BELLA VISTA SCHOOL
Tuixocel, Guatemala
CEF’s very first project
The Compassionate Eye Foundation (“CEF”) has an 18-year history of funding projects and programs in developing countries. We at CEF are deeply attached to the work being done in all these countries and the people and groups involved on the ground.
But it all started in Guatemala and the community of Tuixocel. A small very rural community in the north west part of Guatemala. When CEF founder Robert Kent was travelling in this area in 2005, the “community” was just a church surrounded by subsistence farms carved into the hillside. The only commercial crop was peaches. The local population was poor and there was no school.
Wanting to help, Robert set out to build one. Robert Kent was a successful, talented commercial stock photographer. With the help of other photographers and production people, all who donated their time, stock images were produced and added to the Getty archive. CEF receives a percentage of those sales. This revenue model provides photography professionals a way to use their talents to make a difference in the world – to help those in a small poor community in a developing country. And it’s a revenue model that allows us to support many other projects globally in the communities that most need the help.
The school in Tuixocel has developed into the core of the community. CEF has funded the development and ongoing operations of a primary school, a computer lab, the preschool for the younger children who couldn’t stay at home because the parents were working in the fields, scholarships for some to continue their education beyond grade six for them to become nurses, teachers, mechanics – wage earning skills.
The school, along with the local church, has become the focal point of the community. It is a gathering place for community meetings and celebrations, dances and school presentations. The school and the education it provides has made a large difference for this poor community CEF has supported the school every year since its inception and gets detailed reports including school grades, photos and sweet videos.
In 2023 there were 61 students and 5 scholarship students. You can view some of the many videos we receive from Bella Vista below!
And in March 2024, members of the CEF Board were able to visit the community for the first time since 2010. Visit our blog to read about all the details!
My name is Eldenia Asbely Ramírez Salvador, teacher of the students in the pre-primary program. I am at the house of Seidi, one of our students who has a mental deficiency. We brought her these materials so that she could play. With the help of these blocks and using plasticine we have had positive results in her mental development, even seeing improvement in her ability to write. We thank the Compassion Eye Foundation for supporting us with these children so that they continue learning. Thank you so much.
My name is Deidy Sucely in the computer program we have learned many things, one of the works we have done in class is the parts of a computer, we also had the curiosity to reconstruct the inside of a CPU here it is. Since we have also used the internet to practice English words.
My name is María Hilda Ramírez Pérez, we hope for your support in the year 2024, these are the children, the boys and girls who are going to study next year. Vive Compassionate Eye
