IMaCK
Instituto Maya Comunitario K’amolb’e (“Trailblazer”) is a secondary school located in remote Nimlaha’kok, Alta Verapaz. Although only 50 miles from Cobán, the departmental capital, the drive takes three hours — the first hour on a paved road, the rest on a deeply rutted dirt road. Beyond the end of the asphalt, everyone speaks the Q’eqchi’ language at home, and most also stand on a dirt floor. There is no electric service. The school and some lucky others rely on solar panels.
The Story
Nimlaha’kok (“Big Water of Turtles”) is where founding board member Fredy Oxom was born and went to primary school. There was no middle school in the entire region, so Fredy moved in with family in Cobán to attend secondary school. Eventually, Fredy became the first native speaker of Q’eqchi to earn a degree at a US university.
The schooling situation changed for the better in 2010, when Fredy and community non-profit Asociación Xch’ool Ixim (“Heart of Corn”) founded IMaCK with the financial support of xxxxx. The school offers middle- and high-school classes. By the beginning of the 2020 school year, 100 were enrolled, but enrollment collapsed during the pandemic. In 2023, only 31 students enrolled. Chaptops is committed to do its part to bring back students.
Growth
Through the 2023 school year, only two study tracks were offered, focused on producing desperately needed bilingual school teachers; to date xxx teachers have graduated. In 2023, with the computers on site, the faculty proposed and received government approval for a new track in accounting with data processing emphasis. Since few schools have computers, few can offer this track. Graduates will be very much in demand!
The new certification and the plan to supply even more computers to match enrollment generated some disbelief in the local community. However, the 2024 school year began with 46 students — a 50% increase.
Our Contribution
We’re committed to attaining a level of one computer per student. Some students walk an hour or more to school, even crossing a river in a boat. It’s important that they be able take a computer home on weekends to maximize their academic progress.
Top Supporter
With generous donations from Metabolon, Inc. beginning in early 2022, Chaptops progressively helped build up the computer classroom from 4 to 11 to 22 computers. Metabolon recently continued its streak with 15 more computers, for a total of more than 60 going to IMaCK and elsewhere.
Chaptops exists not because Metabolon was asked for computers, but because Chris Huwe of Metabolon offered computers when he heard about the school. So many have benefited from Chris’s kindness!