Earlier this month, in April 2025, I joined Ixchel Palencia, our Projects Manager, on a trip to Guatemala to meet with students, teachers, and administrators of Fe y Alegría, visit schools, and learn more about education far beyond where the asphalt ends.
It is honestly difficult to encapsulate all that we experienced in just a few days and I am still unpacking our trip as I continue to reflect on and pray about the people we met and the programs we witnessed. However, one theme stands out to me; Fe y Alegría Guatemala is deeply rooted in the communities in which they work and those roots are producing incredible educational innovation. This innovation took on different dimensions depending on the needs of the community but everywhere we went Fe y Alegría programs seemed to fit organically with the needs of their students.
Our site visit was planned to be an opportunity to connect more deeply with our partners, to better understand Fe y Alegría Guatemala’s current strategic direction and long-term vision, explore the breadth of their educational projects, and learn from their experiences working with diverse funding partners. Just as importantly, as communications manager, I was looking forward to collecting stories, images, and lessons to help illustrate the powerful impact of their work. By visiting schools and programs across multiple regions, Ixchel and I hoped to observe how Fe y Alegría Guatemala is responding to challenges to education in a variety of settings—from rural hillsides and urban centers to inclusive classrooms for students with disabilities.
La Mina: Education Just Below the Clouds
The first school we visited is located high in the mountains of the district of Chiquimula, where we made our way to Fe y Alegría No. 33 Agua Zarca La Mina, a rural school built into the side of a hill far above the urban areas. The students here come from families largely engaged in subsistence farming and seasonal labor. Many families travel to neighboring Honduras during the coffee crop harvest, children included. The demanding life of this rural community is very apparent. Even primary school students are drawn away from school work to contribute to the family responsibilities like collecting firewood or caring for younger siblings.
In this challenging setting, Fe y Alegría is demonstrating what innovation in rural education looks like, making the most of limited resources to provide quality education. Teachers ride in the back of pickup trucks or climb up the mountainous dirt roads on motorcycles for at least a half hour to reach the school, a journey that can become dangerous in the rainy season. Some classrooms are exposed to the elements while the school waits to install windows and others are divided by sheets to separate age groups and keep students focused. Mothers from the community are organized into shifts to cook hot meals for the students, a practice we witnessed in many of the schools we visited. The school serves as a vital community anchor, offering stability and opportunity in a place where resources are scarce. It is a living example of how education can thrive even in complicated environments, adapting to meet the specific realities of rural life.
Kanwa’r: An Alternative That Works
Later that day, we visited Casa Fe y Alegría in Jocotán. This center for Fe y Alegría’s work in the region is also a hub for a unique approach to secondary education. El Programa Kanwa’r is a budding new opportunity for students who had previously left the traditional education system.
Young people who have left the formal education system in Guatemala—often due to economic pressure, family obligations, or other life circumstances—are given a flexible pathway back to learning. Working on learning goals throughout the week, often communicating over Whatsapp or video calls with their tutors, students adapt their learning to the complexities of daily life. Once a week they travel to the center, some from great distances, to meet with their tutors in person.
This hybrid model empowers them to continue working or managing household responsibilities while pursuing an education. It’s a powerful, context-specific innovation that gives students a second chance at academic success and greater economic opportunity.
Kanwa’r means “to learn” in the local Maya-Ch’orti’ Indigenous language, further connecting the program with the local community and culture. The program doesn’t just deliver content—it builds relationships, restores dignity, and reopens doors. It’s a clear example of how Fe y Alegría is creating new educational models that are as flexible as they are empowering.
Sowing Seeds of Inclusion in Alotenango
After making our way back to Guatemala city, Ixchel and I were excited to visit a project that American Jesuits International has been supporting for a few years now. In the community of Alotenango, on the outskirts of Antigua Guatemala, there is an incredible educational community that has grown out of a Church hall and is poised to bloom into a brand new school this coming fall.
At its core the Seeds of Faith school is an emerging Fe y Alegría Guatemala school that provides inclusive education for students with disabilities. From early childhood through young adulthood, learners at this center are met with personalized support, compassionate teaching, and an unwavering belief in their potential.
However, this short overview does not come close to encompassing all the love, dedication, and resilience that truly defines this school community. Before a major volcanic eruption on June 3, 2018, the Semilla de Fe educational community had already been established by a group of families and teachers. It began as a free, volunteer-led initiative to support Kaqchikel children in learning Spanish. The first students were those who had failed first grade due to language barriers, as their native language was Mayan. Over time, the school also welcomed students who were not accepted by other institutions—those who were over-age or had disabilities—thus forming an inclusive educational community with special needs.
Fe y Alegría became involved in this initiative between October and December 2018, as part of its support to the population affected by the eruption of the Fuego Volcano. Through the Covid-19 pandemic teachers spent years working without pay because they believed their students deserved a quality education. Classes eventually moved to an ill equipped hostel for years while the community struggled to find a permanent location and funding for staff. Still they remained committed to their students throughout it all.
Currently operating in a modest space, we are thrilled to be supporting the construction of a brand-new school for the Seeds of Faith team—the first new Fe y Alegría school built in Guatemala in years. This opportunity to build their own space, adapted to the needs of their students, will allow them to better serve students across a wide range of needs, offering accessible classrooms, spaces for physical therapy, and inclusive learning environments that are rare in many parts of the country.
In a context where students with disabilities are often excluded or underserved, Fe y Alegría is not only filling a gap—it’s leading a transformation. Their inclusive approach reflects a bold and necessary innovation in educational equity.
A Shared Mission
Throughout our visit, we saw the many ways Fe y Alegría Guatemala is pushing the boundaries of what education can be. Whether adapting to the rhythms of life in rural Chiquimula, designing flexible programs for out-of-school youth, or championing inclusion in Alotenango, Fe y Alegría is rethinking how education is delivered—and who it reaches.
At American Jesuits International, we are honored to accompany this mission. These schools and programs show that transformative education doesn’t require massive infrastructure or high-tech classrooms. It requires listening, adapting, and committing to meet the school community, students, teachers, parents and community members, where they are.
Fe y Alegría is proving every day that education can—and must—be innovative, inclusive, and deeply rooted in the reality of each community. And we are honored to help share that story.
