Our Mission
Asociación Ventanas Abiertas and its sister, Open Windows Foundation, are non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the lives of children and families in San Miguel Dueñas, Guatemala, and in the surrounding towns. Founded in 2001 with 20 children crowded into a single room housing 300 books, children came to read to get points and win prizes until they gained a love of reading. Since then the learning center has expanded to serve roughly 800 children a year, focusing primarily on education but also on addressing the conditions in which the children live.
San Miguel Dueñas is an agricultural town of nearly 13,000 people. For most families sending their children to school presents significant financial difficulties. Although San Miguel Dueñas is a mere twenty minute drive from the prosperous tourist center of La Antigua, the town has a substantially lower standard of living, with most members of the community working in the local coffee plantations and flower nurseries.
The level of education is very low, making the need to improve it a vital priority. In Guatemala, the literacy level is only 81%, ranking 103rd among the world’s nations. Only half of the population continues schooling beyond the 6th grade and only one in five graduates from high school.
I cannot say enough to do justice to how amazing the Open Windows team is. They are incredibly professional, which is all the more impressive given a lack of resources compared with organizations in the developed world. It was so clear that the communities they serve come first.
Volunteering at Open Windows was the highlight of my year. I really think you can’t come here without the experience changing you as a person.
— Christina
While the majority of Open Windows’ resources are devoted to a daily after-school tutoring program for primary school students, the learning center also provides:
· pre-school classes preparing children for first grade;
· scholarships for youth attending middle school, high school and university;
· a YouTube channel which provides free on-line lessons on key subjects in the Guatemalan
national curriculum;
· computer literacy training for all ages, including adults;
· house construction for families in substandard living conditions;
· installation of smoke-free cooking stoves which reduce wood consumption; and
· health screenings.
During the pandemic children were generally prevented not only from going to school but also from coming to the learning center. Moreover, primary school children were not even given on-line classes, just homework without the lessons which would have taught them the content. It was in response to that situation that the teachers at Open Windows began making video lessons which they posted on the YouTube channel Aprende con Ventanas Abiertas. The videos follow the national curriculum and provide the beginnings of an infrastructure for distance learning which helps primary school children across Guatemala master the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the future. As school schedules return to normal, the videos will provide readily available refresher courses and reference tools.
Founded simultaneously with Ventanas Abiertas, Open Windows Foundation has a single goal: to support the work of Ventanas Abiertas. The Foundation is a US 501(c)(3) organization whose board solicits and collects donations which are then used to pay the expenses of the programs at Ventanas Abiertas. Because Open Windows has no staff and no physical location, more than 99 percent of its funds are used for the support of those programs.