P.E.M.’s Objectives

The foundation of P.E.M. in December 1993 was primarily motivated by the catastrophic situation of school education in Guatemala.The public schools are not free and the school fees too high for the extremely tight budget of Indigenous families. Consequently, many children only attend classes irregularly and less than half of all students graduate from primary school. Too poor to learn how to read and write these children are needed by their families as additional workers.  

P.E.M. is committed to help improve these inadmissible circumstances by using donations from people like you to pay for the entire school education of Indigenous children from San Antonio Aguas Calientes.   It is P.E.M.’s goal to help young women and men graduate from high school with a diploma permitting them to immediately start working in their specialty.

Since its foundation P.E.M. has had three successful graduations:   Hilda Lopez (graduated in 1996) is working as a bilingual secretary in a Spanish and Mayan Language School in Antigua.   Gregoria Xicay Pichola (graduated in 1998) is working for the Guatemalan government in the field of rural development.   She teaches women how to open small businesses in the food industry to improve their miserable living conditions.   Silvia Salazar (graduated in 1999) is shop manager for an international ceramic business in Guatemala City.   All three young women are now pursuing univer sity degrees.   Thanks to their steady income they can afford to pay for their higher education.   P.E.M. aims to increase the numbers of these successful graduates whose lives have been markedly improved by their access to a continuous education.

Since its foundation, it has always been P.E.M.’s aim that the project be run autonomously by the parents of San Antonio Aguas Calientes.   This goal has successfully been achieved and put into practice for the past three years thanks to the dedicated efforts of parents and former graduates who are regularly advised by foreign representatives in Europe and the United States.

Thanks to the voluntary cooperation of local project families and foreign representatives 98% of donations are directly used for the schooling of Indigenous youths.   Approximately 2% are used locally for administrative costs such as office supplies.

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