<p>Hi everyone,</p> <p>As most of you probably know, this summer I am off to Guatemala to volunteer at a school near Antigua. Whilst I am out there I am also going to do a 6day kayaking challenge down the Rio Dulce all the way to the Caribbean coast in order to raise money for this great project.</p> <p>I feel guilty asking you all to sponser me to have what such an amazing experience, so instead I have paid for all the costs of the project and the kayaking myself and promise that anything raised on this page will go directly towards the charity and the children.</p> <p>Here's a little bit more about the project:</p> <p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In October 2003, GVI set up the Pajaro de Fuego (Phoenix) Project&nbsp; in San Andr&eacute;s Itzapa for children who had no chance to go to national school. A year later, GVI set up further schools in Santa Maria de Jesus. There are now over&nbsp; 500 children between the ages of 5-15 who benefit from these&nbsp; partnerships . Further fundraising from the GVI-CT is going towards a whole range of things including food, scholarships, new classrooms, care for the elderly, agricultural initiatives and a small business centre for the women of the community. From 2010 it is hoped that our school in Itzapa will be formally recognised by the Ministry of Education and we will be employing local teachers aswell. Plans to formally register Santa Mar&iacute;a are also in the pipeline, depending on the success of Itzapa.</span> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Without this project, the children would simply not receive an education.&nbsp; By donating just a small amount, the project will receive funding to allow the school to have teachers who can provide official certificates for the children, which goes a long way to achieving our sustainable goals. We can continue our community schemes and the children can continue to receive breakfast and fruit. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By working side-by-side with local teachers, coupled with the projects core ideals and aims, we can all be educated in community development and sustainability. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To give you an idea of how your money will be spent:</span> </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">GBP10 buys the necessary educational utensils for one child per year</span> </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">GBP25 buys the inscription fees and utensils necessary for national school</span> </span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">GBP50 buys fruit for 30 children for one month</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">GBP200 pays for the salary of one local teacher per month</span> </span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Thank you xxxxx <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #888888;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>