ICA Language School. Guatemala

Name of the project: MAM-SPANISH BILINGUAL EDUCATION

A Brief History:

The road to Buena Vista, Los Corrales, Cabricán, Quetzaltenango, is long and dusty. You wind up through green mountains getting closer and closer to the sky until you arrive to an indigenous village that has shown incredible tenacity in keeping their language and culture alive.

Although ICAmigos did not get involved in the Mam-Spanish Bilingual Education Project until 1992, the community of Buena Vista began their fight for bilingual education in 1987. Mam is one of Guatemala's official Mayan languages spoken by over 670,000 Guatemalans and the community was determined to offer Mam-Spanish schooling to their children. Many indigenous children grow up speaking a Mayan language but very few learn to read and write it.

Buena Vista Los Corrales, Cabricán, Quetzaltanango is a neighborhood of the municipality of Cabricán, located in the northern part of the department of Quetzaltenango, 45 kilometers from the capital city (Xela) and 2 kilometers from the center of Cabricán. The climate is cold and the village sits at 1750 meters above sea level. Cabricán has a population of 13,000, and Buena Vista has a population of 900. The majority of residents work in agriculture, others are day laborers, and all are descendants of the Mayan culture Mam.

The community of Buena Vista asked the Ministry of Education to provide bilingual teachers, but the request was denied. In October, 1986 they appointed a teacher who was not accepted by the community because she was monolingual, and they had requested bilingual teachers. The struggle continued and in 1987, the community received economic assistance from various institutions they has solicited in order to pay a teacher from the local community, Ms. Oliviama Celestina Baten Ramos de Pérez.

In 1987, 25 first graders began classes in the community Catholic church, since there was no school building available and that same year a team was developed to plan and realize construction of a school building. As the construction was not approved by the government, the community decided to build a school with locally available materials, in this case adobe. However, weather conditions made it impossible to build with adobe, and finally the building was constructed with more appropriate materials, such as brick and terra cotta roofing. With these improved construction materials the community was able to complete a school with three classrooms in 1989, using materials and labor provided by the community.

While the school was under construction classes continued for 50 first and second graders in the Catholic church, taught by the bilingual teacher mentioned above, with the assistance of a bilingual aide, and a parent from the community. In 1989 the school building was opened and classes were provided to 60 first, second and third graders. In 1990, the school expanded to include fourth grade, with two teachers, and a total of 70 students. The school functioned as an annex to the "La Asunción" school in Cabricán and classes continued despite the lack of desks, blackboards, textbooks and educational materials.

In 1991 the school closed due to lack of funds to pay teachers and operating costs. The same year a representative of the parents contacted the NGO ICAmigos of the city of Quetzaltenango, to ask for assistance in reopening the Bilingual Intercultural Education Project. The teachers visited the NGO and its coordinators visited the community of Buena Vista to complete a needs assessment. As a result ICAmigos took on the project in 1992.

Due to the financial support and technical assistance provided by ICAmigos, the school was reopened in Buena Vista with a new image. ICAmigos recommended that the existing parents' organization, C'UM: Comité de Unidad Mam (Mam Unity Committee), be strengthened. C'UM was responsible for selecting the four teachers for the school, Ms. Olivama Celestina Baten Ramos de Pérez, Mr. Hilario Roberto Méndez Pérez, Mr. Maximiliano Félix Ramos Pérez Y Mr. Rocael Isaí Baten Ramos. These teachers were selected based on a review of their resumes and, most importantly, their level of commitment to the community and ability to rapidly and successfully initiate the project.

Once the parents became aware that the school was to reopen its doors, they threw their support into the project. The school opened under the name Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta del caserío de Buena Vista aldea Los Corrales, Cabricán, Quetzaltenango (Official Rural Coeducational School of the neighborhood of Buena Vista, area of Los Corrales, Cabricán, Quetzaltenango) and since 1992 has received support from the General Office of Intercultural Bilingual Education of the department of Quetzaltenango. Although the project has advanced significantly, there are still many unmet needs in the school and we are always looking for volunteers and donations.

Funding for this project is maintained by funds from ICAmigos. The sources of these funds are:
1. A percentage of the weekly tuition paid by Spanish students in I.C.A.
2. Donations of students, former students, and volunteers
3. Weekly donations of the teachers at I.C.A.
ACHIEVEMENTS
The school is one of six named by the department as an Escuela Modelo de Education Bilingue B'E ("Road" Model School of Bilingual Education) in recognition of its role in promoting bilingual education in Quetzaltenango. It is also part of the Quetzaltenango Departmental Office of Education's "Healthy School" program. In addition, a well-functioning parents' organization, along with highly qualified teaching staff, monitor the effectiveness of the educational program. So far eight classes have graduated.

In addition to supporting the school, ICAmigos has provided other services to the community to benefit the environment, such as:

Planting 15,000 trees on public and private land in the community from the community nursery and the ICAmigos' nursery.
Construction of 120 energy-efficient, adjustable wood-burning stoves in homes in the community.
Foreign volunteers have provided labor for the community and the school. Volunteers have contributed greatly to the growth of the program in many ways, including donating a computer.
The ICAmigos NGO provides several scholarships for the highest-ranking sixth grade students to continue their education at the secondary level.
ICAmigos visits the students at the start of the school year and gives a package of school supplies to each student, scholarship winner, and teacher. In addition, the program has donated white boards for classrooms, and furniture for the school office, including a desk with a rotating chair, a typewriter with stand, and a file cabinet.
ICAmigos obtained furnishings for the classrooms through the "FIS" (Fondo de Inversión Social/"Social Investment Fund") in 1998.
The school building was expanded by two classrooms with the assistance of the FIS (Social Investment Fund), the municipality, the community and the NGO ICAmigos in 1998. In 1999, a multipurpose hall and two more classrooms were constructed. The project is currently planning construction of a kitchen and cafeteria, basketball court, mini-soccer field, and preschool classrooms.