The community Tzibal is a small indigenous village located about two kilometers from Campur, the largest village of the municipality San Pedro Carchá, in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. The children and community leaders have been collecting bottles since 2010 for a 3 room classroom to replace the existing school, built 82 years ago out of wood and corrugated metal. The three room school is planning to support the anticipated growth of the community and also provide their first library room. The volunteers, Hannah and Jareau, are leading the efforts of this project and want to help this community earn certification as a Peace Corps "Healthy School," a title they have been working towards since the first volunteer arrived in 2007. The volunteers have said; “For a community so small and so underprivileged to be able to drive a project of this scale has already created an overwhelming sense of pride... Tzibal is blessed with a few extremely hard-working and ambitious teachers who upon their arrival 5 years ago, have been fighting to promote sustainable development and opportunities for the community.” To help make their dream a reality $15,000 is needed to fund this bottle school project. With schools like this one needing immediate funding, now is the time to get involved! The Tzibal community in Guatemala needs your help to make their dream of a school for their children a reality.
Located in coffee growing, rural western El Salvador, this project will be Hug it Forward´s first foray into building bottle schools in El Salvador. In conjunction with Peace Corps volunteer Sarah Hug It Forward will be building a 6 x 6 meter classroom with community members to provide an outlet for the overcrowding issue of schools in the area.
In the Western region of a large municipality in San Marcos, one of the most isolated departments in Guatemala, bordering with Mexico, there is no free, public middle school education available. In 2009, a group of teachers took action to create a public middle school, serving as a bridge between primary and high school education. Currently, these three teachers and 77 students do not have a school building.
What is Raider Relief? Student-driven humanitarianism, helping those in need with passion, love, and good deeds. Our Story: Raider Relief is a student-driven organization at the University of Mount Union that recognizes the needs of people less fortunate than ourselves, and acts upon those needs in a fashion that is timely, sympathetic, and rewarding. Since 2008, students have teamed up with faculty, staff, and University administration to coordinate philanthropic projects such as Soles for Souls, Hugs for Haiti, Help to Others, and March Makeover. All projects that are created display the underlining theme of our organization, humanitarianism. Not only do we strive to impact Mount Union’s local community of Alliance, Ohio, we extend help to people all over the world by partnering with other charitable organizations. By teaming up with other charities we have declared our organization as a non-profitable group, where one hundred percent of all of our earnings are donated to those in need. This year we our spearheading a Bottle School Blitz where student volunteers will seek donations in the community of Alliance by selling wax candy bottles. There also will be a campus initiative where students will be given plastic bottles to collect change and donations in over Thanksgiving break. These efforts, coupled with our online donation site, will help us strive to meet our goal of $10,000 contributed towards a brand new bottle school.
Raxruhá ('Green Waters' in Q'ueq'chi) is strategically located at a primary intersection en route to the most popular Mayan Ruins in Guatemala: Tikal. Cruz Sin Nombre is located in the most remote region of the municipality. Over the past 9 months the community began their own recycling system, built bottle trash cans, and dug a trash dump for trash that cannot be used in bottle-schools (broken chairs, glass, iron, etc). We will be expanding the school from one room for 6 grade levels to a 3 room school house that will address current and future education needs of the community. Raxruhá municipality has worked as a team to spread the ecological message that bottle-schools naturally bring. This teamwork has been instrumental in the collection and filling of over 15,000 bottles. The building proposed for Cruz Sin Nombre will use less than half of these trash stuffed bottles.
This project will help the people of Sapox I, Chisec, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala see their dreams of a new, fully functional school come to fruition! The community members have already prepared for the build, and are very excited that Hug It Foward is helping them to make this happen. They expect to build 3 classrooms to accommodate 40 students. The community fathers have been working very hard to get the land ready for the school, and the families in Sapox I have already collected and filled around 7,000 bottles! Please spread the word and help us make this happen! Thanks so much!!
Gucachipol (Gwah-kah-chee-pole)History The community of Guacachipol is a very rural community where families face the struggle of daily life. Being one of the furthest located communities from the municipal center there is still no electricity and no running water leaving one to imagine the strength and determination is takes the community to work together to make it day to day. Guacachipol is blessed to have a close-knit and dedicated sense of community that has been fighting to promote sustainable development and opportunities for the advancement of their community. One of these important needs is a proper school building where the current 37 students have space to study, grow and acquire skills to prepare them for a successful future. The community has selflessly given everything they can with what they have but still they cannot adequately provide for their children. Currently their school is a ‘two room’ space with one of the classrooms a rented unused bedroom in a community member’s house. The community pays monthly to use this space as it charges all parents a fee to rent the space. The other room is a make shift area with a dirt floor and a corrugated tin roof supported by wooden posts. With no walls the air, dust, rain and elements easily disrupt classes on a daily basis and take away from valuable education time. Guacachipol had previously solicited the local municipality in 2008 for a new school but has patiently waited with no results. However, this has not stopped them from trying to provide for their children. The proposed project will be a two classroom building that will also act as a community center where local councilmen can meet and discuss future plans, parents and teachers can decide on how to better the education of their children and to give the community local meeting hall. The community has begun collecting and filling bottles since June of 2011 with help from other schools and community groups who want to support the cause. With this cooperation and support it is more than just a community effort but a municipal effort as well. Being so rural and without access to various resources, community members are doing anything and everything they can to get this project done. The community will not only help by filling bottles as the also will get sand and rocks used for construction. They will also help with the construction in any way possible. Guacachipol could not be more determined and prideful for the future project of this caliber and the promise of giving their students an opportunity to succeed.
The community of Guacachipol is a very rural community where day to day life is tough. Currently their school is a two room space with one of the classrooms a rented unused bedroom in a community member's house. The community pays monthly to use this space as it charges all parents a fee to rent the space. The other room is a make shift area with a dirt floor and a corrugated tin roof supported by wooden posts. With no walls the air, dust, rain and elements easily disrupt classes on a daily basis and take away from valuable education time.
The community of Guacachipol is a very rural community where day to day life is tough. Currently their school is a two room space with one of the classrooms a rented unused bedroom in a community member's house. The community pays monthly to use this space as it charges all parents a fee to rent the space. The other room is a make shift area with a dirt floor and a corrugated tin roof supported by wooden posts. With no walls the air, dust, rain and elements easily disrupt classes on a daily basis and take away from valuable education time.
Caserio Patzite is the only community of the 35 communities located in Canilla, El Quiche that has no proper school building for its children. Community members have collected 3,000 plastic bottles and are seeking funding for a simple one-classroom school building.
Caserio Patzite is the only community of the 35 communities located in Canilla, El Quiche that has no proper school building for its children. Community members have collected 3,000 plastic bottles and are seeking funding for a simple one-classroom school building.