|
24 May 2010
Interview with Patrica Castillo - Headteacher of Primary & Guatemala Co-ordinator
"I started working for the Foundation in 2005- about five years ago.
"My job is really varied. Mostly I work in the office, working with the all the documents related to the children but I also make visits to houses to check on the families who are most in need. I regulate who receives places at the school, I organise food for the children and I collaborate with people who give us donations.
"90% of the students that come here are from the absolute lowest economic level. The rest are also poor, but their parents may have a job, or they may be lucky enough to have both parents- a father and a mother. Many live with Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts. Many have lost their parents or are living in single parent families. The children are from backgrounds of extreme poverty.
"One of the hardest things about my job is choosing who can study at our school. It's a difficult decision- at the end of November [during summer holidays] lots of families come to us asking for help. We give them the chance to fill in registration forms and we go to their houses to see where they live. Before we enrol the children in our school we check their standard of living, their parents' incomes and basically how they live. We have only a limited number of places so we make sure we are supporting those most in need. It is very sad to say no to people who ask us to help them- that's a really tough part of my job. But sadly we only have room for 25 students in each grade- realistically there is not enough space, money and teachers to help everyone, it's just not possible.
"I have so many future hopes for the Foundation- it has helped the people in this area so much. We can see the change in the lives of the families that have been helped by the Foundation. Principally, their children now have an education- something that is not free in Guatemala. I hope the Foundation keeps helping more families- and I hope we can continue to help each of these children as they grow up, with their family's support.
"As we always say; Without education, there is no future. Most of these children will now have an opportunity for a bright future- I just hope that they manage to make good use of the skills that we give them."