Team Dayā completed the groundbreaking for its eighth school the week of December 2, 2024 in Guatemala.
The new Team Dayā school is being constructed in the community of Aldea Santo Tomas Xacalta. It is about five hours to the north / northeast of Guatemala City and an hour east of Coban in the municipality of San Pedro Carcha, in the department of Alta Verapaz (see the location here).
Listen to Team Dayā member Scott Cunningham, working on one of the footings of the new school, explain why Building Change is important:
Founded in 1899, this Mayan community of 795 people speaks the Qʼeqchiʼ language and produces corn as its main crop. From its name, Santo Tomas means “Saint Thomas” and Xacalta is the name of a hill nearby.
The existing school uses two temporary, rustic classrooms to accommodate 161 preschool and primary school students (87 boys and 74 girls). The current facilities have dirt floors that are often muddy, and walls made from boards that allow the elements inside. Four teachers work in the school. Our project will deliver a school with two classrooms as well as girls and boys latrines. School construction should be complete in the first quarter of 2025.
Take a tour of the school groundbreaking in Aldea Santo Tomas Xacalta with Team Dayā Founder Jay Sears (series of five videos):
We could not have done this without support from our 1,000+ donors around the world, and our 2024 Guatemala team:
Guatemala Team Members
Cunningham. Maureen Cunningham, MD, MPH is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at University of Colorado and a practicing pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She is board certified in general pediatrics and pediatric hospital medicine. Her clinical interests include global health and care for children with cleft lip and palate. Dr. Cunningham helped co-create a community child health and malnutrition program in the Trifinio region of Southwest Guatemala as a senior investigator at the Colorado School of Public Health’s Center for Global Health. Donate.
Cunningham. Scott Cunningham currently serves as the Initiative Lead for NewspassID advertising network for journalism in the United States and is Chair of the Publisher Council at the Brand Safety Institute. As owner of Cunningham.Tech Consulting, he is a strategic advisor and educator of advertising for technology companies, brands, publishers, and industry bodies such as TAG. Founder of the IAB Tech Lab, Scott has held executive positions in ad tech, publishing, and marketing. Donate.
SEARS. Team Dayā Founder Jay Sears will be headed to Guatemala, his second project in the country. In addition to running Team Dayā and the local community news site MyRye.com in his hometown, Jay has worked at Mastercard, Rubicon Project, Pulsepoint, ContextWeb, EDGAR Online and Wolff New Media. Donate.
Three Ways You Can Help
- Make a Donation Online
- Example investment opportunities:
- $250 All the nails, nuts, and bolts to build a roof for the school
- $500 In-country mason during the entire construction of the school
- $1,000 Paint for a school
- $40,000 Fund an entire school
- Spread the Word
- Share our mission with your friends, your company and your industry
- Invite us to speak about our mission to your network
- Follow us LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
- Join the Team & Travel on a School Build
- If you have a combination of fundraising chops, an adventurous spirit and the belief each of us has the capacity to be Building Change, get in touch with us and have a conversation.
Team Dayā 2025 Plans
We are now actively recruiting members for our 2025 groundbreakings. These builds represent our second schools in Nicaragua and Malawi and our third school in Nepal.
Our Team Dayā 2025 school building dates:
Nicaragua, Central America
Sunday, February 9, 2025 – Saturday, February 15, 2025
Malawi, East Africa
Sunday, June 22, 2025 – Saturday, June 28, 2025
Nepal, South Asia
Sunday October 26th, 2025 – Sunday, November 2nd, 2025
If you are curious to learn more about joining a build, please reach out to our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. Not sure? Watch the documentary Building Change, the Team Dayā Story (8 minute run time), by Kathmandu based filmmaker Shyam Karki of Samson Film Productions.
Thanks again for your continued support,
All of us at Team Dayā