We believe that
Education Empowers Generations.
The Sister Celeste Derr Foundation works in the Department of Quiche in Guatemala to provide scholarships for junior high, high school, college and professional school students from poor families, and to fund a team of psychologists and educators operating an experimental support program for disabled students and their families.
Established in 2006 to support Mayan youth in San Andres Sajcabaja, Quiche whose education had been disrupted by Guatemala’s 40 year civil war, the Foundation provided scholarships and funded an alternative school offering a manageable class schedule and instructors who spoke the indigenous language of the region. After concluding that effort and closing the school in 2019, the Foundation expanded its scholarship program and launched its work with disabled students in 2020. The Foundation will directly benefit more than 160 students in 2023.*
By the
Numbers.
14%
UNIVERSITY AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS AS WELL AS BOARDING SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS FOR YOUNG WOMEN >
49%
Other Secondary Education Scholarships
37%
Disabled Student Program
Our Mission
Five hundred years of subjugation has made life for the Mayan population in Guatemala's rural highlands very difficult. Education holds the promise of advancement for Mayan families and the entire country; but quality education in poor rural areas is hard to find and beyond the reach of many. The Derr Foundation provides scholarships and other educational support to San Andres Sajcabaja, Chinique, Chiche, Nebaj and Chichicastenango, small, largely indigenous communities in the Department of Quiche, one of the country's poorest regions.
It provides scholarships for junior high and high school students and for exceptional high school graduates who desire to continue studying at the university and professional school level.
In 2020 it inaugurated an advocacy and accompaniment program for children with disabilities, including psychological support and instruction materials and expertise for classroom teachers.
It funds boarding school scholarships in one of Guatemala's Mayan cultural centers for young women prepared to leave home.
Backstory
Quiche and much of the rest of indigenous Guatemala suffered horribly during the ugly thirty-six year civil war. The army and the guerrillas terrorized the indigenous population, and the US-supported army occupied many isolated communities and tortured and killed those they believed sympathized with the guerrillas. Peace Accords were signed in 1996, and today the Guatemalan people aspire to overcome pervasive poverty, corruption and crime and to secure a functioning democracy and a healthy economy. Education is key to that effort.
When the violence subsided in the 1990s, Sister Celeste Derr and others began rebuilding by:
Restarting and expanding a primary and middle school geared to students whose education was interrupted by the civil war, who could not attend classes more than two days per week because of their other responsibilities and who spoke little Spanish. In 2006 nine classrooms, an office and kitchen were opened.
Inaugurating a scholarship program for motivated middle school, high school and college students.
Providing scholarships for young women who were prepared to leave home and attend boarding school in Chichicastenago, an important center of Mayan culture.
When Sister Celeste left San Andres in 2006, some of her supporters formed the Derr Foundation to continue her work by providing quality teachers with good salaries and other resources and by helping them plan and provide well designed school and scholarship programming.
In 2020 the Foundation shifted its focus. It closed its school because it had “worked through” the student population directly affected by the war and because the Guatemalan government had introduced credible public education programs to the region. And it enlarged its scholarship program and inaugurated a pilot program for disabled students. Its work is supported by generous donors who want to encourage hopefulness and initiative among exploited and marginalized people.