Our Projects

Since 1999, Arte en el Campo has benefited the children of the communities near La Escuela de la Montaña. Every Saturday, children from the surrounding communities study guitar, drawing, and marimba. Classes are free and allow the children to express their creativity, a human right that was long suppressed under the military regimes of Guatemala. PLQ students are welcome to volunteer on a short- or long-term basis in the program.

In 2011, PLQ purchased a plot of land in the mountains in an area called Chujaquiej, in the municipality of Zunil, which is located within the department of Quetzaltenango and just outside the city. The land is called El Santuario del Pinabete because it is forested by a pine tree called “pinabete” (abies guatemalensis), a species found only in Guatemala and in danger of extinction. Guatemala is presently losing its forests at a rate twice as fast as deforestation happening in the Brazilian Amazon. In Guatemala deforested land includes the jungles of Peten, which is known as one of the “lungs” of Central America and the Western Hemisphere. The threats to our forests range from foreign petroleum companies clearing large swathes of land for exploration and drilling, to the gradual but steady creep of subsistence maize farming along the hills of the highlands.

PLQ´s plan is to manage the pinabete forest on this land, build a greenhouse and cultivate pinabetes to plant in other areas that have been deforested, and create an environmental education program. We hope to work with local primary and secondary schools to develop an environmental education program that will instill consciousness about the need to preserve our forest. The program will have a classroom segment but will also include projects and work days at El Santuario Pinebete. Since the pandemic began in 2020, we have not been able to actively work on this project, but we hope to return to building out our vision for this land and environmental education at-large in the near future.

La Escuela de la Montaña completed the construction of the “Otto René Castillo” Community Library in 2012, which has served as an important resource for local community members, especially children and youth who want to continue their education beyond primary school. Through the community library, children and community members have access to books, a study area, and in the future, a computer lab.

Since 2007, PLQ has supported the foundation of “Rainbow Kindergarten” in the community of Nuevo Amanecer in the region of San Marcos. This community is made up of family who, due to the persecution and repression they suffered at the hands of military dictators, were forced to flee Guatemala in search of refuge in Mexico. After the signing of the peace accords in 1996, these families decided to return to Guatemala to begin constructing a new life, a “nuevo amanecer” (new dawn). The community founded a small preschool for children of pre-primary age, who participate in activities that help them develop their senses of self-esteem and autonomy. They also learn to value and make use of the new skills and knowledge that their environment provides. They develop communication skills and learn to listen, integrating themselves in their social and natural environments and understanding and accepting the values and principles of communal life so that they can always assume values of respect, responsibility, justice, and tolerance.

The importance of this project in strengthening community life in Nuevo Amanecer is reason enough for PLQ to support the Kindergarten, maintaining permanent support through financial contributions for teachers’ salaries and new classroom material necessary for the development of the educational program. As a counterpart, the community is responsible for maintaining the physical space of the school and contributing snacks for the children who attend.

La vida en el mecapal

This work presents a handful of short stories that seem to balance on the edge of reality and fiction, and weaves in a way almost inexplicable and paradoxical socially collective experiences, portraying the magic and absurdity of our complex reality. Each story provides a methodological guide to reading comprehension that aims to be a useful tool in the process of learning Spanish as a second language.

El Voseo

In Central American countries, VOSEO or the use of VOS has been gradually replacing–both naturally and progressively–the use of “tú”. Its use suggests two meanings that are very different and clearly contrasting (on one hand a sense of CONFIANZA or FAMILIARITY, and on the other hand a sense of AUTHORITY). Its use in these countries has expanded to the realm of popular language, into the vivid and instinctive language of the people. Thus, El Voseo aims to be a tool that facilitates the understanding and use of this pronomial form as a linguistic reality that expresses warmth, affection, and solidarity.

Ventanas a la milpa

In 2005 , PLQ published the book Ventanas a la Milpa: Testimonio de 4 mujeres. Marleny Castillo Rodas, Spanish teacher and  member of the PLQ’s association, devoted her time and energy to discover the truth behind the rebellious lives of the women who participated in Guatemala’s revolutionary struggle. After hours of interviews and transcriptions, this ambitious project materialized as Ventanas a la Milpa.

Ventanas a la Milpa is the testimony of four women who were directly involved in the 36 years of Guatemala´s civil war from 1960 to 1996 and fought on the part of the guerrilla movement. Their interviews shed light on the situation in the country at that time, their reasons for joining the movement, and the struggles they went through – all through the perspectives of women. One of the testimonies was written by a PLQ teacher, and an artist who teaches at the school created the artwork that introduces each chapter. Ventanas a la Milpa is unfortunately currently out of print.