Thank you for supporting the Q’eqchi’ Association Xch’ool Ixim (Heart of Corn) campaign to support the Computer Lab and to provide computer technology classes to our secondary students at the Instituto Maya Comunitario K’amolb’e in Nimlah’akok, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.

We have a lot to be grateful for and it begins with your confidence in us. We appreciate the many ways in which we have received and benefit from your donations and your generous efforts to share our email communications and funding appeals. On our very first Giving Tuesday online appeal for our secondary school Computer Lab:

• We received 26 donations, all from first-time-donors!
• We received 30 refurbished laptops as a gift-in-kind donation from Chaptops.

Without your effort to share this project with your friends, family, colleagues, and communities through word-of-mouth, shared links, and your generous donations, achievements such as this would not be possible. We are SO excited, and SO very grateful. The money raised will help us “Educate and Empower Maya Youth in Rural Guatemala.” Specifically, it will help us integrate computer technology classes into the curriculum at the K’almolb’e Institute, the only secondary school in the region. While our students lack electricity in their homes and are from the most impoverished families in the area, they have an opportunity to learn how to use a computer and gain digital literacy, typing, and accounting skills.

• Only 5% of students complete high school in rural Alta Verapaz. We plan to break that cycle with interventions aimed at retention.

Your support of this campaign is helping these students gain valuable vocational skills, providing incentives to graduate. Together, we are providing access to education and pathways for entrepreneurship. We are developing future community leaders who can shape their own futures and break the cycle of irregular migration.

More News: We are grateful to The Ward Foundation for helping us to Strengthen Infrastructure and Educational Access at K’almolb’e. 

We are thrilled to announce that Xch’ool Ixim is the recipient of a Ward Foundation Capital Project Grant. The funding from this grant will (among other things) allow us to renovate the solar panels so the students at the school will have electricity at night and most importantly, they will be able to have Internet service. Up until now, the computer classes have been limited to offline learning. With access to the Internet, computer classes can include online courses, access to email, and the use of search engines for research.

• Students will learn how to complete online applications or search for jobs and apply for them.
• Teachers will have greater access to digital learning and training.  

K’amolb’e does not collect tuition from students. As vocational training increases, Xch’ool Ixim financial need increases. As student class content increases and as student attendance continues to grow, students require more teacher support. The reality is that as K’amolb’e grows, so too does the Xch’ool Ixim financial commitment to fund all of its educational programs and operating costs.

• K’almolb’e has 50 students, a 61% increase from 2023.

K’almolb’e and Xch’ool Ixim share a common mission: our goal is to “Promote Maya culture and access to education.” That means, anyone who wants an education, will get it. Please help us to support the growing educational needs of the Q’eqchi’ Maya indigenous students in this remote community.

Your continued support is critical to our ability to educate and empower Maya youth in rural Guatemala. Please consider donating. As a special incentive, Global Giving is promoting the 2025 Little by Little Campaign from March 25-28. During these four days, eligible donations up to $50 per unique donor will be matched at 50%, until the funds run out.

Giving a little, will help us A LOT!

If you are unable to contribute, sharing this post, will help us grow A LOT!