The education for life
Educación para la vida
This after-school program was created for children from seven to eleven years old from our Mayan Tz’utujil community, with its own curriculum which integrates and contextualizes three learning areas: Mother Lake Atitlan - Mother Earth, Essence of our Food and Mayan Tz’utujil Culture. These areas in turn are linked to the other two programs for the integral development of children.
Mother lake atitlan – mother earth
Madre Lago Atitlán - Madre Tierra
This learning area is the theoretical version of the program Sacred Balance in Our Paradise. That is, part of the ancestral agricultural knowledge is transmitted to the children to be applied in the gardens, the preservation of native and creole seeds, the use of organic fertilizer and agricultural bio-inputs.
It is a way to connect the children with Mother Nature by teaching them soil preparation, crop association and agronomic management. These are intended not only to respect, care for and protect Mother Lake Atitlán and Mother Earth, but also to motivate them to grow their own food and promote food security for the benefit of all: nature, community, family and the child.
Essence of our food
Esencia de Nuestros Alimentos
This second area of learning is preventive and contributory in nature; preventive because it promotes in theory and practice the benefits, preparation and intake of fruit and vegetable salads, beverages and organic snacks that are healthy for the body, thus avoiding possible diseases.
Contributing because practicing a healthy diet contributes to a better learning of children. It also promotes the preparation and use of natural remedies to avoid resorting to synthetic medicines. It also promotes the benefits of exercising the body and sleeping well, the use of biodegradable soap and disinfectant in the kitchen and the reduction of plastic wrappers.
Tz’utujil mayan culture
Cultura Maya Tz'utujil - Nuestra forma de ser
In this learning area, community and ancestral knowledge and practices such as respect, work, service, the word and cooperation are taught and learned in the mother tongue, since they constitute the children’s first learning. This knowledge and practices not only strengthen the children’s formation to develop in other areas, but also strengthens the family bond and to a certain extent the community bond.
In addition to all this, it also contributes to develop the skills, gifts and energy (nagual: symbol of birth based on the Mayan calendar) of each child since these elements are of utmost spiritual importance in our Tz’utujil culture.
