Cool mountain air rushes in through the open window of our rented van. High among the mountains of Guatemala we wind along the paths, going higher and higher. Our destination lies at the top of one of these steep roads in a tiny town called Pixabaj (Peesh-ah-bah)

We pass some farmers toiling in their fields and they wave.

Most people living in Guatemala spend almost all of their lives doing hard labor jobs that make very little money with which to sustain their families. Today we are going to visit an institution that is actively working to give families an option with which to break the cycle of poverty.

Introducing CoEd & The Problem

Cooperative for Education is a program that donates textbooks, computer centers, reading, scholarship and library programs in Guatemala.

The best part: it’s sustainable.

In each sponsored school, the participating families rent the books for less than a dollar a month. The resulting money from this is saved, and in five years the school has enough money to replace the old books with new ones, resulting in years of better books, and better education for their students.

Most textbooks in Guatemala are too expensive for families in poor communities and often families have to choose between food or education for their children. In these circumstances proper schooling becomes a luxury.

• More than 90% of schools in rural Guatemala don’t even have access to textbooks
• Students learn from copying their teachers notes
• Many lose motivation and drop out

Coed has estimated that for every ten young people that begin first grade in rural Guatemala, three will make it to seventh grade and only one will complete tenth grade. Which means that 90% or more of young Guatemalan children in rural areas never graduate from high-school.

Without proper education they will end up doing what their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents have been doing for decades: working in the fields earning subsistence wages. Without enough money for their children to go to school, the cycle of poverty will continue.

How We Can Help

We have the ability to help these children.

In comparison to much of the rest of the world, Americans are very wealthy; even the poorest of us.

Most of us are blessed in that we can feed our children, cloth them and provide them with everything they need for the future, including proper schooling; not so for the majority of the indigenous Guatemalans living in the villages surrounding ours.

My goal is to raise  enough money to sponsor a schools computer workstation.

Over half of entry-level jobs in Guatemala require computer skills that most rural Guatemalans don’t have. Sponsoring a workstation helps them to secure better jobs or improve their education. It also provides the supportive costs needed to make the workstation sustainable, such as:

• Software installation and updates
• Occasional replacement of mice, hard drives, keyboards, mousepads, covers, ect.
• Routine cleaning maintenance
• Technical support
• Program management

I think this is a worthwhile chance to help others to recognize their full potential and meet their goals.

As the more well-off in the world, we have the capability to help where help is needed, without having to go hungry.

Please, help me to meet my goal of $1,000 and give indigenous Guatemalan children a better future.

Talk with your kids, share this article with them, read some of my family’s stories here on The Edventure Project and brainstorm what you can do to help! You could:

• Put $1.00 per day into a jar for a month
• Decide to eat rice, beans and tortillas for dinner one night a week for a month, like most Guatemalan families do every day, and donate the money you save on groceries
• Have a bake sale in your neighborhood
• Host a “Guatemalan Night” for friends, family or your school group and collect donations
• Watch these podcasts, share them with your friends and family over e-mail and ask them to help

There are several different methods you can use to donate:

• Contribute online by using your credit card to make a tax-deductible donation.
• When sending a check, mail to Cooperative for Education, 2730 Hyde park Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 44209.

Having lived in Guatemala for half of this year, after visiting last year, the Guatemalan children are not strangers to me, or pictures in a Geography book or on a website, they’re my friends. I’ve been to the schools. I’ve looked into their eyes. I’ve laughed and played soccer with them. They’re real kids, just like me, just like you.

Please help me help my friends.

Please let me know (in the comments section, or by contacting me through this site) if you make a donation so that I can keep track of the amount collected as I work toward my goal.