Education for 600 children in rural Latin America

I hope all is well with you. It has been a great few months on the projects thanks to your continued support for which we are extremely grateful. 

In Guatemala our secondary school and college students have had a great school year so far and hope to emulate last year’s graduates who have secured employment. Four of our graduates who excelled in their final exams have earned places with a national bank as part of their apprenticeship scheme. 

Our primary school students continue to remain in the classroom thanks to the materials scholarships we provided this year. Being in school is not only about education though also getting involved in cultural events and being recognised for their efforts.

The headmaster of one of the primary schools we support was personally congratulated by the President of Guatemala for his work and dedication with rural communities. Our reforestation plan continued with our scholarship students getting involved in planting hundreds of trees in the surrounding area to offset our carbon footprint from our work in Latin America. 

Work continues on the Plan Costura sewing business centre which will provide training and income for dozens of mothers in the future. Progress has been slowed by some intense days of rain over the past month though the electricity has been installed.

Graduations in Ecuador took place at the end of the school year in July for the students finishing primary school. Thanks to our local Phoenix teachers working in the classrooms the children were able to receive a full education. All eleven students graduated! 

With the holiday now over, classes are back underway and we will continue to pay for three local Phoenix teachers, classroom materials and internet as well as cultural events until Plan Cuy (guinea pigs sustainable plan) starts generating income to help cover some of these costs.

The guinea pigs have been introduced to get our Plan Cuy sustainable plan up and running. Alfalfa is grown in land around the building for their feed. After a shy start they seem to be getting on really well and we should see increased numbers over the coming weeks. The aim is for the plan to produce five hundred guinea pigs in cycles with the income covering costs in the school.

The 20th Anniversary Ecuador charity challenge was completed including a very festive day in the community! Three volcanoes and a hike in the area surrounding Otavalo were undertaken. As part of the 20th Anniversary celebrations we spent a day in the school. All members of the families from all the communities were invited for plenty of dance and food. We got to see the Plan Cuy construction as well which has been built thanks to fundraising from the challenge.

We will be celebrating 20 years working in Peru next year with the Colca Canyon Charity Challenge in June or July 2026 (we have two dates in case people can’t make one though can make the other!). For more information please follow the link below and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, either by replying to this newsletter or emailing us on info@thephoenixprojects.org  

Large parts of the government school food programme nationwide in Peru have been cancelled until further notice so we will be providing the shortfall over the coming months. We will continue to provide the gas for the cooking and daily fruit as always. With the vegetables from the garden (especially the bumper potato harvest earlier - see below) the children shouldn’t be affected as we know that the food they receive in the school is often their only meal of the day.

To celebrate environment month the children have been learning about the current human threats to the planet. This involved walking around the community with placards and telling neighbours to pick up and recycle their rubbish. They then took part in a mass litter-clearing around the school which also included putting up signs telling the local drunks to take their glass bottles with them and not leave them broken by the school.

The harvest was undertaken of the potatoes which were planted at the end of the school year last December in the school vegetable garden. It was a bumper crop and will help bolster the daily food programme over the coming weeks and months. New vegetables will now be planted which are faster growing to add more to the meals during this school year. 

Once again, thank you so much for your continued support to help us make all this happen and we’ll update you once again in the next couple of months.

Cheers 

Links:

• Peru 20th Anniversary Charity Challenge 2026