To bring education equality to Tzu'tujil Mayans

One of the main goals of Aldea Maya is to bring about long lasting, sustainable change in the Santiago Atitlan area of Guatemala. We believe that education is the cornerstone for the development of this change. We started the middle school in the village of Chuk Muk in 2012 to facilitate that change. Our next step was to assist students from the village to complete high school. It is wonderful to complete high school it however will not usually lead to employment that will bring a family and then a community out of poverty. 

Our focus has been in making higher education available to the graduating high school students. We do not just focus on university but trade school as well. We presently have over 20 students following their dreams to complete a carreer. Three of our students will complete their masters and already have good paying jobs. Our higher education project has supported students to study nursing, mechanical engineering, systems engineering, agricultural engineering, MBA, Masters in Mathematics and physics, electrician, car mechanic, laboratory technician, xray technician, education, math and physics teacher, English, law, special education, business and social work. We cover ALL costs from supplies, fees, travel, accomodation, computer, projects and graduation. 

Sustainability through education.

In 2012, Aldea Maya started the middle school in Chuk Muk Guatemala. Prior to this, very few students continued past grade 6 and the possibilty of escaping adject poverty was minimal. However even with a middle school in their village the students were unable to afford their school supplies. For 13 years Aldea Maya has been supplying school supplies to every student who is not sponsored. We then work diligently to find sponsors for the non sponsored students to allow them the possibilty of high school as well as university or trade school. This program has been amazingly successful and has helped hundreds of students to complete middle school. In addition, we have a learning centre in the village which is the location for the middle school computer classes and operate a free internet, computer and printing service to anyone in the village.

Not only is this education opportunity important, but it has a second equally important benefit in that it drastically lowers the rates of teenage pregnancies and marriages. The students in middle school are engaged and busy.

We are very pleased that early graduates from the Chuk Muk middle school have gone on to teach or be administrators in the surrounding schools. These local mentors show that through hard work one can change lifes trajectory for the better.