Community Mural Special Needs School Guatemala

In the buzzling Maya town of San Martín Jilotepeque, in the mountains of central Guatemala, you’ll find a special school for very special students. Escuelita de Educación Especial offers classes to students with all kinds of special needs, from Down syndrome, autism, ADHD and deafness to paralysis. The school currently has about forty students (ages 4-25) who come here daily for their lessons, activities and therapy.

The school itself has a spacious courtyard. Perfect for a bit of play, but the walls are very bare. Because the students of this school rarely go out, let alone venture out in nature, I plan to paint a jungle scene with a lot of fauna and flora on the entire wall (22 meters long and about 3 meters high). The painting will make the room appear larger and the greenery will have a calming effect on the students and make them feel like they are no longer trapped in a concrete jungle. The mural will depict not just any jungle, but the tropical rainforest of El Petén with realistic depictions of its flora and fauna. Think jaguars, ocelots, tapir, howler monkeys, toucans, weasels and snakes. Butterflies and lizards against tropical foliage. Maybe an ancient Maya warrior hidden in the bushes and some children playing… In the middle of the wall a majestic Ceiba, tree of life, representing the whole universe. Macaws flying in the sky, in the background the temples of Tikal in all their former glory…Can you see it?? I certainly can!

In case you don’t know me, my name is Carin Steen. I’m an artist and with my project MuralArte Guate, I’ve been painting murals for years in Guatemala, Honduras and other countries. For more on my murals, please visit www.muralarteguate.org

I’ll design and paint the mural myself with the help of my assistant Henry Calel and of course we’ll also involve the students of the school in the process. The parents will help out too by voluntarily plastering the wall beforehand.

In order to make this mural reality, I hope to raise €1200.

Any donation to this project goes towards:

• Materials (paint, brushes and other supplies)

• Material for plastering the wall (the plastering itself will be done by volunteers from San Martín Jilotepeque)

• Compensation for (local) assistant

• Travel costs to and from the destination, within Guatemala

• Accommodation during the painting process

We hope to create this mural during the last week of November of 2022.

Thank you very much for considering donating towards this mural!