We have just entered a year of wind according to Mayan solar calendar. The Mayan new year, Wyeb, was recently celebrated here in Guatemala (February 22), and they say that the caretaker of the year is Iq, which signifies a year of wind, air or the breath of life. Here at Lake Atitlán, this feels spot on. The past month has been one of the windiest in recent memory. At the school we have lost numerous banana trees, we have repaired the door on the bathroom several times (from banging loose in the wind), and mornings are often spent cleaning up organic debris and dust that has covered the classrooms in the night. It often makes crossing the lake a treacherous experience as well. Our school year has begun with the tumult and excitement of great winds, and as we now complete our first quarter and settle into the year, it appears that these forceful winds may be subsiding a bit. Hopefully the brilliant starry nights will persist in their absence.

Invest in Peace Update

The response to our Invest in Peace campaign has been encouraging. Some families have generously taken on full scholarships, while contributions from other families and individuals across the Americas have been joined together to provide sponsorships. As of the beginning of March, we have raised a total of 5 new sponsorships for the kindergarten and 4 for the primary grades class. Our partnership with Chesterbrook Elementary in McLean, Virginia has continued this year with support through fundraising events and personal contributions by families in the school. Collectively they have already raised $4000 which is being used to support four of our students. Our primary grades class is also looking forward to corresponding as pen pals with students at Chesterbrook. Courtney and I will be visiting Chesterbrook Elementary in the month of May, during which time they hope to raise additional support for Escuela Caracol.

Our First Quarter

For most families around Lake Atitlán, each new year begins with the harvesting of coffee. We

thought it only made sense to begin our school year in a similar fashion. So our primary grades class spent part of its first day harvesting coffee from the coffee grove at the school. They loved it! In the end we had to tell them to stop because the day was ending. In typical Waldorf fashion, where students experience the entire process behind products, we let our students take part in the whole process of producing coffee -- all the way to the cup! So after harvesting the coffee, the children helped to remove the fruit (using a Mayan stone mill -- and also their feet!), they set the beans to ferment, washed the beans, put the beans out to dry, removed the shell that still covers the bean, and finally toasted the coffee so that we could serve it to their parents for our back-to-school meeting. It’s quite a long process! It was a special way to start the school year that I think we will continue next year.

The start of the school year was also marked by frequent trips to the lake by

both classes. This time of year is hot and sunny, so we take advantage of the lake as much as we can. Some of our children receive swimming practice at the lake, while others are still working on putting their faces under, and everyone enjoys playing on the shore with sand, pumice, rocks, crystals and a variety of plant life. Sometimes the wind makes the water too wavy, but other times the waves are a lot of fun -- almost like a gigantic amusement park wave pool.

Miss Yelena’s Grades Class

Our primary grades teacher (for grades 1-2), whom the students call “Miss Yelena,” created a host of stories revolving around what has become a sort of class mascot, affectionately known as “cheeky monkey.” With cheeky monkey’s help, the students were guided through a series of form drawings which lay the basis for written and artistic work. Yelena’s artistic renderings of the stories in color chalk are striking, and inspire the students’ imaginations as well as their own artistic ambitions. After two weeks of form drawing, the class entered a  four week block on mathematics, including the introduction of all four processes. They are finishing the quarter now with lessons based on Mayan stories from the Popol V

uh. In addition to the main lessons, the students have had lessons in Spanish and Kaq’chikel (they are performing a song in Kaq’chikel at a town festival in March), yoga, handwork (embroidery, knitting), gardening, watercolor painting, clay modeling, drawing and cooking. With the help of our school’s cook, Teresa, they recently made chuchitos, a local snack similar to a tamale. The specialty classes next quarter will also include dance, gymnastics, and music. The students will begin music lessons with wooden pentatonic flutes which we were fortunate to receive as a donation from the Washington Waldorf School near Washington, DC.

KinderCaracol

The kindergarten class has thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Angélica and Marilily, their teacher and assistant. Angélica speaks to the children in Spanish and English, while Marilily uses Kaq’chikel and Spanish. The stories in the kindergarten are also told in the three different languages. Often Angélica will take a group of the children on a garden adventure while Mariliy will stay back with others who help prepare for snack. This year they continue to make tamalitos and bread on alternating weeks. The kindergarten children have worked with embroidery as well as finger-knitting, and some of the older children have started small weaving projects. Watercolor painting and coloring with block crayons are much-anticipated activities that are often inspired by stories, such as a story about our steady companion this quarter -- the wind. The kindergarteners have also started small gardening projects, some which include proudly-dug holes in locations where, let’s just say, I’d prefer not to see holes. Once my initial vexation passes, however, I realize with amusement that these little guys are some of my best teachers.

Two other new developments include the addition of KinderCaracol aftercare and a toddler group. The aftercare is provided for an additional two hours in the afternoon and is designed to accommodate parents who also have children in the primary grades class (which gets out two hours later). Georgia, our handwork teacher, is managing the aftercare three days a week. The toddler group has been a long-awaited addition for parents with children between 1 and 3 years old. Angélica will lead this group of toddlers with parents for an hour twice a week. During this time, parents will also learn about the Waldorf approach to education in concrete ways -- experiencing the rhythm directly, learning new songs, games and activities, and also learning some handcrafts, such as affordable toy-making.

A Kind Moon

In February we started a new custom at Escuela Caracol. We call it la virtud de la luna, or the virtue of the moon. Each full moon we select a different virtue to focus on. The virtue is first introduced with a story, and then during lunch on the day of the full moon, the children have a chance to discuss the virtue and tell stories of their experiences with it. For the new moon, the primary grades class eats lunch in silence and spends some time thinking about the virtue. We chose kindness as our first virtue to focus on this year. The children had no difficulty recounting their many experiences where someone showed them kindness. These shared stories then provide an excellent incentive to create new stories through our actions. It was not long before such an opportunity presented itself in a dramatic way. During the second week of February, a fire consumed the house and all the possessions of a local family. This house was also a tienda, so it represented both their home and their livelihood. Worse yet was the fact that two young boys, ages 2 & 4, were trapped inside for quite some time before someone rescued them. They both suffered severe burns which kept them in the hospital for weeks. When the students learned of this, their many discussions of kindness began to bear a remarkable fruit. Donations came in almost daily for nearly two weeks -- money, clothes, shoes, blankets, toys. Some of the kids even took it upon themselves to sell lemonade and donate the proceeds to the family. We then took our donations to the family, who were living in a shed behind their burnt house. It was a very emotional experience for the children to see the fallen roof, burnt walls and ash-covered floor, and to be received by the matriarch of the family with tears streaming from her eyes. It illumined a very different dimension of kindness to the children.

Benefit Concert with Los Remolacha Beats

On 21 February, the eve of the Mayan new year, we held a concert here in town to benefit Escuela Caracol. Some of our friends from Guatemala City, including the school’s lawyer, came to San Marcos with their band, Los Remolacha Beats. Their latin folk sound -- which included guitar, harmonica, charango and even the berimbau (from the Brazilian capoeira tradition) -- was a perfect fit for San Marcos. It was a beautiful night for an outdoor concert, and Il Giardino, a local restaurant, provided the perfect setting. The owners actually spent some time volunteering with us last year, so it was a special occasion for them as well. We also collected additional donations for the family that suffered from the fire.

Volunteer Support

It’s hard to imagine what this quarter would have been like at Escuela Caracol without the help of two special volunteers: Heather and Hugh. Heather came to us from New Jersey and plans to stay through the first half of our year. Her responsibilities are primarily in our office, but she never hesitates to throw herself in wherever she is needed -- be it at the beach with the kinder kids or waiting at the dock for new furniture to arrive. She has that can-do American spirit, a kind heart and an eagerness to be helpful. We are lucky to have her working with us.

The other volunteer, Hugh Renwick, spent the month of February serving as a mentor to our young school. He and his wife, Carol, came to us from New Hampshire via Mexico. Hugh has some 25 years of experience as a Waldorf teacher and administrator at the Pine Hill Waldorf School, one of the most established Waldorf schools in North America. He helped to make slates for the grades class to practice math, provided many hours of consultation to our teachers, assisted in the grades classroom nearly everyday, and shared his administrative expertise with Josh on many occasions. We are sad to see Hugh leave, but he has promised to continue to provide written consultation to the school throughout the year.

Exciting Developments

1. •A Music Program for Escuela Caracol:  Maurene Comey, a junior at the College of William & Mary, has made Escuela Caracol the focus of her Monroe Scholar project. Along with a team of other students from the Delta Omicron music fraternity there, she is working to initiate a sustainable music program for Escuela Caracol. She has spent considerable time studying Waldorf education and its approach to music (in consultation with the Washington Waldorf School), and this group has already raised $10,000 to support the development of our music program over the next three years (including teacher salary, instruments, etc.). This team of volunteers will come to San Marcos this June to begin work training a music teacher for us.
   

2. •Conference in Germany: The Friends of Waldorf Education association in Germany (Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners) has invited Josh to an all-expense paid conference with over 100 Waldorf schools worldwide represented. Josh will attend the conference in Karlsruhe, south of Frankfurt, from 29 March - April 9. In addition, one of the board members from the Friends of Waldorf Education recently visited Escuela Caracol to discuss potential support for the school, including volunteers, assistance in seeking sponsorships, and possible construction support.
   

3. •Advisory Board Formed: We have created an advisory board for the school to increase transparency in decision-making and to assist in fundraising activities. This board of seven includes two school employees, three parents and two honorary members from the community. This group will meet four times throughout the year and will oversee the construction of our next classroom space.
   

4. •Support from Compassionate Travel Foundation: We met recently with the founders of this organization, and they are already working hard to connect us with other organizations who can provide support to the school. They are based out of Washington state -- for more information see their site: Compassionate Travel Foundation
   

Our Needs

While we continue to seek support to meet our operating expenses for the current year, we are also beginning to look forward to next year, when we will need at least one additional classroom space. These two areas, plus additional sponsorships, are our primary areas of need.

You can also check out our Wish List for other ideas.

Your generosity is making our work possible.