By Josefa Ratzán of Santiago Atitlan who Won Honorary Mention in the Photo Imaging Educators Association Annual Competition in the 9th Grade and Under Category © FOTOKIDS 2008

Child Aid, a thriving Portland-based non profit, serving thousands of needy children and their families in Guatemala and Oaxaca, Mexico, is honored to host the FOTOKIDS exhibit April 19-20. FOTOKIDS is a project that provides young people living in the dumps as well as the poorest barrios of urban and rural Guatemala with educational and artistic opportunities. Four of the students involved in the project will be in the Pacific Northwest participating in the Seeds of Compassion event in Seattle featuring talks by the Dalai Lama and Rev. Desmond Tutu. On Tuesday, April 15th, the students presented the Dalai Lama with a copy of a book written and photographed by the children from Guatemala for the children of Tibet as well as a beautiful scarf embroidered by the mothers in Santiago Atitlan.

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In this article, Mayra C. Daniel, Assistant Professor, Department of Literacy at Northern Illinois University, presents the many obstacles that teachers and students confront daily in Guatemalan schools.  Research presented in this article was financed by a grant from The Latino Center at Northern Illinois University.

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Muchos factores como la hygiene dentro de las escuelas, la preparación académica de los docentes, los bajos salarios, los materiales proveidos para las tareas diarias de los estudiantes por el gobierno, y la ausencia de bibliotecas en muchas escuelas impactan el nivel de lecto-escritura al cual pueden aspirar los niños de Guatemala.  La investigation presentada en este articulo fue financiada por una beca del Centro Latino de la Universidad Northern Illinois.

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