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Last month three students who participate in Winchester’s A Better Chance program decided to go to Guatemala as part of a School of the World program.
Joel Aryee, Danry Njawa and Eyitayo (Tayo) Owolabi mixed cement, painted the outside of a school building and created two murals.
“Last year we helped with a kindergarten playground in Honduras, says Aryee, a Winchester High School junior.
“In Guatemala, we painted a mural about the ocean and one about the solar system,” says WHS sophomore Njawa. “Kids there go to school through sixth grade and people are trying to get them to attend high school.”
He adds that they’d need a bus to get there.
“And the nearest hospital is an hour away,” he says.
Owolabi says, “The first day we went early, did some work and then in the afternoon we visited families—it’s a way to get to know how they live. We made tortillas with them, fed their chickens and pigs. We found out there’s no electricity, they have dirt floors, and the houses are made of mud.”
“But in Honduras,” Aryee says, “some houses have solar power — for a single light bulb. The mom in the family I visited wove hats in bulk, and she’d sell them. She’d get 20 quetzales for a dozen — the equivalent of 70 U.S. cents.”
Njawa says that in Guatemala they have to walk an hour to get their corn ground. When asked why he signed up, he says, “I heard about it from a senior who told me it was fun and a good experience.”
Owolabi adds they were among 11 Winchester High School students to go.
Where does the money come from? Hamilton Ho, a volunteer at ABC, says the Crawford Memorial Church’s men’s bible group gives $3,000 to each of the three students.
Volunteer Chris Chiavelli adds the students raise money through GoFundMe.
Aryee says the group stayed in a hotel about an hour and a half from the school.
“On the last day, they had a dedication ceremony where the mayor gave a speech, and all about how School of the World students helped,” he says.
Aryee encourages students to join.
“It opens up your eyes to other worlds. You take things for granted such as running water,” he says. “They don’t have much, but they make the most of it. It makes you feel grateful.”
