27 Jan 2022
Founded by MSCs in 1984, Centro Faustino Villanueva is a vocational centre dedicated to helping disadvantaged youths, located in the rural region of San Agustin, Alta Verapaz, in Guatemala.
With the motto “Open doors to education”, the centre currently works with 215 students from impoverished villages and vulnerable family groups, with a waiting list for places. Youths at the centre can study a range of three career skill sets: business administration, science, and teaching.
The remote setting of the school means that daily travel is extremely difficult for students of severely limited means, and so half of the students board at the school. However, the COVID pandemic has generated several social and financial crises in the region, and the centre has suffered greatly in terms of funding and resources.
The MSC team at Centro Faustino Villanueva are raising funds to set up an agricultural programme, involving tending to livestock and growing produce, which will supplement the food supply at the school, while also enabling students to take these skills back to their own localities to improve living conditions there.
The MSC team at Centro Faustino Villanueva are raising funds to set up an agricultural programme, involving tending to livestock and growing produce, which will supplement the food supply at the school, while also enabling students to take these skills back to their own localities to improve living conditions there.
The MSC team at Centro Faustino Villanueva are raising funds to set up an agricultural programme, involving tending to livestock and growing produce, which will supplement the food supply at the school, while also enabling students to take these skills back to their own localities to improve living conditions there.
The newest undertaking at the centre aims to provide students with invaluable life skills – an agricultural programme, involving tending to livestock and growing produce, which will supplement the food supply at the school, while also enabling students to take these skills back to their own localities to improve living conditions there. With suitable space and land for this agricultural endeavour, and basic equipment such as sheds and feeders for pigs and chickens, the centre is currently raising funds to set up and launch these farms as soon as possible, so the school can continue to provide opportunities for young people who otherwise have very little hope.
A total of €21,300 will provide the Centro Faustino Villanueva
with the livestock, vegetable seeds, and equipment they need to produce food for their community,
while bringing vital skills back to the students’ villages.
“With God’s wisdom and your support, we will continue to help our young people who yearn for a dignified and better life.”
~ Fr Jairo Uriel Sevilla Mendoza MSC,
Director of the Faustino Villanueva Centre