Preschool Aims to Teach Words and Worth

We were delighted to receive a report with captioned photos of Bob and Susan Roylance visiting the preschool in Siretquiche, Guatemala in November 2024. The Roylances were already working with the people there, and suggested the location in response to a request from Big Ocean Women founder, Carolina Allen. They began by creating a Big Ocean Women WAVE there, and have worked tirelessly to make it a reality. 

February’s tenet, “We are each unique and innately worthy of respect,” perfectly captures their work. Because Susan and Bob have poured so much time and love into lifting young people around the world, we asked Susan to add her personal impressions of this visit and their work:

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to help these children prepare for an education. They are precious children. You never hear any of them complain. Although they are poor, they are always clean and kind. They, and their mothers, are so very grateful for the opportunity to learn. Because they don’t have paper and pencils, or coloring books at home, it takes time for them to learn how to use their hands and fingers to hold a pencil, or a crayon. Ana (their teacher) is very patient with them as they learn to write. The children are always anxious to learn. It’s so fun to see them working hard to write the letters of the alphabet. And the mothers are excited about the program – that is a great side benefit of the preschool, it also teaches the mothers. We had ten mothers in the first group that could not read or write, but they are learning also. 

This picture was taken after the first WAVE meeting for Big Ocean Women. They are holding papers that have the Big Ocean tenets on them – in Spanish – but ten of them couldn’t read either Spanish or their native Kekchi language (at that time). But Ana, the preschool teacher, explained it to them. They are standing in front of a house where they were meeting. The room had a dirt floor. We bought a small whiteboard for Ana to use. (They now meet in a local church.) 

The exciting thing is that Big Ocean is starting a new preschool in Semarac, with 35 students. The WAVE President has an arrangement with the local school, and we have a nice school room for the children. Also, the official workbook for the children has been tested with the children and revised by Ana, working with Mike Peck, an internationally recognized teacher and translator of the Kekchi language, and the author of the Kekchi preschool curriculum. Susan took a Kekchi class from Mike Peck at Brigham Young University. He was anxious to help develop a preschool program for the Kekchi children and their mothers. 

Ana is such a special teacher. She will now be teaching for two villages: Siretquiche and Semarac. She is very dedicated to helping these children. When the first children started attending the local elementary school, their teacher was really surprised how they knew how to write the alphabet. Those children became the top students in the class. And, they will probably continue to be the top students as they progress in years to come, because they have a good start — and they believe they can.

What better way to embrace these children and their mothers as unique and worthy of respect than giving them the opportunity to gain an education not only of letters and words, but of their infinite worth? We invite you to open yourself to see others you could help with this education of the mind and heart.