20th January 2007 - Save UNICA ESCUELA PUBLICA

- San Pedro La Laguna School, Guatemala -

Down2Earth International is a Non-Profit Organisation for environmental and humanitarian projects
www.down2earthdown2us.org

Down2Earth combines humanitarian and environmental issues to work towards a sustainable means of living. We exist to protect ecologically vital natural habitats, and provide poor indigenous people of developing countries with the sustainable resources necessary to gain autonomy from exploitative multi-national corporations. We do this through actively supporting the poorest schools and providing essential teaching materials in addition to promoting environmental education

Our projects are designed to proactively tackle these issues. We work with  indigenously owned organisations with strong community roots. Forging strong partnerships through networking with indigenous organisations help forge stronger social networks within communities in developing countries. San Pedro La Laguna is a particularly complex case study as the Mayan community are extremely fractured due to complex social issues and environmental issues due to a lack of social support from some foreign owned tourist businesses. Down2Earth’s project here is necessary due to growing  conflicting religious and political problems in addition to severe environmental pollution and unsustainable deforestation.

Saving Unica Escuela Publica school

UNICA ESCUELA PUBLICA is a school in the centre of San Pedro La Laguna town, situated next to the local market. The school is over 50 years old and functions as a cultural centre/meeting point for local people as well as serving basic education to over 390 children who attend the school. Unfortunately, due to recent events, we need your help to keep this school open.

On 15th November 2006, the school was severely and violently vandalized by the local Mayor and Municipal (police): all of the windows were destroyed and the classrooms left in ruins. The destruction took place while teachers and children were present throughout this ordeal. The perpetrators of this vandalism intended to destroy the school in order to make way for a new and larger tourist market, without the legal consent of the school directors. The Municipal and Town Mayor built a new school further out of the town in an attempt to force families to go to the new school. The current school is centrally located and has free subscription for poor rural families, while the newly constructed school forces the families to pay 60 quetzals a month to send their children to the new school as it is located further out of town, and for these families it is a struggle to find such finances. Families also have to pay for all the school materials as the Guatemalan government does not provide support for teaching materials.

The People of San Pedro la Laguna who own Unica Escuela Publica , do not want their school to be replaced with a  larger market which will function as a tourist market. There are other options to improve the current market instead of destroying the school. Unica Escuela Publica lacks financial support because they choose to be neutral and do not want to be financially dependant on evangelic or catholic churches which would also mean that they have to sacrifice teaching Mayan philosophy and culture. This is a choice the school directors made to protect their Mayan cultural identity. They want to continue to teach the local language T’zutujil and traditional Mayan artisan to their children in addition to other basic education without religious sponsorship from catholic and evangelic churches.

These are the directors of the school who function as the “Directia de Padres de Familia”:

• Jose Antonio Hernundez – President
• Professor Samuel Cotuc, - Retired Director who has been teaching at the school for 30 years.
• Enok Chauajay Cotuc
• Jaime Martin Chipir - Vice President
• Oseas Juurez
• Juan Sequuec Perec-Vocales
• Juan Peneleu Tuch

The Directia de Padras de Familia represent the families of the 390 children who attend the school. They want to keep the  school open for the new start of school term starting the 22nd January 2007. The School term lasts from January till October when there are exams and vacation is from November till mid January. The Directors appealed to the Governedor cultural heritage department for protection from the Mayor’s plans. Presently, protection has been granted for the school as a place of “cultural heritage”- although within the same building of the Governedor offices the education department objected to this appeal. Therefore, although the Governedor of Guatemala city has warned the Alcelde (the local municipal) to leave the school alone the Unica Escuela Publica remain anxious over the possibility that the local municipal will cause further destruction.

The cost of repairs necessary for the school to be re-opened has been estimated at around 15 000 US dollars. Despite the Municipal and the Town Mayor’s actions they refuse to pay for the essential repairs even though they are supported by the most financially powerful family “Guiguermo Batz” of San Pedro La Laguna.

Down2Earth International are actively helping the school by:

1. Fundraising events to help with cost of repairs. So far we have, in partnership with Gesture International, raised 600 US dollars.
2. We are raising funds to send 50 computers to Unica Escuela Publica , thereby increasing the children’s’ future education and employment opportunities.
3. We are providing an environmental education syllabus to raise local awareness for the local community and the children to protect the environment. This includes activities such as recycling and tree planting in addition to environmental education workshops and ecological advice and support for local land cultivation
4. We are providing the school with volunteer teachers.
5. To help support the problem of lack of school materials we need funds to help meet sufficient costs to provide quality lessons for children of families who cannot even afford to buy their children pencils, crayons, books and other materials

Contact details

If you are interested in helping the school, or working in partnership with us you can:

Contact Carla Shaw in Guatemala
carla.shaw@gmail.com

7 Av. 2-16 Zone 2.
San Pedro La Laguna
Solola
Guatemala

Contact Down2Earth in the UK:
Anna Karlsson
Webmaster & Public Relations
0044 (0)7880738212
anna.karlsson@down2earthdown2us.org

170 Brockley Rise, London SE23 1NW

Notes:

• Down2Earth exists to protect ecologically vital natural habitats and provide disadvantaged people with the resources and opportunities necessary to gain autonomy from exploitative multinational corporations.
• Our project in San Pedro la Laguna includes environmental education and we work with local partners such as the local poor schools in addition to cultural center who encourage such opportunities. We support the Taa Pit Kortess (the local Mayan Cultural Centre) and Ascodimaya (a human rights organisation representing indigenous Mayans).
• Down2Earth provides people with the opportunity to gain valuable work experience and skills in the fields of environmental and humanitarian work by taking part in sustainable living projects in the developing world. We work with local partners and authorities to develop solutions that are sustainable and empower people to do something about the current environmental and humanitarian crises experience in developing countries.
• The projects are suitable for undergraduates, graduates, postgraduates, people looking for a career change and people from all walks of life looking to do field work.
• Down2Earth also need volunteers in the UK and elsewhere to help out with e.g. information campaigns, fundraising, events organising, grant applications and admin work.

- end of press release -