Art Classes with Angelika and Fotokids

Santiago's beloved artist, Angelika Bauer has been collaborating with La Puerta Abierta for over a year now bringing art technique classes to the youth of our community. This year, she has chosen to work with Fotokids (www.fotokids.org), a group of budding photographers from our town. This past week, students explored contrast and graduation using oil pastels. They delighted in smearing together rich colors and experimenting with new artistic techniques.

La BPA Receives a Special Visit from Camp Guatemala for Teens and Adults with Disabilities

Every year around mid December in Santiago Atitlan you're bound to encounter a group of energetic visitors from the US and other villages in Guatemala. They're easy to spot not only because of their energy level and diversity, but also for their bright smiles and laughter...it's obvious that they're having a good time. In addition, you're likely to see a trail of wheel chairs and volunteers wherever the group is present.

US volunteers Sarah Peller and Peter Halby have been organizing Camp Guatemala for 8 years now, bringing together Guatemalan and US young adults and teens for a fun cross-cultural experience.

This year, La Puerta Abierta was a part of the camp itinerary and a wonderful group joined us for games, stories, and holiday cheer. Visiting Jorge Luis taught us sign language, Miss Chonita shared a Christmas story and we merrily decorated Christmas trees while turning up the volume of our holiday music. Truly, we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the holidays at La Puerta Abierta!

Tis the Season at La Puerta Abierta!

Happy Holidays from Ms. Wendy's Toddler Class at La Puerta Abierta

The library filled with excited children today as we celebrated our last day of preschool vacation classes, "Mis Primeros Pasos," with Ms. Wendy. Her 11 students and their parents joined us at La Puerta Abierta for a morning of holiday festivities and treats.

Boats and Buses...Creative Play at La Puerta Abierta

Vacation Classes at La Puerta Abierta

As the coffee season approaches in Guatemala, the school year draws to an end. In the past, children were seen as an important source of labor in the picking and gathering of coffee, one of the country's major cash crops. At La Puerta Abierta, November signifies vacation...not for the teachers as we offer our programs year round, but for the students of Santiago who will enjoy a two month break for formal education.

Some children will continue to work the coffee fields during the vacation months and many more will accompany their parents to harvest their family crops or to haul fire-wood from the surrounding mountains.

This said, over 100 children will participate in 8 weeks of fun, stimulating, and engaging classes throughout the next two months of vacation at our center. In the mornings, Wendy, Chonita and I have been busy working with our pre-school aged children with 3 different early stimulation classes.

During the afternoon hours, Candelaria and Chonita host a group of 15 school aged children who participate in a program called, "Adventures in Reading." In addition to exploring literature, the students are exposed to creative learning techniques, academic reinforcement and critical thinking skills. Angelika continues to join us every Friday afternoon to teach a two hour art class. Her young artists range in age of 7 years old to 32 year old (I participate too).

4 year old Geremias visits the library three mornings a week for early stimulation classes and a toddler art class. His mother shares, "Geremias loves coming to La Puerta Abierta and wishes that he could assist classes every day."

I am thrilled to know that even at a very young age we are providing the children of our community with a positive connection to education.

Local Scholarship Students Lend a Hand at La Puerta Abierta

With only two weeks to go until we open the doors of the new Puerta Abierta, we have been busy packing up our old center and preparing to make our big move. Now that we have a permanent home for La Puerta Abierta, the teachers and I want our new building to be perfect in every way...kid friendly, good natural lighting, fun paint colors, etc.

We are very grateful for the recent support that we have received from two local scholarship groups, The International Humanitarian Foundation and Starfish One by One. Both organizations provide academic and mentoring scholarships for rural Mayan teenagers. In addition to obtaining academic aid, scholars are also encouraged to participate in community service work.

La Puerta Abierta sends out a huge MUCHAS GRACIAS to the combined 18 teens from both groups who helped us paint our new building over the weekend. We hope that they will feel at home in our new center in the coming months, knowing that they played a role in preparing it for their community.