[spacer height=”20px”]The families that Nicolás Fund for Education serves all have one Spanish word in common: superado. This word means that they have overcome or improved their condition in life. It is easy to forget that their lives were in peril only a few decades ago. From 1960 to 1996, the Ixil people were targeted for genocide by the Guatemalan Army. Leftist guerillas fighting the Guatemalan Army also targeted the Ixil for supposedly siding with the enemy. The Ixil were caught in between and suffered mightily. Those of you who have traveled to the Ixil with an Impact Team have probably noticed that there are almost no old men to be seen, as most of them were killed during the war years. How and why did this happen? According to the Holocaust Museum Houston, Guatemala, “…was once at the heart of the remarkable Mayan civilization, which flourished until the 10th century AD. When Spanish explorers conquered this region in the 16th century, the Mayans became slaves in their own homeland. They are still the underprivileged majority of Guatemala’s population. Civil war existed in Guatemala since the early 1960s due to inequalities existing in the economic and political life. In the 1970s, the Maya began participating in protests against the repressive government, demanding greater equality and inclusion of the Mayan language and culture. In 1980, the Guatemalan army instituted “Operation Sophia” which aimed at ending insurgent guerrilla warfare by destroying the civilian base in which they hid. This program specifically targeted the Mayan population who were believed to be supporting the guerilla movement. Over the next three years, the army destroyed 626 villages, killed or “disappeared” more than 200,000 people and displaced …
Fulfilling A Dream 2017: An Event Not To Be Missed!
[spacer height=”20px”]Please come and join us for our Nicolás Fund for Education Fulfilling a Dream dessert event on May 6th at 7:00 pm! Our event will be held at Evergreen Covenant Church, 3200 78th Ave SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040 in the Sanctuary. [spacer height=”20px”]This year, Nicolás Christian School graduate, Ana Córdova Cedillo, will be our featured speaker. Ana Córdova’s story is one of perseverance and hard work, devotion to helping her family and exceptional achievement. In addition to being named the #1 pea farmer in the Ixil region, Ana Córdova was top of her 2017 class and had the best grades in the entire school at Nicolás Christian School. Ana Córdova is now attending the University of San Carlos in their weekend school program. Ana Córdova is from Casa 14 in La Bendición and her proud parents are Catarina Cedillo López and Juan Córdova de la Cruz. She has 4 sisters: Mat (married adult), Magdalena, Juanita (2017 NCS graduate now pursuing art studies) and Natividad (7th grader at NCS). Presentations at the event will bring you up to speed on the phenomenal progress achieved with your donations. Did you know that NFE is now serving more than 100 students in 2017! One of the delightful features of our Fulfilling a Dream event is that all our desserts are homemade and donated by a fantastic team of NFE supporters. Would you like to join their number and contribute some delicious baked goods? Contact Becci Merritt below to sign up! This event has also become an excellent opportunity to reconnect with NFE and JWAV supporters across the years. Catch up with friends from past Impact Teams! We are a community of love …
NFE Partners With San Nicolás
San Nicolás Students from left to right, Nicolás Jacab, Jesus Eliseo and Francisco Ezequiel [spacer height=”20px”]Nicolás Fund for Education is delighted to announce that an anonymous sponsor has been found for three 7th grade students from the village of San Nicolás to attend Nicolás Christian School this year! In the photo, the San Nicolás students are meeting with Professor Braulio Bach from Nicolás Christian School to discuss the plans. These are the first students from San Nicolás to attend our school. NFE is now serving six villages in the region: La Bendición, La Esperanza, Villa Hortencia Uno, Belén, Los Angeles and San Nicolás. NFE Tutoring is taking place in La Esperanza (Ana Otilia is the tutor there), La Bendición (Antonio Eber is the tutor), Belén (Domingo Marvín is the tutor), VH1 (Pedro Davíd is the tutor) and in San Nicolás (Petronila Tabita is the tutor). If our school and all our programs are combined, NFE serves over 100 students now! In the photo, the San Nicolás students are meeting with Professor Braulio Bach from Nicolás Christian School to discuss the plans. These are the first students from San Nicolás to attend our school. NFE is now serving six villages in the region: La Bendición, La Esperanza, Villa Hortencia Uno, Belén, Los Angeles and San Nicolás. NFE Tutoring is taking place in La Esperanza (Ana Otilia is the tutor there), La Bendición (Antonio Eber is the tutor), Belén (Domingo Marvín is the tutor), VH1 (Pedro Davíd is the tutor) and in San Nicolás (Petronila Tabita is the tutor). If our school and all our programs are combined, NFE serves over 100 students now! NFE is now serving six villages in the …
Showing the Love of Jesus to our Nicolás Fund for Education Students
[spacer height=”20px”]It is well established that students succeed in their education when caring adults in the school are involved. Certainly, the teachers employed by Nicolás Christian School are of the highest caliber and genuinely do care for our NFE scholars. Students who feel connected to their school also perform better and are less susceptible to risky behaviors such as drug use, early sex or crime. We want our students to feel that they “belong to” and have pride in Nicolás Christian School. What can NFE supporters personally do to create a culture of connectedness to Nicolás Christian School and help our students feel cared for? Participate in Impact Team trips to personally meet and encourage the students. Attend monthly prayer meetings to pray for each student by name and for staff at Nicolás Christian School. Develop a personal relationship with a particular student and family through sponsorship. Obviously, this is best accomplished through Impact Team trips but other means of communication is under development with NFE. For example, Zoom video conferencing is available so that you can have a personal conversation with a student. Sponsor to student written communication can be carried by the three teams traveling to the school. NFE does not permit the giving of gifts to individual students, however. Your provision of education is the most important gift that you could ever give a student. We want ALL students to feel cared for. Work with other friends in a project to prepare greeting cards with encouraging messages or scripture bookmarks for all of our students. These cards or bookmarks would be carried to the school by Impact Teams. This is a great project for a small group or …
Impact Trips: Don’t Miss the Adventure of a Lifetime!
[spacer height=”20px”]Spend a week with God and the rich community of the Ixil region of Guatemala to lift students up from poverty through education. [spacer height=”20px”]Impact Teams visit the new school spending time with our Nicolás Christian School students and families. Teams make day trips to the local villages of La Bendición and La Esperanza or other NFE villages. Rewards of Going on an Impact Team Trip Make Real Friends Be Filled with a Deeper Experience with God Transform Lives through Love Be a part of God’s Justice Mission in the World Adventure: Caves, Waterfalls and Mountains You May Be Showered with Flowers! Join us on an Impact Trip With just five simple steps, you can begin a life-changing adventure. This is what you need to do to join us on an Impact Trip to beautiful Guatemala. Read the Nicolás Fund for Education Handbook for important information about the area and people that we will be traveling to, as well as information about the work of the Nicolás Fund for Education. Complete the Impact Trip Application. Complete the Background Check Form. Email your Application and Background Check form. Mail your $100 deposit. 2018 Impact Trips July 20-30 November Graduation 2019 Impact Trips February 15-25 Want to Know More?
Winter School: An Innovative Approach to Prepare 7th Grade Students
[spacer height=”20px”]Facing Challenges Many of us remember feeling quite insecure and overwhelmed when we entered 7th grade. Nicolás Fund for Education scholars are no different! Our NFE scholars also have an added challenge of coming from primary schools with far fewer resources than more urban schools. We even found out a few years ago that the villages of La Bendición and La Esperanza did not even have textbooks! (Thanks to a generous NFE supporter, we were able to supply those two village primary schools with their first set of primary school textbooks.) Innovation at Work In our first few years of operation, we noticed that our NFE scholars really struggled to keep up academically in the first few months of 7th grade. With extensive after school tutoring provided through NFE and lots of hard work on the part of the students, the students eventually caught up. Our Country Director, Ivan España, searched for a better plan that would be less stressful for students and would be more cost-effective for NFE. Thanks to the work of Ivan España, Nicolás Fund for Education subsequently developed a program three years ago called Winter School to help prepare our 7th-gradestudents for academic success. While Winter School camps are more common in urban Guatemala, this concept is new in the Ixil region. Winter School is four weeks long and takes place in November after the academic year ends at the end of October. Making the Grade This year, Winter School took place on our Nicolás Christian School campus and involved students from five villages! Eighteen 6th grade students attended winter school. Computer, English, and language skills are the focus of Winter School. We have definitely …
Thank you to our #GivingTuesday Donors and Volunteers!
Thank you to all our volunteer social media ambassadors that participated in #GivingTuesday! And a really BIG thank you to the donors who responded! We raised $6,250 (some matching funding still pending may increase that number) that day because of your generosity. Those donations will help to provide quality education for Ixil youth that will enable them to compete economically, politically and to better provide for their future families. It is not too late to donate! Donations are very welcome. You can donate at Nicolás Fund for Education.
Thank You to our Donors, Supporters and Prayer Warriors
[spacer height=”20px”]At the conclusion of our first year of operating Nicolás Christian School, and the 5th year of NFE’s existence, we want to give thanks to God and to those people who helped make it all possible: our donors, supporters, and prayer warriors! You have faithfully partnered with God in his plan to lift the Ixil region out of poverty through educating Ixil youth. This year alone, eight students have graduated from high school, one student graduated from weekend school and one student graduated from her distance learning program!! May we all continue to listen and follow God’s plan for our work in 2017! We wish all of you a hope-filled New Year!
Nicolás Fund for Education Explores Social Entrepreneurship
[spacer height=”20px”]Social entrepreneurship occurs when individuals and companies develop, fund and implement innovative solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. [spacer height=”20px”]One example of a social entrepreneur is 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammed Yunis, the man that popularized the micro-lending concept in India to provide small loans to poor women to start small businesses. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms they could understand and manage, and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could better manage their finances. Social entrepreneurs must have a good understanding of how a problem impacts people, particularly the marginalized and poor, in order to develop creative solutions and identify available resources to solve those problems.[spacer height=”20px”] [spacer height=”20px”]Unlike traditional businesses, the goal is not profit making but instead to provide solutions that benefit society. If there are any profits, those are usually reinvested to expand the business to serve more people. Businesses must be designed to be financially and ecologically sustainable, however. Global organizations have developed to support and encourage innovation and leadership through social entrepreneurship. [spacer height=”20px”]These organizations offer technological and business consulting expertise to create comprehensive, well researched, successful small business plans. These organizations can provide start-up capital, promote networking, collaboration, and partnerships and assist with media communications to tell the story effectively, to teach and to promote greater impact. In November, NFE Vice Chair Kathy Riper, NFE Treasurer Lolo Levy and her sister Sara Wells and team member Dave McKnew met with Andy Lieberman to learn more about social entrepreneurship opportunities in Guatemala. [spacer height=”20px”]Mr. Lieberman is employed by Santa Clara University in California, which has a commitment to …
July Trip Registration
[spacer height=”20px”]We are now accepting applications for our July 21-31, 2017 Impact Trip. [spacer height=”20px”]The application and enrollment instructions can be found here. We will be hosting a regional Teacher Professional Development workshop on this trip, so educators are especially encouraged to come on this trip. If you have never been on a mission trip, an experience like this will deepen your relationship with God as you serve him, as well as creating lasting relationships with our NFE scholars and your fellow team members. Make this your 2017 New Year’s Resolution!
