Fredy Quib Oxom,  a graduate of Pearson College WUC, gave a presentation about a school that he started in Guatemala after he graduated and returned home.
 
 
 
Dilsher Virk introduced Fredy Quib Oxom, graduate of Pearson College and Benoit Charlebois, Director of Development,  Pearson College.
 
Fredy was back in Victoria for the 10 year reunion of his class at Pearson College and we were lucky to have him give a presentation.  Pearson College changed his view of the world.  In his home in Guatemala 98.6 % of children attend primary school but only 40% go on to middle school and only 21% attend high school.  The population is 60% Mayan and 37% Ladino.  Mayan children have an average education of only 3.3 years and adult literacy is only 40 %.
 
Fredy has started a school for indigenous communities, promoting peace and equality through education. In 2010 the first 15 students started building the school.  After 3 years his project became a non-profit learning centre for 5 communities.  They currently have 85 students from 22 communities.  The 8 teachers all speak the native indigenous language. In 2013 they were authorized by the Ministry of Education in Guatemala. They have an auditorium, classrooms and a computer lab. 3 of the 6 graduates are in University. 
 
One story he told was of a boy who would walk for 1 hour, then take a boat for 30 minutes and walk a further 3 hours to get to school.  Eventually he was able to stay with a family closer to the school.  Now he attends school for 2 weeks and then returns home to help his family for 2 weeks.
 
Future plans are to provide free education through sponsorships.  The cost to sponsor a student is $30 per month for 12 months.  He wants to provide quality education, initiate sustainability projects and he doesn't want to turn any students away. 
 
In the Q & A we learned :that a sustainability project is underway working with a craft centre
that the teachers are from the local communities
that they have written materials in the indigenous language
that they teach in the first language and then teach Spanish as a second language.  
 
Pieta Van Dyke thanked Fredy and encouraged him to make contact with the local Rotary Club so that they could apply for a matching grant from RI.