HISTORY

Since 2014 we have started a project that we call KI’KOTEMAL TIJOBAL (School of happiness) in Maya Ki’che language  On a suitable day to perpetuate the ceremonies and customs of our ancestors, 10 B'atz 'in the calendar of Cholq'ij, we placed the three stones of the Xcup, the stone of the hearth, to establish the base of the Ki'kotemal School. In the Gregorian calendar the date was August 4, 2014.
The day the school was founded, Ixquik Poz was designated as the spiritual stone, Willy Barreno as the material stone and Gabriela Maldonado as the sociopolitical stone. They gathered their dreams and skills for a common mission: the creation of a learning center for young Mayans, which they called the Ki'kotemal School, or school of harmony and happiness.

At the Ki'kotemal School we are creating spaces where students can ask questions, recover the past and meet previous generations. It has been our joy to hear some young people declare publicly "I understand better what it means to be Maya" and "Now I can proudly say who I am, where I come from and decide where to go."

VISION

Our vision is to promote happiness and harmony among our people through the connection with our roots, our ancestral practices and our Mother Earth for the benefit of the common well-being.

MISSION
Our mission is to develop educational programs, emphasizing ancestral practices and values, that offer young people and indigenous elders the necessary resources to become agents of social transformation.

 

 

 

 

Programs 

Our programs seek to strengthen the self-confidence of the young and old, sharpen their critical thinking skills and train them to become catalysts of change at a personal and community level. They serve the Mayan community in and around the Quetzaltenango area in the highlands of Guatemala. This is a majority population of Maya K'iche and Maya Mam, but it also includes young people from other Mayan communities. Our objective is to promote a space of integration and inclusion among ethnic groups.

 

1. U Wach u Kaj (An eye in the heart of heaven and an eye in the heart of the earth) 

The goal of this program is to empower indigenous youth through an experiential and scientific methodology, focusing on the observation of the heavens (celestial cycles) and the earth (terrestrial cycles). Our curriculum turns the community and the garden into a classroom where young and old learn about the seasons of sowing and harvesting, traditional festivals and oral tradition. All participants will develop critical thinking, problem solving and leadership skills as they work with Mother Earth, apply the ancestral practices and spiritual values of Maya cosmology.

2. U Wach Ulew (An eye in the heart of the earth 

Work with Mother Earth, organic food production techniques, this means to learn the ancestral ways of relating to the earth in harmony with astronomical observations and application of what has been deciphered in Mayan codices, in combination with the ancestral and modern technologies. Regaining the ancestral scientific practices of sowing and harvesting maize in strict observance of agricultural Mayan Cycle AB '. 
Ensure the food sovereignty of the people through the creation of a garden of pre-Columbian medicinal plants and the construction of a bank of native and organic seeds.

 

 

 

3. Kikotemal TV 

 

It is an audiovisual proposal that, with the support of modern technology and information technology, revitalizes our languages, food and daily cultural practices of our Mayan communities.
With the support of virtual spaces, we are generating audio visual material to reconnect the new generations with their culture, in programs such as:

1. Live streaming from social networks such as YOUTUBE, Facebook e Instagram

 

Let´s speak in K’iche 

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 Quj Ch’au pa K’iche (hablemos en Ki’che is our startup project which main object is the teaching and learning of the 22 Mayan languages spoken in the territory of Guatemala. It is achieved through dynamic methods and fun that facilitate the learning of the language, starting with the revitalization of the Maya K'iche language.

Cooking with ¨El Piche Willy¨

 It is an audiovisual cooking program that aims to teach new generations through easy recipes the preparation of modern and ancestral food, motivating the consumption of healthy and conscious food.

2. Programs in the built 

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Let´s speak in Mam  

The second of the programs for the revitalization and conservation of Mayan languages, for the teaching of the Maya Mam language.

Super Mam 

This video program which mail goal is the visibility of community tourist destinations, managed by people from the communities themselves or community entities, activating the local and conscious economy.

Nim Ja’ 

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Video program that through conversations and interviews address issues related to; respect for diversities, political, short-term and daily issues.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MAYAN SPIRITUAL SANCTUARY.

In the municipality of Zunil, Quetzaltenango there is a sacred place called Chuapeq’ , a place that has sheltered the celebration of the sacred 260-day mayan ceremony called wajxaq'ib b’atz for more than 20 years.

We intend to turn this sacred place into a Mayan sanctuary, which will shelter the Ajq'ijab '(time keepers) who continue in the conservation of Mayan spiritual practices in a safe place, with basic services and space for the celebration of small events, lodging and practice center of the Mayan ball game.

We have started with the reforestation of sacred place already!!! 

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