Rural Preschool Construction July 1995 - March 1996 Guatemala Funded by: MOFA Implemented by: ICA Guatemala, ICA Japan and local people
PROJECT OVERVIEW Monte Grande village, with a population of 750, is approximately 50 km from Guatemala City. The average family income per month is US$250. Education level is low, and many children do not even complete primary education. Since 1978, a programme to prevent student dropout has been carried out in this village by ICA . In 1996, ICA constructed a new pre-school building to accomodate all the pupils including 25 new ones. The completed building is being managed by the Monte Grande village as public property. Apart from the above programme, training for preschool teachers and human development training for parents were implemented in 24 villages of the region. It is hoped that this series of programmes sensitizes the villagersÕ awareness to the need for education.
1. The teacher and the children are playing in front of their new school building.
	?Q. The square of Monte Grande village. The church is on the right.
	3. Maria, leader of The Mothers Club of Monte Grande, lives with her husband and sons on the hill. The shower room and toilet are outside of the house.
	4. Children pondering about the interesting foreigners in their village.
	5. Group of women officers of the pre-school parents Committee and their children, already waiting for the meeting to start, at which we were able to give them the good news that funding from Japan had been approved. Plans to prepare for construction work were then animatedly discussed.
	6. The purpose of this preschool education is for the infants to enjoy early education and not to leave school before graduation from elementary school.
	7. Before the construction, they were using one elementary school room that had been temporarily loaned to them. But the number of children increased and they needed more space.
	8. View of the area where the preschool will be constructed.The building will be parallel to the elementary school.
	9. The foundation work starts.
	10. Iron rods and cement blocks are used to make the strong walls of the building.
	11. Double roofs will make the building well ventilated.
	12. The building is almost ready to put the roofing on.
	13. Step by step the walls grew up.
	14. A group of women carefully bring up the tiles from the village road. They are public-spirited. They have already constructed the road.
	15. Community labor equally involved both men and women helping in all sorts of tasks-digging ditches,carrying materials, mixing cement, etc.,etc.
	16. The worker is finishing building a low wall, and carefully sorting the tiles to make a beautiful pattern in the nearby floor. They used the nearly finished wall for a sorting table to keep the bottom of the tiles clean.
	17. Prepared to have the foundations poured for the covered walkway in front of building, so that soon the floor there can be levelled and its tiles installed.
	18. The floor is constructed with beautiful tiles. The community wanted the best possible quality to encourage the children to be proud and to take care of their environment.
	19. Children take a break resting on the new beautiful tile floor.
	20. ICA staff are in the kitchen of the new pre-school building. Lunch and afternoon tea are prepared here.
	21. The dishwashing basin.
	22. The left door is the kitchen and the right is one of the classrooms.
	23. Putting in a window frame.
	24. Painting the wall and door etc.; children accompanied in the task.
	25. A flush toilet was constructed to keep the school clean and illness away. There is a washbasin at the side, and two water storage tanks on the roof.
	26. The volunteers make the play ground even. Big stones were removed and sand was put over the round ground.
	27. The new building as seen from the entry gate.
	28. The finished pre-school, ready for the schooling to begin. The villagers had taken turns at an average of one to two persons per day helping the regular workers.
	29. The Inauguration event on April 4, 1997. Over 350 people were there.
	30. The Japanese Foreign Ministry, NikoNiko Circle, and ICA are recognized on the plaque.
	31. ICA Japan Director Shizuyo Sato and the Director of this school cut the ribbon.
	32. The mothers club of this preschool made uniforms for the children.
	33. The children wear NikoNiko Circle's badges of the director's own making.
	34. The wall can be moved for various uses. This easily allows the teacher to work in two separate spaces or, on special occasions, create one large hall.
	35. New classroom desks and chairs.
	36. The class has started in the new school building.
	37. Ms. Ikuko Fujita from ICA Japan is teaching arts.
	38. This student shows his drill to the teacher.
	39. The teacher's room.
	40. Children play on the climber . . .
	41. . . . and seesaw constructed in the play ground.
Two Months of Art Education
	42. Inauguration ceremony - (From the left) Ms. Joaquina de Samayoa, Director of ICA Guatemala, Ernestina, Principal of the preschool, Ms. Shizuyo Sato, ICA Japan Director, Mr.Wayne Ellsworth, ICA Japan co-director, Ms.Inga Bessin, project coordinator of ICA Guatemala, and Julio, the construction expert.
	43. More than 300 people gathered from all over the village for the inauguration ceremony.
	44. The symbol mark of Niko-Niko circle is visible on the side wall of the new school building.
	45. Class of craft work. Children are painting their favorite colors on the model of a caterpillar which is made of core of toilet paper roll. The work of the child in the middle (Melvin) has been brought to Japan to commemorate their work.
	46. The class for six year old children taught by Japanese artist, Ms. Ikuko Fujita. The work of the boy on the left, Jonathan, was brought to Japan.
	47. There are 15 students in the class for 5-year old children. The paper box in the left corner contains children's belongings (such as notebooks, texts, artworks, teeth brushing sets, and cloth for cleaning) for ease in carrying.
Art Skills Development
	48. Practice of finger work. Children are drawing the picture of the Sun and making paper art by pasting small round paper pieces (chiborita).
	49. Creating a butterfly by putting chiborita on the paper base.
	50. The children got used to and are enjoying paper artwork after several hour-long training sessions.
The Mother's Day Ceremony
	51. The ceremony of Mother's Day was held in the pre-school. Kids are enjoying a snack with their mothers in the big class room. For conference and special events, the partition is removed to create a large space.
	52.?@Commemorative picture with their mothers on Mother's Day. On the left is 6-year old Diana, with her mother and younger sister. Diana gave her hand-made card and blue paper pot to her mother as gifts.
	53.?@The ceremony for mother's day was held in the neighboring primary school. Students in each grade gave nice presentations for their families. This is a short drama put on by fifth grade students.
Social Education
	54.?@Garbage discarded on the road and a vacant lot, which is one of the social problems today. Turkeys, chickens and pigs, eating garbage may become ill, and in turn, affect the people.
	55.?@All the children gathered to clean the mountain behind the school. This is an important education for children to learn about social care.
	56.?@The children have physical exercise classes on the now cleaned ground.
	57.?@They have a stretch and running class twice a week to create physical strength.
	58.?@In the break, only two children can use the lone see-saw. So, many children are waiting in line for their turn at fun.
	59.?@The horizontal bar is crowded with many fine children.
	60.?@Seeing children playing joyfully and innocently, we are glad to have contributed to the educational progress of Guatemala and to the future of these children and their community.
	61. We hope to maintain a close relationship with these wonderful people.

Back to International Projects About ICA | ICA News | Activities in Japan | Overseas Projects Facilitation | Town Making | Join us | Links | Contact Us Home-E | Home-J We are grateful that this site is sponsored by Next Generation Hosting