The rains began early and even this year. Rainy season generally begins around the middle to end of May with a solid week or more of often torrential rain, then lightening up to sunny days with afternoon and evening rain. This year, however, the rains began at the end of April with modest nighttime rain. As we passed into May, the rain came earlier in the day, but it never settled on us without end. Nor did it go away and leave a dry spell in its wake. For the most part, it has kept a steady and even rhythm. And now, as we pass through July, the rains are spreading out a bit and blessing us with some of the most beautiful days of the year -- when everything is lush and green, and the skies are sunny and blue.

A Season of Celebrations

Seasonal festivals play a vital role in our community life at Escuela Caracol, and the period from March through May has no shortage of reasons to celebrate. First comes Easter, probably the biggest holiday in all of Latin America, which as a holiday is better known as Semana Santa (Holy Week). At Escuela Caracol we have an Easter egg hunt with hard-boiled eggs that the kids paint. This year the grades class hid the eggs for the kindergarten class. Many of them noted with surprise that it can actually be more fun to hide than to find. But the finding is enjoyed nonetheless -- even without any candy involved.  It’s always fun to see how excited our kids can get about eating lots of hard-boiled eggs!

After Easter comes feria for our town. 25 April is Saint Mark’s day, so this is the official day of feria for San Marcos. It’s essentially a town fair that moves in a week before. Our main street fills with vendors of roscas (crunchy cookies) and every other item imaginable. There a

re concerts, lots of games and some rides, including a super-fast ferris wheel that would break every safety code in the US. The catholic church also holds a special mass that features a procession around town across alfombras, which are elaborate “rugs” that are created on the streets using colored sawdust and other adornment like flowers, fruits and natural items. It’s quite an impressive display. On Good Friday, there is a parade in which all the schools in town participate, culminating in a presentation in the center of town. It is also the time that each institution (from the schools to the churches) selects its reina or queen through a process akin to a beauty pageant. This being our first year as a legally accredited school, it was also the first year for us to participate in the parade. Since beauty pageants do not exactly fit with our school’s values, we decided to let all the kids make crowns to wear throughout the parade. When people asked about our reina, the children were quick to respond, “todos somos reinas y reyes” (we are all queens and kings). When we arrived at the town center, our classes made short presentations. The primary class performed a song in Kaqchikel which was written by our Kaqchikel and Music teacher, Diego Sacach Mendoza. Locals were especially amazed to hear our non-indigenous kids singing in the indigenous language. Some teachers from the public school were so impressed to hear a song in Kaqchikel that they later came by Escuela Caracol asking for the lyrics.  It became so popular that we recorded it at the Escuela Caracol studios (our office), and you can now hear it as a part of the video on our homepage.

On the heels of feria is May Day. As in most of Latin Americ

a, this is actually a national holiday in Guatemala -- Día del Trabajo or Labor Day. As such, we decided this year to hold our May Day festival a week later on 9 May. Rather than the arrival of spring, in our climate, this time of the year marks the arrival of the rains. So as the children danced around the May Pole (a new addition this year), they sang songs like ¡Que Llueva! (Let it Rain) and Let the Rain Kiss You (a song I wrote based on a poem by Langston Hughes). The May Pole was a new experience for our indigenous parents who had never heard of it before. This day, 9 May, also happens to be Mother’s Day in Guatemala, so at the end of the dancing and singing, the children presented their mothers with flowers in baskets which they made them

selves using maguey (a fiber from a local cactus by the same name). Later the kids and parents played games together, and before eating lunch we made a special corn planting ceremony. Corn is at the very core of Mayan culture, and May is the time of year for planting corn here. This year we are fortunate that some of our parents are familiar with Mayan ceremonies from their work with Mayan Tatas (like priests) around the lake. There are quite a number of ceremonies associated with corn, and the one we did was a shortened form of the one for planting. It centers around the Mayan colors -- red, black, yellow and white. In the Mayan worldview, each color is associated with one of the four cardinal directions as well as with the four people groups (indigenous Americans, Africans, Asians, and Europeans), so in each direction we planted the color of corn corresponding to the direction and lit a candle of the same color. The four corners are tied together by a central fire that is created by all the candles together. Together we recognized the sun, wind, earth and rain that make a harvest possible, and we looked forward toward all of these in the proper proportion that make a harvest bountiful. It was a special moment during which the children and parents alike found themselves united by a common presence of mind. After the ceremony, we all ate lunch together -- pepián, the national dish of Guatemala.

Our Growing Network

GERMANY

In April I was fortunate to be invited to a congress of Waldorf schools from developing countries. It was held in Karlsruhe, Germany and hosted by the Friends of Waldorf Education in Germany (Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners), it was a truly international gathering, with participants from all over Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. During the first week a

group of about 60 traveled around southern Germany visiting various Waldorf schools (including the first one ever, in Stuttgart), biodynamic farms, Camphill communities, and anthroposophical clinics and hospitals. We also went into Switzerland to visit the Goetheanum (at right). The second week we returned to Karlsruhe for the conference, with around 200 people participating. The exposure to the depth of the Waldorf movement in Germany, coupled with the expanse of the Waldorf movement worldwide, was inspirational to say the least. It was fascinating to hear how Waldorf pedagogy has been adapted in so many different cultures, and encouraging to meet so many people working in poor and underprivileged communities to bring this education to children across the globe. We are excited about the blossoming relationship between Escuela Caracol and Friends of Waldorf Education in Germany, and we are grateful for their partnership with us in Guatemala, which will include financial support for our upcoming classroom construction.

                                                                        THE UNITED STATES

One month after my return from Germany, Courtney, Althea, Mirabai and I flew up to the US for our annual visit. We were especially excited to surprise my mom, Suzanne, who thought we would not arrive in time to be at the annual Chesterbrook Elementary puppet show. She and her second grade class have produced this show every year for the past 18 years, and it is now a well-known institution in the community. With her decision to retire this year, however, this was to be the final puppet show, and past students, parents and coworkers were all coming out to support her and her legacy of teaching and performance. Needless to say, she was completely shocked (and relieved) to see us greet her on the playground on the day of the performance. Like last year, the puppet show was a benefit performance for Escuela Caracol, with a wonderful show of support from the community at Chesterbrook. We cannot express our thanks enough for Chesterbrook’s continued support of Escuela Caracol, and we look forward to continuing thi

s relationship in the next year.

While in the US we also visited the Washingtion Waldorf School school several times, meeting with various teachers and administrators, and sitting in on some classes. Our grades class has exchanged notes and pictures with the first grade class there (at right), so it was fun to finally put faces with names. We also received donations of watercolor paint, quality yarn, woodworking tools and a lyre! The music faculty at Washington Waldorf has also provided great consulting support to the music students from William & Mary who are helping to develop our music program (see below for more). In August a family from Washington Waldorf will visit Escuela Caracol and volunteer for several weeks, so we are excited to receive them.

A New Teacher

We are excited to announce that Andrea Arrivillaga, who has served as our liaison with the Ministry of Education this year, will become one of our grades teachers in 2010. Andrea is from Xela and has 10 years of teaching experience in Guatemala. She is currently living at the lake in Panajachel, but she will move to San Marcos this December with her husband, Rafael, and her one year-old son, Antu. Andrea was fortunate to be awarded a 30% scholarship for courses at the Centro Antroposófico in Cuernavaca, Mexico, so this July she will travel to Mexico to begin her Waldorf teacher training -- 3 weeks every July for a total of 5 years. We are thrilled that Andrea is moving to San Marcos to take on a class at Escuela Caracol, and we look forward to the blessings that she and her family will bring to our community.

With a Little Help from our Friends (by Miss Yelena)

All of us at Escuela Caracol are very grateful for all the volunteer help we have

received this year. In February Nathan and Morgan, a young energetic couple, came to do some work in our garden. With expertise in landscape design and gardening, they converted a dry space of rock and dirt into a beautiful grassy play area.  They worked for hours in the hot sun lifting rocks, digging and planting, and they always had smiles on their faces.  We send them many thanks for the vision and beauty they brought to our space!

Our other volunteer, Heather, started with us in January and stayed until the end of the first quarter in June.  Heather’s focus was administrative support and accounting in the office, and she also worked many hours doing various tasks around the school, including making tea and doing last-minute runs to the librería!  It was great having her with us, and we were all sad to see Heather go.  We wish her all the best!

In June arrived Maurene, Erek, Adam, and Andrew.  This group of young enthusiasts have come to help us develop our sprouting music program (more info below).  All four are students at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and are members of the Delta Omicron music fraternity. The fraternity has raised $10,000 to support the development of our music program over the next 3 years. In consultation with the Washington Waldorf School, this group has spent considerable time studying Waldorf education and its approach to music, and they are now helping to train our music teacher, Diego, who has a love for music and is already teaching Kaqchikel at the school.  The volunteers have also been helping in my grades classroom during main lesson, as well as out in the garden. You can learn more about their work from their blog (http://maurenecomey.wmblogs.net/).

We are blessed to have so many people interested in contributing to our growing school!  A huge thank you to all!

Thanks to Our Community of Support

As you can see below from the recent gifts we have received, it is a widespread and varied community of support that is making Escuela Caracol possible. This does not even We are truly blessed, and we give thanks.

1. • General Operating Support for 2009: with the fundraising support in May from the Chesterbrook Elementary School community in Virginia, including the Chesterbrook Girls Scouts, we were able to meet our operating budget for the rest of the year, including the expenses to send our newest teacher (Andrea) for training in Mexico. Thank you, Chesterbrook!
   

2. • New Sponsorships: many thanks to the New Mozart School of music in California which has decided to sponsor 3 children in the first grade and 1 in the kindergarten for the 2010 school year! They are using the proceeds from their annual concerts to make this gift possible.
   

3. • Construction Support: thanks to the Friends of Waldorf Education in Germany which is making a gift of 3800 Euro to help support our upcoming classroom construction project.

   

   
   

4. • Land Purchase: thanks to the Comey family in Virginia whose gift is making possible the purchase of a small piece of land for our classroom construction!
   

5. •Construction Support: thanks to the Devoe-Talluto family from Vermont (here at Escuela Caracol for the past year) for a gift to support our classroom construction.
   

6. • Water tower (above): thanks to a gift from the Thorstenson family in South Dakota we are happy to be nearing the end of construction for our long-needed water tower!
   

7. • New Electronics: with a gift from Laura Devoe in Colorado, we are grateful to receive a host of items from our wish list, including a new computer, digital camera, and refrigerator (and possibly construction support)!
   

8. • New Flutes: thanks to Karen Lien, longtime Waldorf music teacher from Texas, who donated 15 brand new Choroi

   

   pentatonic flutes!
   

9. • Class Supplies & Lyre: thanks to the Washington Waldorf School for donating a variety of class supplies, and a special thanks to music teacher Sheila Johns who donated a lyre!
   

10. • New Furniture: a recent gift from New World Villages made possible the construction of sorely needed storage furniture -- shelves for the office and a cabinet for the kitchen (at right).
    

11. • Teacher Training Scholarship: thanks to the Centro Antroposófico in Cuernavaca, Mexico for providing a partial scholarship for teacher training for our new grades teacher for 2010, Andrea Arrivillaga.
    

12. •Natural Yarn: thanks to a joint gift of 36 skeins of yarn from the Thorstenson family (South Dakota) and the Brown Sheep Company in Nebraska, our grades class now has thick, high quality natural yarn to knit with!  Their first projects with this yarn are bags to put their pentatonic flutes in!
    

13. • Soccer Balls: thanks to the Global Futbol Initiative (GFI) for donating 5 soccer balls for our kids to play with!
    

Other Developments

1. •Association Caracol: we are finally forming an association here in Guatemala! This association will be run by a board which will have the legal responsibility for the administration of Escuela Caracol. This is a big step in our small school’s development.
   

2. •Two New Classes: for the 2010 school year we hope to expand Escuela Caracol with two new classes -- a first grade and a second kindergarten. We are currently searching for possible teachers for these classes (more info at Opportunities).
   

3. •Classroom Construction: we are hoping to start preparations within the next two months for our classroom construction project that will begin in earnest in November, after the rains. We hope to build two new classrooms!  We still need about $3000 to meet our budget for this project. Click here if you would like to contribute to this effort.
   

Our Needs

Our goal for the next school year is to expand our enrollment by around 50%. In order to accomplish this we still need:

1. •2 new classrooms ($3000 more to meet our estimated budget)
   

2. •Grades classroom furniture ($2000 to provide desks/chairs for 16, teacher desk, storage cabinets, chalkboard, etc.)
   

3. •Kindergarten classroom furniture ($1500 for tables/benches for 12, teacher table, nature table, shelves, toys, etc.)
   

4. •7 Kindergarten Sponsorships & 4 Grades Sponsorships ($85/month & $170/month for 12 months)
   

5. •Class supplies (Stockmar watercolor paints, Stockmar beeswax crayons, quality colored pencils, main lesson books, watercolor paper, etc.)
   

Please see our Wish List for a list of supplies as well as other ideas.

Your generosity is making our work possible.

Click Here to Make a Donation