Building a Home for the San Antonio Preschool

It is time to let you in on the amazing progress we have made in San Antonio Palopó!

Thanks to all of your passion and hard work, the first phase of our construction is complete! Just in time for the rainy season, the ground floor is done and we have already started using the space for the school! Now the preschoolers have safe, secure classrooms to learn in.

Lyzania is very excited about all the new changes. We first met Lyzania and her mother Cristina in 2010, the year that Tropical Storm Agatha hit San Antonio. Lyzania and Cristina lost six members of their family—including Lyzania’s six year-old brother—in the storm. A few months later, Mayan Families established the San Antonio Preschool Nutrition Center. Lyzania started preschool in 2014, and knowing that her daughter was safe, learning, and receiving a nutritious meal every day was a relief for Cristina. As an indigenous Guatemalan, Lyzania is at a higher risk of dropping out of school early (like her mother did) without the bilingual education and support she receives at the Preschool Nutrition Center. Children like Lyzania are the hope for San Antonio’s future, and by moving the preschool to a new, secure building we are defending that future against tragedies like Tropical Storm Agatha.

Despite our progress, this new classroom space is still only temporary. The room is loud and cramped, and has little natural lighting—conditions that are not conducive to learning. For now it is being used as two classrooms, but it is designed to become a multi-purpose space. Eventually the room will house medical and dental clinics, a new branch of our Elderly Feeding Program, and a donation distribution center.

This is where the next phase of construction will come in. The second floor will have two proper teaching spaces, servicing a total of 60 preschool students a year. Plenty of natural light will stream through the new windows of those two classrooms. The second floor will also include bathrooms, a library, a room for adult computer classes, and a kitchen for our nutrition program. With these facilities, the entire San Antonio community will be able to benefit, learn, and grow together. 

Our construction team has been working around the clock, and have released digital renderings and floor plans of how the new Preschool Nutrition Center will look once it’s finalized. 

We know you are as excited as we are to start phase two, and get these children the modern classrooms and infrastructure they need to break the cycle of poverty. None of this progress would be possible without all of your determination and generosity. The momentum is growing, and to keep it up we need your help in sharing this campaign and spreading the word. Finding one or two friends who are willing to lend a hand to the children of San Antonio Palopó will make all the difference. With your continued dedication to Lyzania, her classmates and the generations that will follow, we can make their dream a reality.