Colegio Trilingüe Luterano Redentor del Mundo

Santiago Zamora, Guatemala

Redeemer of the World Trilingüal Lutheran School was established in 1991 as a Pre-Kindergarten in the Cakchiquel Maya village of Santiago Zamora. Redentor opened its doors with twelve young students and one teacher. Eleven students completed the year.

At the time, the village's public school offered only grades 1-4. Conditions at the public school were difficult: two grades to a classroom, thirty or more students in each room, and no books and few basic teaching materials. Added to that, students often brought younger siblings with them, making for a chaotic atmosphere.

With the encouragement of the local educational department, Redentor del Mundo added Kindergarten, 1st, 5th, and 6th grades the following year and later added the remaining grades. In 1993, Redentor graduated its first students, including the first girl ever to achieve a sixth grade education in the village's 450+ year history. On October 27, 2000, the tenth academic year closed with the graduation of seven students, including those of the original Pre-Kindergarten class.

Enrollment continued to grow until there were over 60 students in Pre-Kindergarten through grade six.

The long-held, nearly improbable dream of a Báisco, or middle school became reality when seventeen students enrolled in the first level in January 2001. Since then, a grade was added each year until the complete section of Básico I, II, & III was in place. By January 2003, the student population had grown to over 90 students, including thirty in Básico. Three full-time teachers, part time music, English, and Cakchiquel teachers, and a cook serve the elementary section which meets in the mornings. The Básico section meets in the late afternoons and is taught by a number of teachers.

Meanwhile, the public school also has enjoyed a renewed enthusiasm. After years of sagging numbers and a high drop-out rate, it has doubled its enrollment in recent years. From operating a two-room school of about forty students in grades 1-4, the public school now has an enrollment more than 70 in Kindergarten through 6th grade.

Hermanos en Cristo, a ministry of mutual prayer and encouragement, was established in 1999. Its primary goal is to develop and deepen Christian relationships between students, families, and teachers between the two schools.

Participants commit to daily prayer for one another, periodic correspondence, and-in the case of St. Paul participants-monthly gifts.

While not the central reason for this ministry, the gifts are a (by-product) blessing which makes possible Redentor's daily nutritional program.

Nutrition Program Most children in rural Guatemala are malnourished. Their daily diet consists of little more than tortillas and beans served with sweetened coffee. Milk is virtually absent as are most vegetables.

The nutrition program serves a hot, vitamin enriched drink each morning along with fresh fruit and vegetables. For many students, this snack is the most nutritious meal they will receive that day.

Not only does the nutrition program build healthier bodies, it also leads to higher grades. Students now miss less school due to illness and have more energy to study.

Redentor del Mundo students and their families are unable to repay St. Paul for their generosity, at least in a material way. Their contributions are through their faith.

In the classroom, chapel worship, Sunday morning services, and daily home prayers, the children pray to God that He repay their brothers and sister in Christ with his generous blessings.

St. Paul Lutheran School and Redentor del Mundo may be hundreds of miles apart, but they are united in Jesus. The distance that separates them is done away with through the power of the Holy Spirit. They are all one...one family of...

Hermanos en Cristo

last updated: 5 April 2003