Dear Friend,
Welcome to Latin American Christian Education Services web site.
Latin American Christian Education Services (LACES) is a United States 501 (c)(3) charity that reaches across denominational
lines in its dedication to improving education in Guatemala, Central America.
Whether for children or for church leaders,
the lack of educational opportunities in Latin America and in Guatemala in particular weakens the church. If we are to make
a difference in the church today we must focus
on education in all its aspects, at all levels.
Why? Why care about education in Guatemala? The last thorough statistical analysis
of Guatemala was done in 2002 by the United Nations. According to the statistics
taken 67% of Guatemalan children ages 7-14 do not attend school. 70 % of Guatemala’s
population according to the United Nations is poor. 15% of that 70% live in extreme
poverty or barely have enough to make it on a daily basis.
How is it exactly that the large population of poor affects so drastically the number
of children in school? All education in Guatemala, whether public or private, is
paid for by individual families. A “public” education costs less, but frequently
is still too expensive for the average family of 5-6 people. Most schools,
public and private, charge an enrollment fee, monthly tuition fees, require full
head-to-toe uniforms, and do not provide any textbooks and/or school supplies without
also charging. So, families that are barely making enough money to support
their children in terms of shelter, food and clothing do not have the disposable
income available to pay the myriad of fees and expenses for one child to go to school.
And if you consider that the average family has 3-5 children, it becomes obvious
why so few children are in school in Guatemala.
So what? So few children are being educated in Guatemala, why does this affect the
church? This situation has been the case in Guatemala for generations.
There are generations of adults that never had the opportunity to go to school and
never had the opportunity to learn to read or write. Or they read at the level
of a small child. If, Christianity is dependent on truth entering the mind,
then shouldn’t the church be concerned about the healthy, full development of the
mind, so that God’s truth can be more readily accepted and applied? Is Christianity
about personal responsibility before God, or is it about corporate responsibility
before a man representing God. The later describes the current situation of
the church in Guatemala. A man, representing God, tells you what to do, to
think and to believe. In many cases this man has also been poorly educated.
The Guatemalan church is weak because its leadership and its members lack the ability
to search scripture and apply it to their daily lives.
Consider these statistics:
- 26% of Guatemalan children ages 7-14 attend public school,
- 7% attend private school but,
- 67% do not attend school at all.
- In urban Guatemala 27.1% of 7-14 year olds start secondary education.
- 7.0% of Guatemala’s urban population receives a college education.
- In rural Guatemala 0.5% of the population receives a college education.
- Approximately 33% of Guatemalan women and 25% of Guatemalan men are illiterate.
Please take a moment to browse our website. It explains in depth
each of these areas in which we are working.
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