Pluricultural, multilingual and multiethnic Guatemala

Guatemala is a country that has a great cultural and natural wealth, each region is unique. In the high mountains the climate is cold, in the central part a temperate climate is enjoyed all year round, on the coasts the climate is warm.

Our country is also rich in Mayan culture, here you will find spectacular ruins, for example: Tikal, El Mirador, Quirigua, Yaxhá, Uaxactún among so many Mayan remains.

The colors of the indigenous costumes and Mayan languages ​​are mixed with the beauty of its landscapes of volcanoes and lakes; like Atitlán and the lake of Petén Itzá, without forgetting its colonial towns and its friendly and hospitable people.

Here the whole year is spring, fruits and vegetables abound all year round. Despite all the charm and natural resources that we have, the remote rural areas of Guatemala are abandoned. These areas do not have development policies in health, economic, social, infrastructure and education.

Although education is free from elementary to high school, even the country has a public university in which students pay a small fee to attend, the level of students graduated from the university is still very low;

There are many reasons: For example in the countryside, many parents do not send their daughters to school because they still think that girls do not need an education as children, on the other hand, many children are sent to work in the field.

In addition, the schools are often far from the communities and children must walk and overcome many obstacles to reach schools that do not usually have decent infrastructure and lack adequate educational material for teaching and learning. There are few reasons that motivate students to attend school every day.

Although education is free from elementary to high school, even the country has a public university in which students pay a small fee to attend, the level of students graduated from the university is still very low;

There are many reasons: For example in the countryside, many parents do not send their daughters to school because they still think that girls do not need an education as children, on the other hand, many children are sent to work in the field.
 In addition, the schools are often far from the communities and children must walk and overcome many obstacles to reach schools that do not usually have decent infrastructure and lack adequate educational material for teaching and learning. There are few reasons that motivate students to attend school every day.

The high school is even more complicated; parents do not have the resources to pay for transportation and / or purchase school supplies necessary for learning.

High schools are not in rural communities. High schools are in urban towns. Girls in this stage have fewer opportunities to continue their education.

Reaching university is still a privilege in this country, even in the urban area. For rural communities having a son or daughter in college is an impossible dream to fulfill.

At Start with a Smile Project we firmly believe that education is the most powerful weapon to break the cycle of poverty and improve the quality of life of the most vulnerable and remote areas of the southern area of ​​Guatemala.