The Deaf Education Team returns to Guatemala

Trip dates: March 2022 (tentative)

We will be partnering again with Escuela Educación Especial in San Cristobel Verapez and Escuela De Educación Especial Y Centro De Rehabilitación in Coban. These schools are located in the mountains of Guatemala and are a full day drive from Guatemala City. This will be our fifth trip working with these schools and the partnership has continued online between trips. Currently, we are working with the teachers from Coban online weekly to develop materials for in-home learning as their school is closed due to Covid. We are also working with the teachers in San Cristobel Verapez to investigate the possibility of developing a vocational program for their students. 

The focus of the 2022 trip will be to partner with the teachers to develop curriculum for the Deaf students aged 4 to 21. We want to introduce coding to the older students in Coban if we can raise funds to cover the costs of the technical equipment. Continued work on establishing a literacy program (books and technology) for the students in both schools will occur. 

Our plan is to work directly with the teachers and students in the classrooms each morning and then spend the afternoons with the teachers alone developing educational materials, teaching ideas/plans in addition to discussing how to set up a library/literacy program. The afternoons can also involve presentation to teachers in other local schools or the greater community. 

The trip will last 2 weeks, and we will be staying as a group in a mission house run by our American partners in San Cristobel Verapez. They will also assist us with travel to/from Guatemala City.  We will travel the 30 minutes between the 2 schools using local transportation. Meals will be a mixture of meals at the mission house and meals at known restaurants in both towns. An evening at Zona Extrema (run by our American partners) which is an after school social club for girls and boys in San Cristobel Verapez will occur.  A recreational activity on the weekend between our two working weeks will be arranged in addition to a trip to Antigua for tourist shopping prior to our departure.  

For more information, contact Karen MacKenzie-Stepner, Team Leader at mackenziestepnerkaren@gmail.com