INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT VILLAGE GUATEMALA
The village of San Bernabé Vista Hermosa is located in an indigenous community within a mountainous region near the municipality of Parramos, in the Department of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. It is home to approximately 350 residents, all of whom face significant economic challenges.
When Project Village first visited the village in 2005, there was a modest elementary school with only one teacher responsible for educating all 57 students across grades 1 through 6, housed in a three-room school building. Upon completing sixth grade, students were compelled to seek education in private or limited public schools outside the village, leaving older children with limited options and resources to continue their studies.
Over the past seventeen years, Project Village has continuously adapted its role based on available resources and measurable outcomes. Its primary mission is to provide a high-quality educational opportunity to a specific population of indigenous and economically disadvantaged residents in San Bernabé Vista Hermosa and the surrounding area of Guatemala. The organization’s emphasis has always been on collaboration with local residents and the broader community to ensure that children receive a top-notch education, unlocking opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible to them due to their socio-economic circumstances. Project Village has achieved remarkable success, rivaling both non-profit and for-profit educational programs in Guatemala and beyond. This success is attributed to the invaluable contributions of numerous students, teachers, parents, villagers, benefactors, and supporters.
Annually, at all levels, our students achieve regional, national, and international awards and scholarships. Over the past eleven years, sixrty-five different middle and high school students (many in multiple years), out of an approximate student body of 10, have qualified as one of the top ten students in the nation in their respective grade levels in subjects such as math, science, biology, chemistry, or physics, through participation in the country’s most prestigious academic competition. This accomplishment is particularly remarkable considering that many homes in San Bernabé have dirt floors, lack electricity, and are constructed with corn-stalk walls and nylon or corrugated tin roofs.
San Bernabé graduates now pursue higher education, with the majority attending the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City, while seven have earned full-ride academic scholarships to study at various universities in the United States.
Utilizing the knowledge and resources that it had accumulated over the past seventeen years in providing a quality education to the students in the village of San Bernabé, Project Village began to work with the Guatemala Ministry of Education towards the end of 2022 on a strategic plan to provision educational technology and infrastructure to public educational institutions in rural and isolated areas in the department of Chimaltenango that have traditionally been all but abandoned by governmental institutions.
Since initiating the strategic plan, Project Village Guatemala has developed the Ed Tech Project, in which we are currently equipping 40 rural schools with tablets, routers, servers, laptops, televisions and Starlink internet service. Through the implementation of the Ed Tech ecosystem, the program aims to transform education and empower students in rural Guatemala by providing them with the tools and resources needed to thrive in the digital age.
