Children are back to school after Hurricane Stan

A school girl puts a fresh coat of paint on the school walls: "The walls are so pretty now, it looks like a new school!"

Children in the Guatemalan provinces of Escuintla and Santa Rosa are back at school, three months after Hurricane Stan ripped through central America, causing widespread damage and loss of life.

Plan Guatemala's Information Officer Maria Dufourq said: "It was one of Plan’s goals that the schools damaged by Hurricane Stan should be ready to receive boys and girls at the start of the new school year, in January.

"Although most of the hurricane damage was not severe, doors, windows and roofs did need repairing, while the buildings needed a fresh coat of paint.

"In total Plan has helped to repair and refurbish 34 schools in the two provinces, with the help of local families and students."

Plan provided the new materials for the repair work, and the local council paid for labour, which provided extra income for families who had lost animals, crops and seasonal work in last year's storms.

Children painting murals about their experience

Plan also encouraged children to paint murals about what happened to them and their communities during the storm. Ana, 12, feels very proud of the work she and her mother did to help get the school ready for the new year: "It is important that we don't touch the walls with dirty hands, so that they don't get stained. They are so pretty right now – it looks like a new school!"

The group of ex-students and community members helping to rebuild the local schools

Another helper said: "I am a former student and that’s why I have come to help to paint this week, and to make sure it is ready for the beginning of the school year."

Ana Cristina, who is a mother of two young children at Las Avellanas school, added: "I was given shelter in one of the classrooms with my children for more than three weeks and as a way of giving thanks, we helped to clean and paint the school."

Plan is now working on the next phase of the reconstruction programme, which includes delivering new school furniture and repairing water and sanitation systems.