Volunteer Groups

School Project

According to the 2002 UN Human development Annual Report, poverty in Honduras encompasses 67% of the population who struggle to raise their families with little more than a dollar a day.
Among the most affected victims of this growing crisis is the Lenca indigenous population, the skilled craftsmen of the Mayan empire in the Pre-Hispanic period.
Lenca families were slaves to the Mayans and then later to the Spanish, and lost most of their culture and language in the process.
Now the Lencas live scattered among the mountains of central and western Honduras working hard at subsistence farming with primitive and environmentally unfriendly agriculture techniques.
The unimaginable paradox is of impoverished families with million dollar views, surrounded by nature’s abundance.

Proyecto Aldea Global (PAG) is working to change this reality with programs focused on food production, community organization, and access to education, health and credit for both men and women in order to secure a brighter future for the Lenca generations to come.
In 2002, hand-in-hand with the local Lenca communities of northern Comayagua, Proyecto Aldea Global began a plan to increase the access their children have to quality education. The plan focuses on three critical elements. First, it focuses on increasing the ability of the community to participate in the process of their children’s education. This includes teaching parents to teach at home, and to plan, advocate, and manage school-related conflicts, and to provide economic and administrative support to schools.
The second element is to increase the teaching skills of the voluntary Lenca teachers to include methodology such as learning by observation, practice and the natural employment of the senses. The program also helps to update the teachers’ academic knowledge, instructs children
on Christian family values, and on how to defend their rights.
Finally, the program will improve the conditions of the Lenca schools. This effort includes the construction of new school buildings, water tanks, fences, latrines, the distribution of school supplies and textbooks, and the development of recreational facilities, etc.

Lencas in Honduras

Education must nurture and preserve the innate innocence of our children, Johann Pestalozzi Where are the schools?

The Lenca Schools are being built in the north-central part of Honduras, surrounded by beautiful ecological
reserves such as the Cerro Azul Meambar National Park, the great El Cajon hydroelectric project and the famous Lake Yojoa.

All new school constructions take place in rural communities that already have a teacher giving classes in provisional shelters, or in places where children have to walk long distances to school. Most Lenca students are children under 13 years old.

Who participates? Community participation in the education process is the key strategy for sustainability in the Lenca Schools Project. The National Government through the Ministry of Education commits to cover the local teachers’ salaries, and the Local Governments donate the land for the school building and some school furniture. The communities work in the collection of building materials such as rocks, wood and sand, and help in the construction. Special teacher working groups impart trainings to Lenca teachers, parents and communities. Local Parents Associations fundraise for other school needs.

How can I participate? If you or your group would like to build a one-room school, which will be equipped with furniture, a teacher and up to 30 students, the cost contribution is US $4,500 dollars. In kind contributions are also welcome. Proyecto Aldea Global is also seeking volunteers to live among the communities and participate in the construction of 15 schools in 2005. The construction includes preparing cement floors, fencing, roofing, painting, etc. PAG also seeks Spanish-speaking teachers capable of assisting Lenca teachers in mastering teaching skills, develop educational materials and conduct youth groups. Music, art, counselors and vocational & home-economics teachers are also welcome.

Please contact us at
PROYECTO ALDEA GLOBAL
www.paghonduras.org
pagcent@paghonduras.org
011 + 504 + 239.83.88

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