Latest News
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11 August 2010
EFTC are taking part in the UN International Day of Peace, on 21st September 2010.
The Peace One Day Campaign began in 1999 and aims to create peace between nations and non-violence in our homes, communities and schools. Peace Day is relevant to every human being on the planet. For more information go to - http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/welcome.
To celebrate Peace Day, the children in our project in Guatemala will be using Peace One Day’s Global Education Resource, http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/education , and participating in ‘One Day One Goal’ football matches. There will be a ‘Commitment Wall’, where the children will be encouraged to make a personal commitment or promise to peace. They will also make a collage of painting, with the children illustrating what peace means to them.
The UK office will also be participating - we are asking for people to send us their own personal commitment or promise to peace and we will be putting them all on a page on this website. We ask that you send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by Friday 17th September, to give us time to put them on the website. The children in Guatemala will be able to view these and add their own message while they participate in Peace Day. Click here to see the UK Commitment Wall.
We believe this a very worthwhile campaign to celebrate and are happy to be involved. We hope you can get involved too.
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11 August 2010
EFTC organised a Health Day for the mothers of the children in our project.
The families associated with the project have very limited access to healthcare and EFTC has taken some steps to help the community improve their standard of living.
On Saturday 7th and Monday 9th August 2010, local Guatemalan organisations including Associación Nuestros Ahijados, ALAS, Laborotorio Valle de Guatemala/Bayer and Dirección General de Salud de Sacatepequez (the regional health assocation) came to the school to provide various medical check ups for the women, while some of our Secondary School students gave out information and held activities for the women to take part in.
The check ups covered general to sexual health, family planning advice was offered and a talk was given about looking after yourself and keeping yourself healthy. We hope that the women understood the importance of keeping healthy and that this message filters down to their children.
The event was a big success, with so many mothers attending and we want to thank the organisations listed above for making it possible. We aim to organise other such days to continue supporting the local community.
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18 July 2010
On 28th January 2010 the first tree was cut down to make way for EFTC's new school!!
In 2008 we started a fund raising campaign which would allow us to build our own school. After much searching, we found a piece of land in a plot called La Azotea and were able to buy it at a reduced rate. We are very thankful to the owners of La Azotea, Ricardo Pokorny and Katie Cunningham, for making this possible and their continued support.
Since then we have received generous donations from The Premier League, Colin and Marie Goodall, St James's Place Foundation, The Allan and Nesta Foundation Charitable Trust, Opengate Charitable Trust, Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation and WEP.
We still have a little way to go before we reach the full amount required to complete the build but we are optimistic that we will be able to attract the funds in time so that the school will open in January 2011, in time for the new school year.
La Azotea is situated in Jocotenango not far from our existing premises and is also home to a coffee plantation, museum and horse riding school. The new site will be able to cater for up to 500 students and will replace our current Primary and Secondary schools in San Felipe and Jocotenango, which we have been renting since 2008.
Our own building will decrease our costs and increase our stability as well as having hugely improved purpose built facilities to meet all of the requirements of our project.
Many of the construction workers have children who are enrolled in our school and we are proud to be able to help them play a part in building a future for their children.
Below are some photos are various times throughout the building phase - click to enlarge them.
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14 June 2010
Escuela Projecto La Esperanza now has a quiet reading area.
In April 2010, Child Aid kindly donated us over 500 reading and text books, which enabled us to push forward with a reading programme.
Following a generous donation from one of our long term volunteers, Deveraux Swaim, and also inspired by Dorcas's interview (click here to read) we have been able to put the books donated by Child Aid to good use. We have created a quiet and comfortable space where the children can sit and read and have access to a range of reading books - something they have never had before.
Child Aid have also been very helpful in supporting us to set up a database and ensure we run the programme correctly. Also, we are intending to run workshops for staff, provided by Child Aid and we hope our relationship will be long-lasting. Ther website is http://www.child-aid.org/.
The foundation has also had to put some resources into funding the quiet reading area, each chair costs between Q150-Q200 (approximately £13-£17), if anyone feels they can donate towards this worthy campaign click here to donate now and please send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to confirm, many thanks for your support.
Photos of the opening ceremony and the room in use are below - click on them to enlarge.
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01 May 2010
EFTC are promoting a new type of sponsorship where your company can get involved.
Our new scholarship programme is aimed at businesses who want to become involved in charity work in a very special and rewarding way.
We want your business to sponsor a student in Guatemala to become a professional in the field of your choice. Accountancy firms could sponsor accountancy students, law firms could sponsor students of law or your business could sponsor any kind of scholarship that you like. There are numerous courses available and dozens of students who would jump at the chance to get enrolled.
EFTC wants to be able to offer scholarships to all of the children who graduate from our secondary school so that they can go on to become professionals and to break out of the poverty cycle once and for all. But to do this we need your business to help them.
It costs £950 per annum to pay the complete costs of a scholarship. A small cost for many companies and you will be able to see the clear difference you make to one young person's life; we encourage our students to have an ongoing relationship with their sponsors and EFTC will send you regular updates on their progress. If you think your company might be interested then please get in touch email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us on 0115 958 48 76.