FUNDIT
FUNDIT: It Takes a Village to Help a Village
FUNDIT (The Foundation for the Integral Development of El Tejar/Fundación para Desarrollo Integral de El Tejar) is an integrated community program for the children of the poor in the town of El Tejar, Guatemala. Child Aid agreed to partner with this program after the untimely death of its founder Nancy de España in a drowning accident. Since this time FUNDIT has continued to grow to produce some of the best and brightest students in all of El Tejar.
Change that Makes a Difference
FUNDIT focuses on giving the Children of El Tejar the opportunity and resources to have a chance at an education. Historically these children of the Kaqchikel Maya ethnic group have received little if any education. Instead, they have been relegated from childhood to a life of hard menial labor, making tiles by hand, working in vegetable packing factories or toiling in the fields. FUNDIT has changed this bleak future. Through Education it is allowing the children to build a better life for themselves and their community. Each year hundreds of children receive direct scholarships and thousands of visits are paid to the library/computer center. It is a vibrant and growing community run program that is truly changing lives!
FUNDIT’s community programs include:
Centro de Desarrollo Infantile/The Center for Infant Development (CEDIN) : In El Tejar, many mothers are faced with the difficult decision of leaving their very young children home alone during the day or in the supervision of an older sibling because they must work outside the home. Many of these children are malnourished and suffer from various chronic illnesses. To address this problem, FUNDIT’s CEDIN preschool provides a Montessori-style education, music classes, daycare services and nutritious meals to more than 100 toddlers annually.
Nancy Rittmaster de España Biblioteca Municipal de El Tejar/The Nancy Rittmaster de España Public Library of El Tejar: Serving more than 25,000 visitors in El Tejar and surrounding villages, the El Tejar Public Library enables those without access to books to enjoy the magic of reading. In addition to books, the library houses a community computer center, where children and adults can use the machines for schoolwork, business and personal development. Located in the town’s main plaza, the library also holds all the books used in the local schools so that the many children whose families cannot afford to buy textbooks, still have access to learning.
Programa Becas/Scholarship Program: In Guatemala, where children attend only three years of school on average, having an education is the key to moving out of poverty. To this end, FUNDIT’s scholarship program enables more than 100 students annually to attend grade school rather than work. Each FUNDIT scholarship finances school registration fees, uniforms, school supplies, shoes and textbooks, and when necessary, transportation costs and health care for a year.
