GVI Phoenix continues as normal in Honduras

Despite the recent problems in Honduras, GVI Phoenix has continued as normal, despite there being now a teachers strike, though all credit to Carolina and Erica, who decided after two days, to return to school for the children. The secondary school continues as normal so thanks to the volunteers for there hardwork and dedication during what is a tricky time for Honduras.

Teaching adults in Nicaragua

Three weeks ago GVI Phoenix started giving classes in the afternoon to adults within the Nicaraguan community called La Thompson. Twice a week they have been offering English classes as well as adult literacy classes.

Despite an extensive plan by the government in the 80’s to give adult literacy classes Nicaragua still has a strikingly high number of illiterate adults.

Unfortunately many adults in the community work long hours and unable to receive classes during the day, however last week we had our first student. Juliana is a single mother with 12 children who works long hours rolling cigars in a tobacco factory in the nearby town of Estelí.

Despite the hardships she faces in her daily life she has decided to continue her education with GVI. Juliana never finished the first grade and although she´s fifty two years old she still realizes the importance of being able to read and write.

For those people that are literate, GVI has been offering English classes. The first class GVI had three people show up, three weeks later there were twenty. The majority of the students are Mom´s from the community and besides learning English it gives them an opportunity to get out of the house and socialize a few hours a week.

GVI Phoenix Reforestation in Guatemala

For the past couple of years, GVI Phoenix has undertaken a reforestation program in Guatemala, thanks to a part of the volunteer financial input and the GVI Charitable Trust. This year we are planting 10,000 trees.

This scheme is in conjuntion with the women's group in Itzapa, whereby we rent the land, buy materials and tools, and the women must tend to the seedlings, watering and caring for the treelings during the year (from September) until they are ready to plant.

GVI Phoenix then buys the trees back off them, so there is an income for the group, and each family of the children who attend the school can take as many trees as they can plant wherever they can, often on a small piece of land in the hills.

To put this into perspective, the trees we plant this year will be ready in 5-6 years for harvest, and a family with one of the stoves we build, will need one tree every three months for fuel, that's it, compared to one every 3-4 weeks without the stove.

The rate of deforestation in the near future is cut down, so much so, there is considerable reforestation on the land around Itzapa, which is often on steep gradients. The types of trees we are planting are excellent for fire cooking. The mountainside opposite to where we planted this week gives a good idea of what isn't there now.


The volunteers went out this week to plant 400 trees on Monday, amidst the crops on a steep gradient, and 800 will be planted on Thursday. The families have already started to plant their trees and it is hoped that by the end of the month, all 10,000 will be planted.

It is also important to show the kids the benefits of reforestation, and they lent a helping hand, with more due to join us next Thursday. It is essentially for their future, so the more they learn now, the more optimistic they can be.

As this is an annual event, with 10,000 our target for each year, we can slowly but surely turn the severe deforestation in the area into a sustainable reforestation program, thanks to the volunteers and the GVI Charitable Trust.

Annual Fathers' Day Football Match in Santa María - Guatemala

That time of year again, which has flown by, when we celebrate Día del Padre in Santa María, with the dads of the kids in our school, downing tools for half a day and taking to the Santa María Wembley, on the side of Agua Volcano.

The pitch looked decidedly dry and dusty in the centre, though a small jungle had grown on the sides and corners, making silky skills nigh on impossible (our excuse anyway!), though not stopping Ronaldo Ross in his tracks!

GVI's Ross, Stu "Becks" and Dom donned the kit, as well as Pedro, our six month combo volunteer on his last outing for us here in Guatemala before moving on to the project in Honduras, and Katherine, who plays football back in the States.

The first half saw some nice goals, as Dom's team opened up a sizeable lead (not due to Dom though), though Santiago, after his goal drought last year, making up for it this time round with three of his six goals.

The second half continued with the same theme, with Stu unable to keep up with Dom's blistering pace on the wing (Charity Challenge training paying dividends already) and hauling him back, prompting a "Nacho Libre" move of red card proportions - not given, the ref was paid - the crowd un-moved!

A great morning of football had by all, and it is great to see the Dad's out, as they are often in the fields from dawn ´til dusk, and it was finished off with a fine Pepián for all, prepared by the mums.

Tales from the 6 month Teach and Travel Latin American combo

Our names are Matt and Lalita, from the UK, and we recently finished our 6 months Central and South American combo with GVI.

Neither of us had any experience of volunteering but after attending a GVI open day we eventually decided upon the 6 month programme after discussions with staff and ex volunteers with GVI and making arrangements with our employers to take a sabbatical.

We flew out to Guatemala in mid October 2008 and 2 days later caught a shuttle to Copan Ruinas, Honduras, our first project. We were joined by Kate, from New Hampshire and Tracey from Ohio, who would be our intern.

The first week flew by in a flash, getting used to our host family (great!), learning Spanish (slowly) and exploring Copan (small). Although some kids were shy, most of the children were both curious and friendly and for a couple of days we helped out, giving advice, help, pencil sharpeners, rubbers and spare pencils where required. On the 3rd day we took a lesson which seemed like chaos, but after a couple of days there were signs of order and learning!

We both loved our 6 weeks in Copan and it would remain very special to us because it was our first project. There were great characters among the children and we really enjoyed our time with them.

Next we worked at GVI´s own school in Itzapa, in Antigua, Guatemala, run solely by volunteers. There were more volunteers and pupils to get to know here, but the welcome was just as warm.

Although there were 2 sets of children attending either morning or afternoon school, we had great fun getting to know them all and had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas and New Year in Antigua. The weekly barbeques in Antigua were great fun.

We next spent 6 days in Nicaragua building 2 stoves, one for the new GVI school and another for a local family. Working with Rufus, and being watched closely by most of the local community, this was an amazing experience and it was great to leave such a useful legacy behind.

In Otavalo, Ecuador, we both enjoyed having responsibility for our own classes, and with 8 in each, got to know them all very well. Occasionally it would be just 3 volunteers looking after the whole school which was a challenge, and one we enjoyed very much.

When we arrived in Arequipa, Peru, we were greeted by the fantastic sight of snow covered mountains in the distance. We had a week improving our Spanish and exploring the city before we started at school. Arequipa was probably our favourite city and our time at the school was very rewarding.

Lalita spent a lot of time working 1 on 1 with a young girl with special needs and it was great to hear that her mum had nothing but praise for the volunteers as her daughter had started picking out words from the newspaper and sounding out the vowels, something she had not done before.

Overall our 6 months teaching in 4 schools in 4 different countries, and building stoves in a 5th country was a very rewarding and fulfilling experience. The families we stayed with in each country were very friendly and fed us very well. Our time with GVI allowed us to teach and travel in an amazing variety of countries.

Essentially the primary need in each school was the same, and that was to help each child to develop academically, but the rewards for us were numerous. When a child hugs you, a teacher thanks you for your assistance, or a parent is so grateful that you´ve helped their child achieve something they didn´t think may have been possible, the feeling those rewards bring are immeasurable.

In each country the activities and trips provided were well organised and extremely enjoyable, such as trekking in Colca Canyon, Peru, tubing in Ecuador and kayaking on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala and our ultimate trip to Machu Picchu. Thank you everyone who made our time with GVI so enjoyable and one we will never forget.

Mothers' Day in San Rafael - Honduras

Mother’s Day at San Rafael was a very special day for all involved: the teachers, the volunteers, the children and the mothers. Preparation for this very special day started a week before with each class/grade deciding what to make as a gift for their mothers.




The older children were extremely creative and made purses and bags for their mothers, whilst the younger ones painted pictures and made wonderful glittery picture frames.

The mother’s day celebrations were to take place at the school on the Friday and from Monday to Thursday, the extra curricular activities for the children involved making invitation cards and rehearsing their chosen piece to be performed in a show put on especially for the mothers.




The show was to start at 9am, but as is usual in this part of the world, the mums arrived fashionably late. The show eventually got underway at 10am with a performance by the 3rd grade.

Edgar, Carolina and Erica coordinated each piece and the show went smoothly. The secondary school children came into their own with a dance routine, a little theatrical piece on mothers and a great finale with a duet singing "lloro por ti".




The morning ended with the children handing out their presents to their mothers and then serving them lunch. The children then had their lunch. A happy and fun-filled morning was had by all involved and the glorious smiles on the mothers’ faces spoke volumes.

Itzapa progress in Guatemala

We have finally got all the exam results in from the National School that we pay for our children to attend, as well as our own school, and the results in language (Spanish), Maths and the Sciences are outstanding, with some in the top bracket of the country with high 90s and some 100s.

To think that none of these children would actually be able to go to school, let alone achieve the high marks they have done, is testament entirely to the volunteers and quantifies clearly their work each day. 60 and above is a pass.

Zunil have continued at a pace, with most now with knowledge of numbers, letters and basic addition. We have added in over 50 children in the past month, with many coming in here, and they are doing well with Jessica and Emma.

Fuego have been led strongly by Angela and now Casey, and the morning group, which now includes Amalia, Kelyn, Erick, Yeimy, Pedro and Wendy averaged in the high 80s, with Sandra and Iris in the mid-90s

In the afternoon, Yeison, Glenda and César shone, in another fine set of marks, all in the mid-80s. Floridalma, Laura's sister, has also returned.

Atitlán continues to move along slowly but surely, currently being taught by returning volunteer Brianna, having been excellently guided by Darlene. Alex leads the morning group with a string of 80s and for the first time, the averages almost exceed 60 accross the board.

The afternoon lot surprised on the upside, with a bunch of scores in the high 70s and 80s, including Nancy Fabiola, Gricelda and Yasmin, the latter excelling in the sciences.

Acatenango still surges ahead, the brain-hub of the whole school, with Laurel carrying on the excellent results from the kids! With the morning lot pulling in averages in the 90s, Maria Mercedes, Ana Veronica, Glendy, José Enrique and Sergio stand atop.

In the afternoon, the grades are equally impressive, with Juanita and Margarita, newly moved up and showing signs of real improvement. Rosmeri, Linsi, Delmi, Limny and Walter made sure the averages remained high.

Pacaya, led by Moli's return for the 5th time (!!), and Caitlin, are tackling 3rd grade well, with the morning lot, albeit small in comparison to the afternoon, averaging impressive 80s. Sucely and Gilda scoring in the 90s. We had to move the boy-genius Luis up to Tacana!

The afternoon group are now definately at two levels, though despite the gulf in results, the average was still in the mid-70s. Several kids, including Eric, Erikson, Yoselin Paola and David scored in the high 80s and 90s.

Despite being moved up from Pacaya, Luis still tops the class in Tacana, and being 2 grades lower, with a string of 100s. No surprises that Gisell and Glendy also scored in the 90s. Rufus has been running Tacana.

With Kathleen, o seño Katy, now in charge, the kids are moving on well. In the afternoon, the averages are lower, though still in the 70s, with Eduardo and Eric heading the crowd!

Finally Toliman, now running very well with Peter, produced some fine results in the infamously difficult 5th grade. Rufus had also been teaching them too and the averages for the morning are in the high 70s and 80s with Blanca Noemi and Reyna scoring in the high 90s.

The afternoon Toliman, which has grown in size to almost 30, was a mixed bag, though both Mayras did well. They have now started English classes twice a week, to prepare them for secondary school.

When most indigenous children can't actually go to school, and when they do, they only attend less than 2 years for failing the grades, these results quantify the excellent long-term work GVI Phoenix volunteers do in Guatemala.