The New Live video is a great way to learn our history.
Click on this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNA8DTk-jVo
New Life School was founded in 2000 by Judy Kerschner.
There was one teacher, not Judy, and eight students.
New life school was established for children who can't gain an education in the overcrowded Guatemalan school system. This inability is either due to the teacher's inability to teach them or the ridicule of the other students. Some of the children have severe hearing or vision deficits, learning disabilities, spina bifida, cerebral palsy Down syndrome, or attention disorders.
Amy DeYoung, missionary and occupational therapist, came on staff in 2002.
Amy below with the 12 students
ENROLLMENT IN 2013, 102 SPECIAL CHILDREN
The volcano named "Agua" and the town of Santa Maria de Jesus Enjoy the video and learn the history of New Life. It will add to the information below. Click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNA8DTk-jVo
New Life with Education is a school for children with special abilities, it is located in the village of Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala that sits high on the side of Volcan de Agua. It is 98% Mayan and has a population of 29,000. Being there is like stepping back into time or onto the pages of National Geographic magazine. The Mayan women dress as they have for centuries. Many still cook on open wood fires and carry water home in jugs on their heads. According to the statistics of Human Rights, the town has the highest rate of poverty, illiteracy, alcoholism and family violence in the department (state) of Sacatapecez. Treatment of those with disabilities is from the past also. Their world is mainly confined to their homes. They see themselves in the eyes of society, as having no value or future.
In January 2000 our school, Nueva Vida, was founded after learning that those with different abilities were not allowed into public schools. It started in one room with one Guatemalan teacher and eight students. Three of those students had spina bifida, the others with muscular dystrophy, autism, Down syndrome, mental retardation and dwarfism. They were all studying on a kindergarten or first grade level. In 2001 the first graders moved to second. We had a need for another teacher but, praise God, not additional children with severe disabilities. We went to the directors of the other schools in Santa Maria and asked who they had that could not pass first grade. In Guatemala each public school class might have as many as 50 children and one teacher. No additional help is given at school. New Life has always been a licensed primary school and now has grades pre-kinder through sixth. The children are out in the street headed to school instead of hidden in their homes. Some reasons for they’re impaired learning are the ridicule of other students, severe hearing or vision deficits, learning disabilities, or attention disorders. They are placed in classes of not more than ten students per teacher, some classes as few as four. Any child who cannot gain an education in public school may attend New Life. Most graduates of sixth grade are continuing to study. The Guatemalan non-profit Asociacion Nueva Vida con Education was formed in 2005 with Judy Kerschner as president. Donations in the USA are tax-deductable through CTEN.
God provided the resources and a building was constructed. In January of 2007 we began school in the new building. Our dream was completed when an elevator was donated by Schumacher Elevator Co. All areas became accessible to every child!
Below is the new school and elevator company president Mr. Marvin Schumacher with Blanky 
In 2012 Jennifer Giesemann came on board as speech and language therapist.
Blanky, a student in our first class in 2000, graduated from high school in 2011.
In 2012 she became New Life School's first secretary.
Here she is with school director Marisol.
In 2013 a teacher trained to educate the deaf became available.
They now have their own class and are learning rapidly.
The parents and siblings are encouraged to attend
They now have their own class and are learning rapidly.
The parents and siblings are encouraged to attend
Gelga below with her five students.
