School Health and Hygiene for Mayan Children

For many children in rural Guatemala, missing school because of a diarrheal disease is an all too common but harsh reality. Our Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) in Schools Project aims to eliminate this reality by improving bathrooms and working with communities to promote good hygiene habits. Our WASH team is partnering with the Aguas Escondidas Community to improve and expand their bathrooms and instill our WASH trainings. The biggest school we’ve ever worked with, Aguas Escondidas has only three bathrooms for more than 2,000 children. The facilities aren’t in the best shape either. They are cramped and sometimes don’t flush.

There’s more to implementing our WASH in Schools Project than just building and renovating bathroom infrastructure, though. We work with and train the school director, teachers, school children and parents on the importance of practicing proper bathroom hygiene and demonstrate how to take care of their facilities.

Projects like WASH are vital for schoolchildren and their families. Globally, diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years of age. By investing in school hygiene, we are investing in the health of students and in future generations.  We are excited to add another school to our list of beneficiaries and to work alongside their faculty and community to promote healthy life-long habits. We especially want to Thank You for your Global Giving support--without it, WASH wouldn't be possible.