Educating underserved children in Maya communities in Guatemala

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Kateri

TEACH started to support this site in 2003. In 2019, TEACH is budgeting total funding for the site of $5,300 allocated to support of the students attending Kateri Tekakwitha Center Residence Facility and support of the school age students at the Orphanage run by the Missionary Order of Our Lady of the Assumption.  

Boys and girls who board at this TEACH supported facility and study at the Kateri school come from villages several hours distant. They are willing to leave their homes to get an education that will give them more choices and provide the foundation for a future that contributes to personal fulfillment as well as the wellbeing and improvement of their villages. In addition to their school work, students do household chores—laundry, cleaning, yard work, and tending chickens, turkeys, fish, and vegetable gardens. The nuns who direct the residence guide the children’s homework and support them emotionally.

A short uphill walk through the town of Livingston to get to the Kateri residence and school.

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TEACH supports the residence facility at Kateri for boys and girls studying at the Kateri básico (grades 7-9) and diversificado (grades 10-12).

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Boarding students are in charge of their own laundry in addition to chores around the property.

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Students sang a wonderful song to welcome the TEACH representatives.

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TEACH Board members at a meeting with Sr. Angelina, one of two nuns who direct the residence.

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Students having fun playing “Buns in the Seat Volleyball”—guys vs. girls.

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Some of the boys who board at Kateri waiting their turn to play volleyball.

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Guatemala is one of the few countries in the world that has an official “national instrument”—the marimba, on which these boys are practicing

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Much of the food that the students eat is grown at the residence. These bananas were grown within several feet of where they were to be eaten.