29 Sep 2022
Over the summer months, the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has been working to support our MSC brothers in Guatemala, strengthening our long-standing friendship with the community at Centro Faustino Villanueva. A vocational centre dedicated to helping disadvantaged youths, Centro Faustino Villanueva was founded by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1984, in the rural region of San AgustĂn, Alta Verapaz.
The Centre was the first of its kind in the region, bringing opportunities for education and progression to poor people with no other hope. The facility initially worked with adults who had previously lacked access to any form of education or professional development, and has since become a large school for children that come from impoverished backgrounds or vulnerable family circumstances.
The school is situated more than eight hours’ drive from Guatemala City, in an extremely remote area that makes travel difficult for students of severely limited means. Boarding facilities are available; however, the effect of the coronavirus pandemic has meant that the Centre has suffered greatly in terms of funding and resources, and so the facilities offered have had to be limited as a result.
Bringing dignity to the lives of vulnerable youths
Fr Jairo Uriel Sevilla Mendoza MSC, Director of Centro Faustino Villanueva, writes: “To our benefactors in the Irish Province, who always keep us in mind, in solidarity and support as we continue on the path to bring dignity to the lives of vulnerable youths. Once again, we send our gratitude for all you have done by supporting us in our ongoing mission. Thanks to you, we are continuing to improve our educational facilities, and accommodating more young people who need the help of our establishment.”
    
“The year 2022 has been a new learning experience for us all, for many different reasons. The COVID pandemic continues to affect our population, and new protocols have been put in place by the Ministry of Education here in Guatemala. The economic reality of this has meant that the basic necessities are all costing more, among other factors. Faced with this reality, we have found ourselves having to work with a smaller group of students; we are currently working with a group of 70 students every day, and have arranged our rooms in accordance with government protocol for the safety of everybody in our establishment. It has been very difficult to turn away some students, as we always have waiting lists, even at the best of times, but all we can do is help as many young people as we safely can now.”
“At the moment, we have First, Second, and Third Basic years, and two specialised programmes in Business Administration and Intercultural Bilingual Education. Last year, in 2021, we took 200 students on a hybrid basis, where they came to school every fortnight. However, this proved to be extremely complicated, as in many of the students’ villages, there is no access to computers or the internet. In the end, most of the students graduated to the next level, as the Ministry of Education put in place an agreement whereby all students had to be promoted to the next grade; however, the issue is that these students do not necessarily have the required level of knowledge to graduate, due to all of the restrictions in place during the academic year. Therefore, we made the decision to take fewer students this year, in order to give each student more personalised attention in the space that we can use, and reinforce their level of learning.”
Generating positive prospects for disadvantaged students
The community at the Centre has been working on the establishment of an agricultural programme, which works on a dual level of benefits: students are learning new skills in the cultivation of vegetables and the care of livestock, which brings with it the potential for future job opportunities, while they are also contributing to the stock of food for the school, reducing costs there.
“We continue to move forward and feel happy and grateful for all that has been done,” writes Fr Jairo. The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are currently supporting Centro Faustino Villanueva in the development of several different projects, which will help the community at the Centre to continue in the fundamental work that they do in generating positive prospects for the young people of the region, including:
- The continued development of the school’s agricultural programme, incorporating poultry, pigs, cattle, and vegetables. MSCs at the school are continuing their work in the development of a programme that will provide students with invaluable life skills, while also contributing to school costs in the future.
- Development of the rubber and teak plantations that are currently located on the property. Due to a lack of resources, these facilities are currently not being utilised fully; however, if they are properly maintained, these plantations will be able to generate a good source of income for the school. MSCs are the Centre are currently working to clean and prune the plantations, and to buy the necessary equipment to utilise them to their full potential
- Repairs and maintenance of two cisterns that serve the Centre. Over the years, they have deteriorated and are now leaking water. A fundamental necessity, both cisterns need to be repaired to ensure the safe provision of water to the school and MSC house.
- A scholarship being put in place for students who come from particularly difficult backgrounds, where some have lost one or both parents, and others are coming from circumstances of severe poverty.
- The provision of improved bathrooms and showers at the Centro Faustino Villanueva. As well as accommodating students, the Centre often facilitates pastoral care workers from the parish of San AgustĂn, and the current bathroom and shower facilities are inadequate in terms of space and hygiene.
- The implementation of technical courses and workshops, in conjunction with INTECAP, a facilitator of different technical workshops, in order to teach students new skill sets that will equip them with the ability to qualify for a wider range of jobs in the future. As with the agricultural programme, this aims to provide students with training and key tools to bring new skills home to their own villages and communities.
Please keep the community at Centro Faustino Villanueva in your prayers as they continue in their mission to bring hope and dignity to disadvantaged youths and their families in rural Guatemala.
