Guatemala (MNN)–The mix of poverty and access to education in Guatemala leaves many behind.
With only half the needed public schools in the region, there is a great need for alternatives to the public school system.
Worldwide Christian School’s Steve Geurink says they’re helping the Colegio Juan Wesley in San Cristobal Totonicapan, Guatemala, build to accommodate growth. “They have 300 students that are meeting in some Sunday School rooms attached to the local church there, Primitive Methodist Church. The demand for the school is outstripping the capacity of that church to supply rooms to them.”
Geurink says construction has already begun on the new school. They’re on track to have the school ready by 2008. Stage one of the construction process will involve an expansion to ten classrooms and the addition of a vocational workshop and computer lab. Stage two will add 14 classrooms, a library, and a multi-purpose hall. Stage three, finally, will add another 14 classrooms and administrative offices for a future university.
The school’s vision is to create ‘change agents’ through social, economic, political, and religious change. As for ministry, Guerink says, “The education itself gives an opportunity for these children to better themselves, to help with the low income status of that area, and, the primary goal, that they receive the good news of the Gospel. That occurs everyday with the teachers acting as the disciplers in the classrooms.”
