Community Building Projects

School Kitchen Construction and Equipment in Las Ruinas, Petén, Guatemala

PROJECT NAME: Las Ruinas School Kitchen Construction and Equipment           

PROJECT SUMMARY: Las Ruinas is a rural community of 2,000 inhabitants in Petén, Guatemala. It is located 50 miles away from La Libertad -the municipal capital- and 87 miles from Flores, the provincial capital. One of the two public elementary schools in the community needs urgently a kitchen to prepare food  for 137 students who receive government resources to provide one meal and one snack to each student. The food is currently prepared by parents in very poor facilities that do not meet the requirements for food safety and lack safe food storage capacity. This project will build a 23 x 20 foot concrete building with a front-side walk of 23×6.5 foot. The main building will be made of cinder blocks with rebar reinforced concrete columns and beams. The floor of the main bilding and the sidewalk will be made of concrete reinforced with steel mesh. The roof will be made of steel structure, with 4”x4”x20’ steel beams and u-shaped 4”x2”x 24’ purlings. The roof structure will be covered by galvanized roofing sheets of different sizes. The project includes the electrical wiring and lights, as well as plumbing works. Kitchen equipment, including freezer, fridge, blender, microwave oven, stove, coffee maker, water cooler and dispenser and cookware. The project will allow the provision of nutritious and safe food to the school students, which will have an impact in school attendance and completion.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

  • The Global Uplift Project (TGUP)
  • Seeds of Learning (SOL)
  • Community Development Committee (COCODE)

TIMELINE: May-June 2022

BUDGET: $ 11,445.96

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ABOUT THE COMMUNITY AND PROJECT:

Las Ruinas is a rural community of La Libertad municipality, in Petén, Guatemala. The community is 50 miles away from the municipal capital and 87 miles from Flores, the provincial capital. With roughly 2,000 inhabitants, the local economy is based mainly on agriculture at small scale. Some have small and medium size plots and other rent land to raise cattle and plant corn, beans and other staple food. A few bigger farms provide employment to families who own no land. Other sources of employment are local stores, small businesses, and public services. The community has one public health center, two elementary schools and one high school. Electricity was installed a few years ago and there is an intermittent water supply service run by the COCODE.

The Las Ruinas Public Rural School (EORM) is one of the two elementary schools in the community. The school’s mission is to provide quality education in three educational levels: preschool (40 students), primary (97 students) and diversified cycle (11th-13th grade) that complements basic education with technical studies to train 61 high school students as pre-school teachers and accounting technicians. As a public school, the EORM receives government funds to provide food to the students in the school. Under Congress decree 16-2017 this resources are provided to ensure that students are healthy enough to achieve better school performance and develop healthy eating habits. The program is also an incentive to improve school attendance and prevent infant labor. In Guatemala, as in any developing country, families can´t afford to feed all their members and are forced to have their children involved in income generation activities, rather than sending them to school.

The teachers and parents committee are organized to manage the funds and implement this program. They purchase food locally to provide healthy and balanced meals to students, which is cooked right in the schools by parents. However, the facilities for food preparation are in the poorest conditions. The building is made of wood and is very old and deteriorated; the roof is also in bad condition and leaking, and the stove is just a few stones on the dirt floor, which is muddy and flooded during the rainy season.

This project will build a 23 x 20 foot concrete building with a front side walk of 23×6.5 foot. The foundations and the building will be made of cinder blocks with rebar-reinforced concrete columns and beams. The floor of the main building and the sidewalk will be made of concrete reinforced with steel mesh. This will be finished with a thin and smooth cover made of cement and fine sand to ensure easy and thorough cleaning. The roof will be made of steel structure, with 4”x4”x20’ steel beams and u-shaped 4”x2”x 24’ purlings. This structure will be covered by galvanized roofing sheets of different sizes. The project includes the installation of electrical wiring and lights, as well as plumbing works. It also will include a cement countertop with a kitchen sink. The project includes the provision of kitchen equipment, including freezer, fridge, blender, microwave oven, stove, coffee maker, water cooler and dispenser and cookware.

ANTICIPATED BENEFITS:

  • Better food storage, preparation and safety to ensure better nutrition and improved eating habits of students.
  • A more comprehensive education that promotes hygiene and healthy food consumption.
  • Improved conditions for community volunteers to prepare school meals.
  • Improved school attendance, completion and performance.

PRIMARY BENEFICIARIES: 

40 pre-school students

97 elementary school students

61 diversified cycle students

14 teachers

800 inhabitants

IMPACT METRICS:

  • School attendance grows from 90% to 95%
  • School completion grows from 85 to 95%
  • Parents participation in food preparation increases by 20%
  • Diversification of the food menu thanks to kitchen equipment provided.

SUMMARY AND EVALUATION

This is a high priority project based on the following facts:

  • The existing kitchen building is in the poorest conditions with walls falling apart, dirt floor and a leaking roof.
  • These conditions are not proper for safe preparation of meals and storage of raw food.
  • The new building will be used immediately after its construction
  • The community members are aware of the need and are committed to participate as volunteers in its construction.
  • The new infrastructure will create conditions for organizing food preparation workshops for parents to improve families’ diet.
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