Newtown Native Volunteers –

Cooperative Aid Effort Helps Keep

The Pages Turning In Guatemalan Schools

Sweeping landscapes and watercolor vistas capture the attention of most who visit the Central American country of Guatemala. But it is the smiling faces amidst unspeakable poverty that both touched and broke the heart of Newtown native Karen Gibbons.

“When I was first offered an opportunity to go to Guatemala for an aid effort, I knew immediately I wanted to go,” says Ms Gibbons. “The experience of seeing the children and their families here struggle really has torn my heart out.”

Karen Gibbons, a Newtown High School graduate, traveled south of the border as a volunteer for the Ohio based non-profit organization The Cooperative for Education.

Sixteen volunteers joined Ms Gibbons in a trek over steep mountain paths and dirt roads to deliver textbooks and supplies to 11 indigenous Mayan schools. The mission of The Cooperative for Education is to break the endless cycle of poverty in the once war-torn country through education.

“Guatemala has the highest illiteracy rate of any Latin American country,” says Jeff Berninger, who co-founded The Cooperative in 1997 with his brother Joe. “In many communities three out of every four people can’t read or write,” adds Mr Berninger.

The Berningers, who are friends of Ms Gibbons, both left the fast track of the corporate world to help out in the third world. “The lack of education limits opportunities,” says Mr Berninger. “Although jobs are available, most natives lack the skills needed to fill them.” Guatemalans face such daunting problems as malnutrition and even death from simple infections. “If you can get a basic education you increase your possibilities for a better way of life.”

 Schools in Guatemala receive little help from the government. As a result most schools have no learning materials. “Class time is spent copying instructions from the board, so there is no time for real learning to take place,” says Mr Berninger, who experienced this first hand as a volunteer teaching English. The Cooperative is alleviating that problem by putting books in the classroom. In four years more than 74,000 books have been distributed.

Karen Gibbons delivered books and supplies to small Mayan schools near Santiago, Chimaltenango, and Antigua, Guatemala. “The children and their parents were so happy about the books, they literally reached out to us, as if we were giving them a gift that was everything,” she says.

The books are making a big difference for teachers. A survey of participating schools found that the addition of textbooks enables teachers to double the amount of work they can complete in one class. “The teachers feel the books have increased the quality of education in terms of retention, enthusiasm, and the students’ ability to analyze information,” says Mr Berninger.

 “I have training is in education,” says Ms Gibbons, a former school teacher. “To see how this program is actually working and making such a positive impact on so many lives makes me want to return to the classroom... I think I may be going back to teaching very soon.”

The success of the cooperative is catching attention around the world. It can now list among its supporters a number of Rotary clubs from around the country, and the Coca Cola Company-Latin America.

Karen Gibbons, who currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, says she plans to continue helping the cooperative and hopes to return to volunteer for several months. The Berningers says they hope that kind of support will help them in their efforts to break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala.

If you would like more information about this project you can contact The Cooperative for Education at 513-731-2595, or you can find them on the Web at www.coedproject.org.