July 7, 2026
A week before Sowing Opportunities’ planned June trip to Northeastern Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, there was a wrinkle: Teachers contacted our project manager, Ricardo, to say that the government was closing schools early for a two-week break.
We were delivering 5,000 seedlings for six schools and four villages: 100 per growing table for the nearly 50 tables we planned to serve. The seedlings would not be ready before the school break, so Ricardo decided to keep the trip’s original date, June 21, to make the delivery. Thankfully, a few teachers stayed at the schools to receive the seedlings and get additional agricultural training – but we missed a chance to get photos with students.
To complicate matters, the rains – normally light in June – were torrential in nature. Roads were washed out and visibility greatly reduced, making travel dangerous.
Ricardo, ever dedicated, tried on two separate days to visit the home of Mileidy Yuliz Caal Chub, a student who had her own greenhouse, to help her grandmother and sister who were in hardship. The road to her house has a steep drop, even more slippery in the heavy rain. Despite his best efforts, Ricardo could not safely make the trip to check on her and her family.
But we did have two beautiful successes:
(1) At Guadalupe School, the teachers welcomed our team during a Teachers’ Day event and called back the students to participate in planting the newly arrived seedlings!
(2) Our new school, our sixth, a convent called Escuela Ratz’ Um K’iche Hermana Dora, happily received our seedlings delivery. The school was in dire need of food to feed its 165 female students, boarding students coming from families shattered by migration and unemployment. Scroll down to take a look at the teachers and students officially participating in the first planting.
We plan to catch up with the rest of our work on our next trip to the region, and will report back to you. To support greenhouse infrastructure in the remote region of Northeast Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, please click on this link:
Thank you!
Fern and the Sowing Opportunities team
P.S. We have additional exciting news! We are planning a tour of the region in mid-to-late September, led by Ricardo and a known tourist agency in Guatemala. It will visit four of the schools we work with plus six beautiful tourist points, including historic and coastal sites and a meal with an indigenous family. We have nine seats available on the tour bus – please reach out to me if interested. I will send an update with photos and videos in the next update email, so stay tuned!
