A New Beginning in Cerro Alto, Guatemala
In the mountains of Santa Cruz Cerro Alto, Guatemala, mornings once began in silence.
The old school stood at the edge of the community, its wooden planks weathered and its tin roof rusted. Inside, the dirt floor turned to mud when it rained, and drops fell through holes in the ceiling onto children’s notebooks. When the midday sun arrived, the classroom turned into an oven. Some days, the heat was so unbearable that students stayed home rather than sit for hours in the suffocating air.
For five years, teacher Raymunda de Jesús Tox Cal did her best to make that space a classroom.
“We had no concrete floor,” she remembers. “Water would come in and soak everything. I couldn’t even hang a poster because the rain would destroy it.” Despite everything, she never stopped teaching. She knew that education could change the lives of Cerro Alto’s children, even if the classroom itself was crumbling around them.
Parents shared that conviction. Eva Pop, a mother of three, explained why education mattered so deeply to her family:
“I would have loved to keep studying,” she explains. “But my parents had no money. I can’t read or write. That’s why I want my children to study. I don’t want them to feel the same fear I’ve felt.”
The people of Cerro Alto held tightly to one belief: education is the key to change.
Built in Solidarity
Everything changed when buildOn, together with Denis and Britta Nayden and The Questers Trek Team, partnered with the community to build a new school.
The Questers traveled on Trek to Guatemala, working side by side with families in Cerro Alto. Together, they built more than a school. They built hope, connection, equality, and opportunity.
Community members set aside their daily work growing corn and coffee to pick up shovels and pickaxes. They walked for hours under the sun and rain, carrying stones and mixing cement. Together, the community contributed more than 1,060 volunteer workdays to build their new school.
In just 53 days, Cerro Alto celebrated its first-ever two-classroom concrete school, complete with latrines and a flagpole. It is truly a place where education can flourish in dignity.
The New School Opens
When the new school opened, the transformation was immediate.
Children now arrive early, their faces full of excitement. Teachers have a dignified space to teach. Attendance has already increased, and students are performing better.
“The students would tell me, ‘Teacher, I love the color of the new school! When can we move in?’ That filled me with happiness,” Raymunda recalls.
Among the students is Jennifer, a third-grader who remembers how different things used to be:
“The old school was dark and hot. The dust from the dirt floor made me sleepy. Now my new school is fresh and comfortable—I love it.”
Jennifer wants to become a nurse, a dream which began when her mother fell ill and she went with her to visit doctors in Cobán. “I saw how the doctors cared for her. I want to be like them,” she says. Thanks to her new school, that dream is now in reach.
Each morning, her mother walks her to the new school. “When my mom leaves me there,” Jennifer says, “I feel that we’re both building my future—together.”
For Eva, watching her children walk into the bright doorway brings peace. “I know my children will have more opportunities,” she says. “This school changed their lives—and mine too.”
Like any parent, she dreams of a better life for her children. Each day, she encourages them: “Study. Be better than me.”
More Than a School
In Santa Cruz Cerro Alto, the sound of children’s laughter now replaces the echo of rain on rusted tin. This new school stands as proof of what happens when partnership, community leadership, and shared purpose come together.
“Now, they come to class with smiles and questions. They dream bigger,” Raymunda beams. “This school will change their lives.”
Want to travel to a community like Cerro Alto and work to build a school? Sign up to go on a buildOn Trek today!