| Location: | Tierra Colorada, Guatemala |
| Start Date: | 2006 |
| End Date: | Ongoing |
| Partners: |
Guatemala: Tierra Colorada School Project
Since 2006 in Tierra Colorada, Guatemala
Partnerships: Tierra Colorada School
In 2006, Sombrilla started supporting a primary school in order to improve access to quality early childhood education in the rural community of Tierra Colorada Baja in Guatemala. In 2011, we made an agreement with the Government of Guatemala to fund the grade 9 students while they continued supporting grades 7 and 8 in Secondary School.
During the global COVID-19 pandemic, we provided relief to the community by providing monetary donations to support families.
The project goals
Phase 1 2006
- Add new classrooms to reduce overcrowding.
- Renovate bathrooms and kitchen to improve hygiene and sanitation in the school.
- Increase access to safe drinking water by installing biosand water filters in school for both the students and families in the community.
- Construction of a second story to provide adequate space for all students and increase enrollment capacity of the Tierra Colorada school.
Phase 2 2011
- Started a secondary (basico) program for local children who normally left school at the end of grade 6.
- Created an agreement with the Government of Guatemala to take over the project after 3 years in order to ensure sustainability of the Tierra Colorada project.
Project impact
- Sombrilla increased operational capacity and prevented overcrowding by building new classrooms and adding a second story to house the secondary program (basico) for students that left school after grade 6.
- We decreased student absenteeism by providing access to safe drinking water to students and families in the community.
- Sombrilla is working with the teachers to continue to lobby the Government of Guatemala to follow through on their agreement to support the Tierra Colorada secondary program and until that happens we are continuing to try to raise the $12,000 per year needed to pay the teachers.
The project was made possible due to the generosity of Paul Layte and Nancy Cowle as well as a grant from the Wild Rose Foundation.