Our History:
Partners for Guatemala Education (PGE) is a registered 501 (c)(3) non profit focused on supporting education and development in Santa María Tzejá. The PGE has its origins in the Guatemala Partnership, a transnational community spanning more than 30 years that unites the Congregational Church of Needham, Massachusetts in solidarity with the community of Santa María Tzejá.
Santa María Tzejá is a small predominately K’iche' speaking Mayan community in the northern Ixcán region of Guatemala with approximately 1,300 residents. The people of Santa María Tzejá have a long history of collective struggle towards independence and social justice, starting in the late 1960’s with their formation of a cooperative, and their subsequent successful fight to obtain title to their lands in the 1970’s. In 1982, however, during the Guatemala civil war, the community was destroyed by the Guatemalan military as part of a campaign of genocide against indigenous Maya. The community then spent over 12 years separated, with one half living in refugee camps in Mexico and the other half living under oppressive military control in Santa María Tzejá. After the end of Guatemala’s civil war, those who were refugees in Mexico were able to return and the community was able to reunite and begin the difficult process of rebuilding.
In rebuilding, the community recognized that access to education was an essential component to ensuring social justice and realizing their economic and political independence. In solidarity, Partners for Guatemala Education was formed by members of the Guatemala Partnership as way to help amplify and give voice to the community’s efforts. Today, this small remote indigenous community that has endured great struggles, is a ‘city upon a hill’ in the Ixcán, with an active primary school, a vibrant progressive middle school, a computer center providing technical skills to the community’s youth, and with numerous high school and university graduates.
Partners for Guatemala Education provides support to Santa María Tzejá to help it continue the progress that has been made.
A history of building towards the future
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Santa María Tzejá’s first school
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Opening Santa María Tzejá’s new school
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Santa María Tzejá’s first class of middle school graduates
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New Middle School Wing - 2019
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Today, a vibrant classroom with many female students
