1. “Humanity will not recover from their mistakes
without a global education.” -Rigoberta Menchú
Guatemalan Indigenous Leader
and Nobel Peace Prize winner 1992
Look for
Caracol Goals
on the following
pages
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Why here?
In Guatemala on the shores of Lake
Atitlán, a Mayan spiritual center for
thousands of years.
Guatemala has the lowest primary-school completion rate in
Central America, less than 1% of girls make it to university, and
80% of the people live in poverty. Having recently suffered a 36
year long civil war Guatemala is vulnerable again to civil unrest.
Why now?
In the midst of a humanitarian
crisis in a nation trying to recover
from a 36 yearlong war.
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Attempted border crossings are exploding in quantity (in 2011
6,500 minors were apprehended at U.S. borders, 2014
estimates are nearing 90,000 for the year). The children deserve
access to good education and future employment opportunities.
Why Waldorf?
An education that grew from the
necessity of post-war renewal, created
for the children of factory workers.
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School must in itself be a community. Waldorf is a living humani-
tarian education built on values that honor the evolution of this
intercultural community of Indigenous Mayans, Non-Indigenous
and International Students: equality, solidarity and freedom.
Building Intercultural Solidarity and
Economic Stability through Waldorf Education.
Intercultural Solidarity
and the Mayan people of Guatemala
Escuela Caracol is breaking the paradigms of oppression and discrimination, educating through
love and respect, and offering a model of renewal and empowerment to a society still recover-
ing from a 36 yearlong civil war. Located at the cultural center of the Mayan people, Escuela
Caracol integrates the richness of Mayan cultural traditions that have been marginalized for the
past 500 years, enlivening curriculum with traditional Mayan languages, folktales, songs,
games, handicrafts and cooking.
“The healthy social life is found when in the mirror of
each human soul the whole community finds its reflec-
tion, and when in the community the virtue and
strength of each one is living.” -Rudolf Steiner
Founder of Waldorf Education
Organize a nonprofit
cooperative support-
ing the people of
Lake Atitlán
A new culture is emerging
among the Indigenous and the Non-Indigenous, a humanitarian culture arising
from knowledge, understanding, respect and authentic interest in the ‘other’.