A new year...and we are prepared!

For children in Guatemala, the beginning of the new year is different that it is for children in the United States. In Guatemala, the children are anxious and counting the days until the beginning of a new school year. In Guatemala, the school year begins in January and continues into October.

Teachers are also excited. For some, they will only now learn what grade they will be teaching. They will have a couple of weeks before the children come to class, and will spend that time preparing lesson plans, organizing their classroom, and developing as a team.

For parents, they see the school as a door to a better future for their children. Many of them have never had the opportunity to study for more time than was needed to learn to read and write, add and subtract. Some parents were never able to study. So they send their children to a place about which they understand little. But they have been told that it is a place of opportunity.

For the Children of Lake Atitlan, it is another year of commitment to education. While teachers and students rested, the board of the nonprofit was busy with a fundraiser. Thanks to their efforts and the response of many people, they will begin the new year with enough in the bank to pay the salaries of the teachers at the New Dawning Christian School for four months.

During the year, we will try to paint a picture of the life of the school, the lives of the students and teachers, and the efforts of the Children to support the school. We hope that you will regulary visit our blog, and that you will share it with others. Welcome to our first blog ever.

GET ON YOUR MARKS...GET SET...GO! LET THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR BEGIN!! ARE WE READY? YOU BET WE ARE!