We're back in the states...We've been back since April 6th, but life has been crazy with a conference for my MBA and then family reunion in San Diego...It's good to be home.
I've been thinking about what we accomplished over the three months. It's nice to look back and realize it was all worth it. Here's and abbreviated list:
1. We provided desks for 30 students and whiteboards for 2 classrooms due to generous donations from a family who supports a non-profit each year at Christmas time. What a wonderful Christmas tradition!
2. We restructured the organization by creating teams of teachers. These teams meet on a regular basis to discuss issues that need to be resolved. They have increased responsibility and increased authority to solve their own problems (an extreme example of this was when one team decided that a member needed to be fired because he wasn't pulling his own weight after repeated warnings. This never would have happened before). The teachers like the arrangement much better because they have much more say over their own work. It has also greatly reduced the amount of time Berly spends on small issues that she really shouldn't need to deal with. With some of her time freed up we were able to focus on other issues.
3. We created a financial system for the school. Berly had never been involved in the finances of the school (which was highly problematic). Financial information had never been used to make decisions. During this trip Berly spent weeks going through the numbers for the first time. It was a difficult, but highly rewarding learning process for her. We then created a system that will allow her to keep much tighter control of the numbers in the future. Already it has made several thousand US dollars difference in losses that have been avoided and increased tuition collections. Over the long haul this will allow the school to function much more efficiently and effectively and ultimately help many more children.
4. We clarified our plans for the future. We still want to build a bigger school to accommodate more students (the end goal would be somewhere around 1000). But now we have a better plan for how to get there. First the school has to prove that it is financially viable on a small scale. In years past the school has had to take out loans to cover losses. With increased financial responsibility we hope to see the school become profitable over the next 2 years. Once the school proves it can be profitable, we will start looking for loans to fund expansion. We would prefer a loan to a grant because it will keep accountability high and allow that same money to be used for other good causes in the future. We will still have to find some sort of social group to make the loan because the school won't qualify for a commercial loan, but we do believe that with a reasonable interest rate (5-6%) the project could be viable. The total cost of the first phase of the project will be around $500,000 USD. This would be enough to purchase land, pay all legal fees and construct a building to accommodate around 500 students.
This project has certainly been a wonderful experience. We are excited to continue our relationship with Liceo Cientifico Cumorah and hope to continue to make a real difference in Guatemala City. I will continue to update the blog from time to time to tell how things are going. If you have any questions/comments please feel free to write me directly at sutterswim@yahoo.com.
