None of the student successes reported in this Annual Report would have been possible without the financial and prayer support from donors like you! You are changing the trajectory of these students' lives, from grinding poverty to a future filled with hope and opportunities. We are so grateful for people like you!
2021 Annual Report
The Beating Heart behind Nicolás Fund for Education’s Mission
The mission of Nicolás Fund for Education is empowering Mayan youth to break the generational cycle of poverty in the Ixil region of Guatemala through Christ-centered education.
by Becci Merritt Nicolás Fund For Education
It is a privilege and a thrill to watch how God has been at work in the Ixil. We play a small role in God’s efforts to finish the work He began there so many years ago. God will finish what He started, with or without our help. But partnering with God helps us to know God better and deepens our own faith. Why wouldn’t you want to seize this opportunity to come alongside God in creating His Kingdom, showing mercy and restoring justice while caring for the oppressed? This is a living opportunity to love your neighbor as yourself and love God with all your heart. Find out more today at nicolasfund.org!
This image stirs thoughts of Nicolás Fund for Education. Why does the Nicolás Fund for Education exist? How is God using Nicolás Fund for Education to help the Ixil people? Compassion –Many of our supporters and board members witnessed first-hand the terrible suffering that the Ixil people endured during and after the years of the genocide. Chronically marginalized people like the Ixil have much to teach us about dependence on God, enduring suffering, and family priorities. The love we share with others happens because God first loved us. Social Justice – The historic disenfranchisement and discrimination against Guatemala’s indigenous people. (This is something Americans also struggle deeply with our own treatment of Native Americans.) Nicolás Fund for Education attempts to restore justice through education that allows the Ixil to invent their own solutions and to become entrepreneurs. As an organization, Nicolás Fund for Education continually strives to overcome our desire to think that we, as North Americans, know what is best for our school or the Ixil people. 100% of our Nicolas Christian School staff are indigenous Mayans. We respect their unique perspective and strategies towards education and Guatemala’s complex cultural dynamics. Empowerment – The same education and opportunities do NOT exist for indigenous Mayans as for the rest of the population of Guatemala. The mission of Nicolás Fund for Education is empowering Mayan youth to break the generational cycle of poverty in the Ixil region of Guatemala through Christ-centered education. Through education and training in leadership at Nicolás Christian School, the future leaders of the Ixil and Guatemala are being created. Our donors are investing in the human potential of these students. Discipleship for students – Nicolás Christian School fosters faith through Christian education. God is already at work in the lives of students. Nicolás Fund for Education supporters and Nicolás Christian School academic staff strive to mentor and encourage them. Christian Fellowship – Relationships matter. Our relationship with our friends in Guatemala enriches us as we observe their deep faith, strong family relationships and lack of materialism. Our own faith is deepened when we share our spiritual journey. Respect for Ixil culture and learning about traditional Mayan beliefs expands our world view and helps us to know our friends more authentically. Our friendships with the people we meet in Guatemala feed our souls. We believe that, as people made in the image of God, we all, by God’s grace, bring unique and needed gifts to His Kingdom.
CORAZOÓN CHAPIÍN: Translatite as the Heart of the Guatemalan. Chapín(a) is the self-imposed noun and adjective equivalent to Guatemalan. Although the official word in Spanish for Guatemalan is Guatemalteco, very often Guatemalans use the word chapín instead.
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students received a preschool education learning Spanish words. Their native tongue is a Mayan dialect called K’iche’. Four students graduated from preschool!
adults graduated from Adult Literacy classes offered by Nicolás Fund for Education.
Giving Thanks to God!
5th and 6th graders were tutored, which was critically important due to pandemic-related primary school closures. These students had an average increase in reading words per minute of 19 words per minute in 2021 due to tutoring they received.
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Our 2022 school year has begun with in-person education! We are operating in a “hybrid” mode that allows for social distancing. Grades 10-11 attend in-person school on Mondays and Tuesdays. Grades 8-9 attend school on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The seventh grade (largest class) attends in-person school on Fridays. On the weekdays when students do not attend in-person school, they use their tablets and NICO for study-at-home work. Ten Talents Program university scholarship recipients were given two greenhouses to use for growing vegetables through an organization called Counterpart International and USAID. Counterpart International works with local partners around the world to improve the production of and access to nutritious food for children. They support community-led and school-based efforts to reduce malnutrition, implement sustainable agricultural practices and improve food security.
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students received John Maxwell Leadership Training certificates of completion through Nicolás Christian School.
village libraries were established with at least 200 books each. Libraries are located at Nicolás Christian School and the villages of El Paraiso, San Felipe Chenlá, La Bendición, La Esperanza, San Nicolás, Belén, Los Angeles and Villa Hortensia I.
versions of NICO (New and Innovative Content Offline) were created on a monthly basis by teachers this year to be used to provide home learning on tablets. NICO contains the full contents of the Guatemalan Ministry of Education academic curriculum supplemented with new and innovative material developed by our teachers. Access to our NICO curriculum has been requested from San Carlos Sija and Xuixilom Public Schools.
2021: Progress Made
Nicolás Christian School students graduated from High School. Twenty-two students graduated from junior high school.
Goals for 2022
Selected Financial Data
Funds received from donors provide scholarships which include tuition, school uniforms, tutoring, school supplies, mentoring and transportation.
In the first 6 months of 2022, break ground and begin building a new, larger school campus near San Juan Cotzal! Continue with in-person education as permitted by the government. Pivot to home study using NICO v1.2 (New and Innovative Contents Offline) & tablets when pandemic-related school closures occur. Establish 5 new libraries in 2022-2023 targeting the villages of Santa Avelina, Asich, Vichibala, Ojo de Agua & Cajixay. Access to village libraries has been extremely helpful during these times of pandemic-related school closures. In the absence of formal education, children are checking out library books and reading! Implement an “internet-in-a-box” called RACHEL to several of these libraries in a pilot project. RACHEL (Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning) is a portable, battery-powered, device that contains copies of educational websites in offline format that are curated to be appropriate for children. RACHEL can go anywhere in the world and wirelessly deliver free digital educational content to nearby tablets, laptops, or smartphones with no internet or data plans required. Each RACHEL unit costs $750. Develop extracurricular vocational training through a partnership with the Guatemalan organization called CEMUCAF. CEMUCAF operates training centers that respond to the needs of local small & medium sized businesses by providing technical-occupational training that responds to those specific needs. We hope to expand our carpentry program into a vocational training program followed by other vocational programs. Promote improvements in childhood nutrition through education and entrepreneurship opportunities (entrepreneurial chicken & egg projects that add protein to family diets). We plan to promote and expand The Joseph Project, where university students receiving scholarships grow vegetables that they harvest and give to local needy families. When the government permits in-person education, NCS provides students with a nutritious breakfast and lunch.
Our IRS Form 990 is posted on our updated website at nicolasfund.org. Nicolás Fund For Education is a member in good standing of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). This 2021 Annual Report for Donors is posted at nicolasfund.org, should you wish to share this information with friends.
Place, Susanna Badgley. Guatemala Journey among the Ixil Maya, 2013, p. 171. ISBN 978-0-9884876-0-4.
Fulfilling a Dream
Celebrating Ten Years of Service to the Ixil Students of Guatemala!
Save the Date
Learn more at nicolasfund.org
P.O. Box 3724 Bellevue, WA 98009
April 23, 2022 7pm Online