacher trainings and are excited for future opportunities.

In early February, after months of hard work and anticipation, Limitless Horizons Ixil and the community of Chajul celebrated the inauguration of the community’s first public library, Saber Sin Límites (Limitless Knowledge). Students, teachers, and school directors all attended the inauguration, which included a ribbon-cutting ceremony, speeches, explanation of the library’s function and rules, and festive marimba music. Our librarian Raquel and other representatives from LHI and Philanthropiece have talked with school directors and made presentations in classrooms, as well as promoted Saber Sin Límites on the local radios and by word of mouth, in order to encourage students and community members to use the library.

In just its first weeks, we have seen great response to Saber Sin Límites. Over 80 students and teachers from various schools in Chajul have come by to learn about the library’s resources and sign up for library cards. Raquel has been teaching library users about the rules and library guidelines, helping them with their assignments, and registering them for library cards. In preparation for the library’s opening, our librarian Raquel, with LHI students, volunteers, and other staff, worked hard to put identifying labels on each book, create a large flower symbol for the wall that identifies the different sections of books and their corresponding colors, paint murals, decide on and post the library’s rules, and design and paint the library’s new logo on the building. LHI students, as part of the Work to (L)earn program, are assisting Raquel by organizing books and returning them to the shelves, helping other students find books, and making library cards.