Nearly seven months ago, Guatemala was hit by two devastating hurricanes, Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota. To this day, those impacted by the storms are still picking up the pieces and in the process of recovering.
In early November, Hurricane Eta crossed Central America and affected millions of people as constant rain and heavy winds resulted in flooding, landslides, and crop damage across multiple countries, including Guatemala.
Flooding after the hurricane
A community delivering supplies by boat
The hurricanes destroyed countless structures, including businesses, homes, and schools. Among those impacted by the storms was a CoEd Textbook Program school in Campur, Alta Verapaz.
And this wasn’t just any textbook school: Campur was one of the first schools to ever receive CoEd books, way back in our THIRD year of program expansion—1999! Over the years, the school has worked diligently to maintain the program, saving enough student fees in their revolving fund to upgrade their books on schedule every few years. In fact, they’d just purchased their newest books in 2017-2018.
CoEd’s Subdirector of Programs, Augusto, standing in front of the school
The school building affected by the hurricane floods
Knowing that a program school was in that area, our Textbook Program team contacted the principal immediately following the hurricanes. Once our team heard the news about the school losing their books to the floods, the team reviewed different ways to help.
Thanks to a generous foundation and contributions from donors who gave to our emergency relief fund last year, we were able to purchase a whole new set of books to replace the ones lost in the flood!
In total, 876 new textbooks were delivered to the school in Campur!
The new textbooks sitting in the school, ready for students to take them home!
To celebrate the arrival of the new books, a small group gathered safely at the school and held a socially distant ceremony.
Despite the unbelievable challenges this school has had to overcome this past year, including a global pandemic and the devastation of two hurricanes, these students will now have the resources to continue their education and rise up above the hardships they’re facing.
This is a dynamic story. I would like to be informed when a donation like this is required. I am not wealthy but I can afford $100.00 Canadian.
Hi, Colin! We hope you are doing well. Thank you so much for always offering to help in times of need. In this case, we used funds we had already collected last year for the emergency relief fund to purchase the new set of textbooks for this school, and that is why we didn’t reach out to more supporters for donations. In the future, we will absolutely share situations like these with you when they arise if we need more support. Thank you again for your ongoing dedication to the kids and families in Guatemala! – The CoEd Team
This is COED team at it’s finest, always reaching out to help. Thanks to all of you. I remember this school. Can’t see the smiles do to the Masks, but eyes are shining!
Thanks for sharing. We will pass this symbol of Hope on to others.
love all of you😘❤️
Thank you so much for the kind words, Helen and Dick! We hope you are doing well and we can’t wait to see you both again 💙 – The CoEd Team
Appreciate the update. I believe. There is no other NGO that has made such an impact the the lives of so many young people. These young people are the future of their communities, their country and the world they will live in.
Thank you, GLP and CoEd in all that you do..
Hi Sally. Thank you so much! We couldn’t agree more that these kids are the future of our world and that they are going to do so many great things. We are so thankful for your support and hope you are doing well! – The CoEd Team
I thank you all for the life story of the school. I so appreciated the detail
and getting the facts of what has truly happened. To close with the picture
of the boxes as they arrived is deeply meaningful.
Hi Bill. We hope all is well with you! We are so glad that you found the story to be impactful. Thank you for reading and for supporting our mission! – The CoEd Team