Help us build the ‘Dream Center’
Where dreams come true for the children of Guatemala!

Children can have the most beautiful and inspirational dreams, some of them easy to make come true, others a little harder. There is nothing sweeter than a child’s dream and we all wish for their dreams to come true. In the States and other first world countries, all kids go to school and get the opportunity to receive a good education. They are motivated to answer questions like what their dreams are for the future, what they would like to be when they grow up and what they want to be good at. For us, these questions, these dreams, are more easily obtainable than for the children here in Guatemala.

In Guatemala all children can attend elementary school for free, but after that education becomes a completely different story. After elementary, schooling is expensive and further education is even more costly. Also the quality of education in the Public schools is very poor. Aside from the cost there are other challenges such as problems at home, alcoholic and abusive parents, domestic violence, mental abuse and chronic malnutrition which are factors that make it even harder for these children to focus on the little education that they do have access to. This is why we want to build a ‘Dream Center.’ The ‘Dream Center’ is a place where dreams can come true. It is a safe and nurturing environment, where the children will receive a good education and personal attention. Where they can be children and have fun learning!

Why build a Dream Center:

• The building that we occupy now is too small to accommodate all the children that attend our Education Center
• The rent is very high, buying and owning our own building is much more financially efficient in the future.
• The construction of the building we use now is not ideal: there are no windows in the classrooms which cause high temperatures and the classrooms are too small.
• This building does not have an efficient safe kitchen which is a necessity for KIDS Restaurant.
• The building is very old, which makes it expensive and nearly impossible to keep hygienic and clean.
• We want to ensure a stability of the Educational Center without having to move to a different location every year.

A little bit of history:

In July of 2010 T.E.S.S. Unlimited started an Educational Center for children, youth and adults. We are located in San Gaspar Vivar, a little village not far from La Antigua, Guatemala. In our center we receive children from San Gaspar (500 inhabitants), Santa Catarina (500 inhabitants) and San Juan del Obispo (3,500 inhabitants). Almost all children attend a public elementary school in the morning (almost all children, because Guatemala does not have laws for enforced education, like in the States). The quality of these free schools is poor. Teachers are not well-trained, there are too many children to one teacher (sometimes up to 50) and classes get cancelled for every national holiday (which Guatemala has plenty of).
Tessa (founder of T.E.S.S. Unlimited) worked in a public elementary school for 2 years and observed all the problems that the students had. The students had trouble concentrating due to poor and unbalanced nutrition and a variety of serious family problems. Also it is very common for a child to not receive any kind of support or motivation from their parents to take their studies seriously. Because of the overly full classrooms, personal attention was not possible. Many of the children had difficulties with reading, writing and math, which all lead to severe insecurities.

After the experiences of Tessa the idea for an educational center was born, a place where the children could voluntarily go to in the afternoons, for tutoring and new classes. So the adventure began. The Education center first started with Math tutoring, Reading & Writing, English (which is not taught at public schools), Arts and Crafts, Computer Lessons and Cooking Classes. After a while she noticed problems with concentration and retaining knowledge. After an intense brainstorming session we concluded this: the theory would have to be taught in a playful manner and retaining information would have to come from putting it all into practice.

Development of KIDS Restaurant and 2012:

Antigua is a very touristic town, with lots of hotels, restaurants and bars, we got the following idea: we would start a children’s restaurant! On the January 31, 2011 we started KIDS Restaurant! The KIDS Restaurant is all a part of the Educational Center. It is a program especially designed for our best students. The students, who are motivated to learn, advanced in English and have a drive to take on responsibility! The kids learn English, how to cook cuisines from all over the world and gain skills such as team building and management. We also feel it is very important to get the children involved in a project and help hold them accountable for their education! The restaurant is only open on Friday so during the week the children take English, Computer and Restaurant Theory classes and on Friday they work in the KIDS Restaurant. The best part is all the profits and tips earned go directly to a ‘Piggy Bank’ that each child has and is guarded at the Educational Center.

We explain this project because we have found it is very successful and is a great motivating tool for other children in our Educational Center. We started with only 10 children and now because of the advancement and drive of other children to work in KIDS Restaurant we now have 20 children in the program. We find the restaurant has really motivated a lot of our students to practice harder and do better in their classes because they want to be a part of KIDS Restaurant (which is a privilege for the best students). We have about 60 students now at our Educational Center and about 45 of them are very motivated, they have good attendance records, pay attention and are improving. The other 15 children are less motivated and do not always come to their classes or only come for one of their classes. With that being said we have decided to re-structure our Education Program for 2012. We will divide the students in four groups of 10-12 students based on their levels of English, attendance and motivation. Keep in mind all students are required to take English, Computer and Restaurant Theory classes and Mathematics, Reading & Writing, Cooking and Art will be optional classes.

Group 1 will be our ten most outstanding students who always attend class, do their homework, make great progression, do well in English and are highly motivated!
Group 2 will consist of ten children who also do very well, but still need more personal attention and more English lessons. We will rotate these two groups every other week to work in KIDS Restaurant. Groups 3 and 4 will be very similar and the structure will function the same, only the ages will be different. Group 3 will be from the ages of ten to fifteen and Group 4 between the ages of seven to nine years. During the week these children will have the same classes as the first two groups. On restaurant-night (Friday) six of them will participate in a ‘mini-internship’ in the restaurant (‘front of the house’) and the other six will do the same in the kitchen (‘back of the house’). They will have one hour a week of Restaurant Theory where they will begin to acquire the necessary skills in a fun and playful manner.
For all the children in the Education center this is the road to learning how to be a Manager, a Chef or whatever their dream might be!

We look at KIDS Restaurant as a way of tackling some of the problems mentioned above such as lack of motivation and insecurity. As previously mentioned the cost of education here is very high. Inscription fees, books, uniforms (required in ever Public school as well as Private), bus fare, excursions and the list goes on. This is not affordable for the majority of families here. This is why KIDS Restaurant and the Dream Center are so important. Every child has the opportunity to learn and save money for their education. This program works and we have seen the results since January however it is not enough. We are also starting a Sponsor Program. This program will allow a sponsor to double the amount a child earns at the end of the year. This way we can ensure they can actually pay for their studies.

What dreams can be realized in our ‘Dream Center’?

• The dream to learn English.
• The dream to be better in math, reading & writing.
• The dream to be able to cook different cuisines from all over the world.
• The dream to be creative during Arts and Crafts classes.
• The dream to become a Chef.
• The dream to become a Restaurant Manager.
• The dream to become a Barista.
• The dream to become a teacher’s assistant during the English classes. ( Our best English students become teachers assistants to the more inexperienced students)
• The dream to become translator English-Spanish or vice versa.
• The dream to be whatever the child’s heart desires.
• The dream to spend their afternoons in a nurturing and safe environment.
• The dream to study after their elementary education and to pay for it themselves.

What do we need for this Dream Center?

• a piece of land to build on
• an architect
• a construction crew
• construction materials
• a professional and safe kitchen

What are the costs?

• We found a perfect piece of land, 21 meters long, 8 meters wide 69 x 26 square feet for $27,000
• We have found the architect to do the design for free!
• Construction and the kitchen will be $33,500.

Any inspirational ideas to help us raise this money will be greatly appreciated! Would you like to host a fundraiser or make a donation? If so please send an email to Paige Litterer at paigepodge@yahoo.com.

Let’s work together to make these kids’ dreams come true!

Sincerely,
T.E.S.S. Unlimited