Empowering Indigenous Communities to Improve Education & Sustainable Living
Mexico faces a wide disparity in education performance between urban and rural schools, and the problem of poor achievement is particularly pronounced for the rural, indigenous population. Mexico has one of the largest and most diverse indigenous populations in Latin America, with 12.7 million indigenous people speaking a total of 62 languages. The majority of the indigenous population lives in small rural communities.
Rural areas are more likely than urban areas to have inadequate public services, poor infrastructure and housing conditions, and limited economic and educational opportunities. The Mexican government created Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo (CONAFE, or the National Council of Education Development) to provide extra resources to schools that have enrolled disadvantaged students. The components of CONAFE are beneficial to the communities but, unfortunately, not enough to create the impact needed for a successful nurturing learning environment for the children. Therefore, DMC has devoted their mission to add to this plan.
How do we accomplish this?
Our successful approach is working alongside these indigenous communities to build an authentic relationship on the ground which consists of preserving their culture, traditions, protecting their natural resources and the well being of all those children who have a dream to reach!
1. Infrastructure Improvements - We love to give rural schools a face lift! Our projects range from painting schools and murals, creating new play areas, palapas for shade during those hot summer days, planting vegetable gardens for children and much more!
2. School Supplies - We are fortunate to receive school materials and monetary funds to purchase all the wonderful supplies needed for several communities we visit throughout the year. We receive these donations but if we have monetary donations we only buy from locally owned shops to assure the communities thrive.
3. Educational Projects -
Computer Lab
English classes
Green Leaders for sustainable living (Empowerment for a change)
We are currently in the works for our NEW computer lab and English classes. Storytelling in Mayan by the older generation and is planned for the community of Nuevo Durango. The focus on their native language, spanish & english is a must! A BIG thanks to one of our partners, “Leaving a Positive Legacy” Follow the link and check them out on Facebook! They were able to purchase 6 laptops and getting this project started but, there is much more to be done...
As these children progress in school, the gap between them and their non-indigenous peers widens. There have been little improvements in closing the gap on literacy, reading, computer skills just to mention some. For many indigenous children, suggesting that indigenous children from disadvantaged backgrounds lack vital school preparedness for their future in our changing world.
The older children from Nuevo Durango must travel to their schools and at times stay with family members during the week due to the distance and not having transportation. When they return home on the weekends there is homework to complete but, the problem is many do not have computers nor is there any internet service. Many again need to travel to nearby towns to find internet stations. This program creates unity and allows the kids to prosper within their community.
OUR FUTURE GOALS: To continue having children reach their dreams by providing programs to enable them to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible and independent individuals who can go into modern society but never forget their heritage. There are many small villages throughout the Yucatan Peninsula that are not government runned and rely only on a small budget which means they could use some TLC. We want to be able to provide the opportunity for a better education. We hope to spread the word of our cause to achieve more sponsors to financially support us. If you would like to get involved please visit our Volunteer/Donate page to find out more!