Toward Educating America's CHildren - TEACH, PO Box 188, Burke, VA (2026)

01/19/2026

Hello TEACH Followers!

We are looking for a volunteer with skills in fundraising for a non-profit charity such as TEACH. We have traditionally relied primarily on one-time donations or a sponsor who commits to a certain dollar amount every year. We are looking to both expand the amount of donations and sponsorships and expand our sources to include grants, mission appeals, and fundraising events.

Do you know anyone who works in the fundraising / development area who might want to apply their professional skills to a worthy cause such as TEACH? Or perhaps someone with the right energy and capacity who is willing to learn? We are open to this being a board position or just a volunteer non-board position. Please send an email to [email protected] if you or someone you know are interested in this volunteer position.

And even you don't know someone, please re-share this post on your Facebook to spread the word!

08/06/2025

Semilla de Esperanza y Amor

Our final site visit on Wednesday was to Semilla de Esperanza y Amor (“Seeds of Hope and Love”) a small school just on the outskirts of Antigua that focuses on the under privileged kids who don’t have access to quality public education and who cannot afford to pay tuition for a private school. At Semilla, their tuition is free - due in a large part to the generous donations from TEACH donors and sponsors. This school was started by a visionary leader Lys Flores who has since handed the reigns over to her daughter Wendy but who still lovingly teaches and supports the students in various ways.

The vision of the school is prominently displayed on the wall as you walk in:

Educamos con amor para una Guatemala mejor
(We educate with love for a better Guatemala)

This concise statement encapsulates what TEACH is at its core: a group of leaders who have committed to work towards the noble mission of teaching a nation to fish; to educate its youth so that they can one day grow into leaders to build and lead a better country…so that the cycle may continue.

As we ended this year’s annual delegation, we reflected how important the “hope” and especially the “love” part of this vision is.

With our locals partners, yes…you - our donors - educate.

But what you are really doing with every dollar you contribute…is create hope. That hope keeps the students, the parents, the teachers, the administrators going.

And the most important thing your generosity does is to enable the gift of love. Because while hope helps creates the future, love…the love the students feel from their caring teachers and administrators…and the love they are taught to have for themselves….thats what helps the students fall asleep at night feeling secure, proud, confident, and safe.

You - our donors - educate with love for a better Guatemala. Thank you for what you’ve done and for what you will continue to do to plant and grow seeds of hope and love.

07/27/2025

Day 8: Puerto Barrios

Today, we boarded our final boat ride as we left Livingston and the jungles along the Rio Dulce River to return to an urban setting in Puerto Barrios.

Our first stop was Hogar de Annuncion orphanage, where we contribute to their annual operating expenses. They currently have 19 children, 9 of which are babies.

Next we went to Stella Maris, a multidimensional social justice organization run by Father Anton, pastor of a church in the Izabal Diocese. Among their projects are:
- a TV station where they can broadcast catechism classes but also advertise their other projects
- A shelter for underaged pregnant girls
- Educational classes of various sorts
- A guest house for volunteers that is open to others to help fund their projects
- A major recycling project

We then had the honor of having a visit with the Bishop of Izabal to discuss TEACH’s work in his Diocese and opportunities to collaborate.

Lastly, we met with two of our scholarship students from Tameja who currently go to school in Puerto Barrios over a nice dinner.

Today’s theme was the power of partnerships in doing this work. The needs here are great and no one organization can meet them all. Partnerships with the Association who guided us over the last 3 days, and potential partnerships with Father Anton and the Diocese creates scale that allows us to our work more effectively.

Sister Araceli has run the orphanage for the last 17 years and could not survive without partnerships. TEACH funding - while a small portion of her operating expenses- is the only source she can count on coming every month. She also cannot survive without partners who volunteer - to babysit the infants, to teach English, to tutor the school aged children. Dafney, who is 17, volunteers on Saturdays to teach English and computers. She herself learned English from her Jamaican grandmother and now she is paying it forward with committing her time to these children who have literally been abandoned.

Thank you Dafney for your partnership and the impact your commitment is having on these precious children who are in such need,

And thank you TEACH donors for your partnership in help enable Araceli and Dafney and the rest of their team to take in and love these precious children to give them a chance at finding a family and being that family for them
In the meantime.

07/26/2025

Day 7: El Naranjal and Kateri

Today, we took a boat ride out into the Bay of Amatique, part of the Caribbean Sea, and up the Eastern coast of Guatemalan to El Naranjal, about 3 miles south of the border of Belize. TEACH funds a pre-school teacher for 10 students in a village with only 15 families. Interacting with these precious students and their loving teachers and families was truly heart warming for us.

In the afternoon, we visited Kateri, a middle / high school in urban Livingston where students come from afar to study. We help fund the boarding facility where they have 34 students (24 girls and 10 boys). Sister Angelina has run this facility for nearly 18 years and has figured out how to - through farm based entrepreneurialism - fund 40% of their budget, augmenting the 60% that is provided from student tuition and TEACH donations.

The big learning today for us was that education- when done right - is the business of the heart. Anyone can impart knowledge on another in a very disconnected, transactional way. But it’s those teachers and communities that lead with their heart and that truly care for their students and who are committed to their growth and holistic success and happiness…those are the ones that breakthrough and that touch our souls. And those teachers and communities start by taking the time to know each individual student and what uniquely brings them alive.

This is who Angelina is at her core and why the students in Kateri feel so mentally and emotionally safe and secure under her leadership.

This is who Amanda and the parents from El Naranjal are. Their love for the children and the sense of tight knit community that they have created is palpable. To see the scientific method written out and hung up on the wall and the nurturing relationships with moms and their children is a juxtaposition that caused us to walk away realizing the importance of love in this business of the heart we call teaching and learning.

And you, TEACH donors enable this heart based business. Thank you for your support. Do you know someone who might consider being a sponsor? At $30 / month, you can help ensure that the preschool and elementary students at El Naranjal and the middle and high school students of Kateri continue to have at least the minimum resources required for them to get a basic education. Students can’t learn without a teacher, without a place to stay within a reasonable distance from their school, and with empty stomachs. TEACH enables all of this. But we cannot do without help from generous donors. Spread the word about TEACH and its incredible work so we can grow our sponsors and continue providing access to education to some of the most impoverished children in Guatemala.

If you or someone you know is interested in donating or becoming a sponsor:

www.teacham.org/donate

Or just email the board: [email protected]

07/25/2025

Day 6: La Guanita, Sanabria, ak’Tenamit, and Rio Blanco

Today was a very full day. We started by visiting La Guanita, where we fund a pre-school teacher. We then drove by Sanabria where we provide gasoline for the motor boat that ferries their children across the river to go to school, but actually met with their parental committee lead later that day in Livingston.

Next, we visited Ak’Tenamit, the high school that focuses on training students for the Guatemala tourist and hospitality industry and where many of our students across Livingston ends up, including one of our current 20 scholarship students. Finally a couple members of our delegation visited Rio Blanco, a potential future site that we could consider supporting in the future that has 22 pre-school age children without a teacher.

Today our big learning is that the business of learning is messy. By definition you “learn” you don’t know and activities that you don’t know how to do. And when try things you don’t know the first time, you often make mistakes…yet oftentimes learning from mistakes is the highest quality learning

Most of the time, you do better on your second try, but you need an opportunity for a second attempt

Sometimes at the moment of learning, you don’t even understand the reason why or significance of what you are learning.

Sometimes you step in the mud and get your shoes dirty while trying to learn.

And not everyone learns at the same pace

Sometimes things does don’t go as planned. For the students, for the teachers, and for the volunteers who are trying to enable the opportunity to learn.

But navigating this messiness of learning is also a skill to learn. Over the last 20 years in Guatemala, TEACH has learned a lot precisely because we have learned to navigate the messiness of learning. We do it because it’s worth it. And because the kids here want to keep learning no matter what. And their parents are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to get their children the education they deserve. Today we saw this at multiple sites.

And as TEACH supporters you enable these parents dreams…so that their children can learn, no matter how messy that may be.

Thank you.

Do us a favor…share this post and invite your friends to “like” the TEACH page so we grow our number followers. We would love to get to 1,000 followers soon.

07/24/2025

Day 5: Q’otox’ha & Tameja

On Wednesday, we embarked onto the water to start the phase of our trip where we travel to our sites that can only be accessed via boat. Our first stop was at Q’otox’ha, a pre-school where TEACH funds the teacher, where we were treated to some absolutely adorable dancing by the joyous little humans who bounced mightily to the beat of the music with huge smiles on their faces.

We then went onto Tameja where we pay the salary of the middle school teacher, Pablo. We heard directly from parents on how grateful they are for Pablo and their requests to invest more in the community as their needs are so great.

We ended the day with a business meeting in La Guanita with our local partner organization, the Association Centro Cultural Maya Q’eqchi’ where we signed a new agreement and worked out issues with a recent transition of our primary point of contact.

What did we take away from today?

First, dance. To dance is a human behavior that crosses cultural boundaries and is an expression of joy. The pre-schoolers today exhibited this pure joy when the beat of the music seemed to make them instinctively bounce and the more they bounced the bigger their smiles.

Second, this work that is enabled by our generous donors, is truly human. Which means that it comes with all of the joys of being human, but also all of the imperfections. It’s easy to idolize those involved in this work - the teachers, the administrators, the local volunteers that help us coordinate this work. But in reality they - like us all - are imperfect and continually a work in progress. Which means that sometimes we see what might be competition, envy, manipulation, and even sometimes hiding the full truth.

But as a human - no matter how imperfect you are everyone needs a place to dance . We need a place let ourselves bounce instinctively to the beat and create pure joy. Together. Because while we are still always human, we might just be a little less competitive, envious, and manipulative if we were all busy experiencing nore joy. If we danced.

TEACH helps enable everyone - teachers, parents, administrators, volunteers, and especially students - to “dance” a little more in whatever form that is. To create joy through the power of learning and accomplishing. Because everyone needs to dance sometimes.

Please like, comment, and share this post. And to help the children dance a little more, click here to donate:

www.teacham.org/donate

07/23/2025

Day 4: Maya LaSalle

On Tuesday, we visited the Maya LaSalle schools in El Estor. They have 174 kids in pre-school through high school and it is a private Catholic school. Saw kids being kids and running around and playing. We saw older kids working on projects about their ancient Maya Civilization and others working on understanding different religions and what makes them similar or distinct.

But what we really witnessed today was the power of community. While we have witnessed this in nearly every site so far, in a small remote village, the sense of community is “built in”. However, in El Estor, a decent sized city for eastern Guatemala standards, the sense of community needs to be intentionally created. And that takes work and leadership. And it takes a team of people who care. And that’s what we saw, especially at the pre-school and primary school: a strong female leader (principal) and a team of teachers that she has curated that the children obviously adore and that collectively have created a culture of safety, gratitude, and positive energy towards learning. You can tell that the kids here feel lucky and proud to be part of such a good school.

Because of this safe, nurturing and positive environment, these kids will grow up more secure and confident with lifelong memories of impact of having caring adults around them that helped them grow, take chances, and become the best version of themselves.

Isn’t this what we want for our own children and all children around the world? To have a specific teacher that made a big difference in their life that can bring their memories and life lessons with them throughout their life?

As a TEACHER donor, you are investing in creating community where it is a needed so badly. You are investing to create a sense of safety and security so they can stretch themselves to grow. You are investing to create lifelong memories and the next generation of adults and leaders who will make the world a better place…one person at a time.

Thank you for investing in these children.

https://www.teacham.org/donate

07/22/2025

Day 3: Semuy

This is what empowered Leadership looks like

Yesterday (Monday), we took the very long 2 hour trek to visit the remote village of Semuy, at the very top of the mountain range north of Lake Izabal - riding while standing in the back of a pickup truck all the way up and down the steep twists and turns.

We were greeted by the entire basico (middle school) and diversificado (high school) student body (167 total) with music, dancing, and our path li ed with clapping and smiling students. We were given presentations by each class to demonstrate the impact that we are helping deliver through the generosity of you, our donors.

The contrast between last time those of us on this delegation were here in Feb 2023 and now is stark: the number of students have grown drastically; the level of organization of the school; the pride of the students. The change…the progress…is palpable.

The question is what drove such rapid progress in such a short time? The answer was clear to all of us: leadership. Empowered leadership. Victor, the school director, and his team of leaders he has assembled, are just amazing….not just leading the school’s progress but also modeling what good leadership looks like to the students under their care so that the next generation of leaders can emerge…just as Victor emerged to build on the success of the group of community leaders led by Javier that started the school in 2008.

A mentor once taught me that leadership is about making requests and offers. This is what Javier and the council members have done and what Victor does. They advocate humbly with zero sense of entitlement for their people. The most common word they used was dream. They shared their dream which at its core is about raw humanity: kids being kids, together, so they can themselves dream about their future.

And true leadership doesn’t just create dreams. They organize efforts to turn those dreams into reality.

TEACH through the generosity of you, our donors, empowers these leaders - with dignity. We invest in strong leaders - we call them our partners - because that’s the best way to invest in the students.

We are grateful for enabling us with your donations to find and invest in leaders like Victor who work everyday to change lives and shape souls.

Please comment on this post and tell me what leadership means to you or a strong empowered leader that you know that have made da difference to those around them.

07/21/2025

Day 2: INSPA

Yesterday (on Sunday), we made our way to our second site, INSPA, in Tamagas. On the way, we stopped by Quirigua National Park and saw Maya Ruins…and then a had a flat tire, a stomach ache, and an expected blocked road due to a mudslide and fallen tree blocking our road. And upon reaching the hotel in El Estor, after a long day, we experienced several challenges, leading to a change of rooms before finally settling down for well deserved night of sleep.

As we reflected upon our long day, the word that came to mind was patience. Initially the patience required for navigating the Guatemalan culture as Americans who don’t speak the language….and the patience required to manage the unexpected challenges that often can manifest on a trip like this.

But after visiting the ruins, it is impossible to not consider the patience that the artisans had in carving the intricate Maya Estrella that adorn the site.

And then…after visiting INSPA and listening to the stories of the children there and former students who receive scholarships for more advanced studies, a different form of patience became evident.

The work of dedicated teachers - all over the world but especially in a country like Guatemala where the opportunities are not as vast - requires the ultimate patience. The leaders at INSPA that TEACH partners with (Vilma, Father Abell, and now Samuel) have patiently and lovingly worked over the years to build up this school to be a place where opportunities are created and souls are shaped.

It’s a place where student like Sylvia can graduate and go on to patiently pursue being a doctor with the plans of coming back to Tamagas to open a medical clinic to meet the unmet medical needs of the community that gave her that opportunity…and that generous donors like you patiently and lovingly partnered with to fund her medical education

It’s a place where 14 year old Andersen can lead his boarding school bunk mates to patiently gather materials to creatively make their own weight lifting equipment out scrap metal, tree trucks and metal buckets filled with concrete. And then patiently - and consistently - use them to build their strength - both physical and mental - to pursue their goals.

Such patience we see all around us in a place like Tamagas. How can they have so much when sometimes it feels like we have so little?

What we learned from Tamagas today was that patience is easier when there is a vision; a vision of what could be if we are determined to work hard to achieve it. And it we maintain the faith and hope that helped create that vision to begin with…and approach our work toward that vision everyday with love…then patience is simply an outcome of that work. And no barrier - whether it be a flat tire, a broken hotel air conditioner, a lack of access to exercise equipment, lack of funds to pursue a medical degree, or an impoverished area with no access to education…no barrier can compete with a vision and a commitment to work with faith, hope, and love towards that vision. Patience becomes just part of the work to overcome those barriers.

And we were inspired at the patience of the Guatemalan administrators and students at INSPA. They are visionary leaders who use faith, hope, and love as their fuel to push them forward - with patience in spite of all the obstacles and the unexpected twists and turns.

We are grateful for your financial support as donors to enable that vision. Thank you for YOUR vision, faith, hope, and love - and your patience to consistently donate financial resources to help create opportunities and change lives in Tamagas.

Thank you and please like, comment, and share this post to help spread the world of the amazing work that TEACH partners are doing here in Guatemala.

07/20/2025

Day 1: Sacred Heart

“Our work might look like just one drop in the ocean…but it makes the ocean one drop bigger”

This wise quote was shared today by Sister Rosa, the leader of the Sacred Heart boarding facility for girls in Los Amates. And after meeting 4 of the girls currently at the school and the smiles on their faces that demonstrated the safety, love, respect and strength that this environment has created in each of them, we all left away thinking how important that one drop of water is….and how better off the ocean is because of it.

It’s hard to remember and focus on the drops when you see the tumultuous ocean that swallows them so quickly. The tumultuous ocean in this case is the growing urban population of Los Amates who have different cultural values and less unmet needs than the indigenous populations that once surrounded Los Amates. This has resulted in the need to go further out to recruit girls to come to the boarding school here and as a result of the distance and the fear of the big city from parents afar, the numbers of girls in the boarding school is less than 1/2 of what it was last year. As Sister Rosa and Sister Erica are thinking about they can engage and meet the needs of further away families they have refused to forget about the reason they are there: for the 6 drops of water in that tumultuous ocean. And whether it be 15, 30, or just 3 drops next year…they hold their focus steadfast.

As TEACH supporters, your donations enable these strong women to “help other women” as they told us today.

Thank you for supporting TEACH and do us a favor: spread the word. We need more monthly sponsors ($30 / month) to enable our partners like Rosa and Erica to make this tumultuous ocean (that we call our world) a better place…one drop at a time.

02/12/2025

Girls of Semuy
High in the mountains above El Estor in Izabal, Guatemala, 35 girls live in a dormitory in the village of Semuy. They come from distant villages to study in middle school and high school. The school, was founded in 2008 by TEACH. In 2023, a partnership was formed with Fe y Alegria and the village community for operation of the school. This partnership has led to an increase in the number of students, which is a good thing. TEACH support is now focused on the operation of the girls' dormitory and provision of scholarships for students who wish to continue secondary and post-secondary studies. An important TEACH value and priority is the education of girls. We are seeking a congregation or a group that will 'adopt' this dormitory as a mission project. Funds would be used for food for the girls (3 meals per day, 7 days per week) and to pay a cook/housemother. Opportunities could include being a sponsor for one of the girls as well as travel. Contact [email protected]. More information at www.teacham.org.

05/15/2024

Got some spare cycles and looking for an opportunity to give back? To support the important mission of an inspiring non-profit organization where you can become part of an all volunteer team to make a difference?

We are looking for a volunteer who would like to provide leadership to support our fundraising efforts at TEACH. We are looking for someone who could lead a combination of identifying and organizing new one-time fundraising events as well as a creative campaign to increase the size of our ongoing monthly sponsor base.

If you have energy and are interested in an opportunity to support our important mission, please send a note to [email protected]

Toward Educating America's CHildren - TEACH

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