At age 30, Steve Dudenhoefer decided to make a change. Bored with a comfortable life running a landscaping company in southern Florida, he sold his business and bought a plane ticket to Central America.
Unsure of what he wanted to do, Dudenhoefer spent time in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, until he moved to Guatemala to volunteer at a local orphanage. While volunteering, Dudenhoefer was struck by the needs of the Guatemalan people, particularly those of the Q’eqchi’ Maya living in the rain forests of eastern Guatemala.
“They’ve been systematically excluded from higher education, health care, and from profits of the tourism industry,” says Dudenhoefer, who became a Rotarian in 1997, when he founded the Rotary Club of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.
He adds that about 70 percent of Q’eqchi’ men and about 80 percent of the women are illiterate. Many speak only their native language and are unable to understand Spanish, isolating them from opportunity.
Dudenhoefer wanted to educate the Q’eqchi’ without uprooting them from their community, so he raised money to establish Ak’ Tenamit, a school, clinic, and vocational training center in the heart of the Q’eqchi’ community. With help from volunteers and community members, the training center was built in 1992.
Today, enrollment at the vocational center is up to 400 students, who study business, restaurant, and construction skills, as well as agricultural, health, and sanitation techniques. Primary school students learn basic reading and math and study their national music, traditional dances, and even Mayan astrology.
By graduation, students complete 3,000 hours of training at the school’s restaurants, gift shops, and tourist centers.
“These kids have never seen a newspaper, a book, or a television. They live without electricity or running water,” says Dudenhoefer’s father, Joseph, a member of the Rotary Club of Jupiter-Tequesta Sunrise, Florida, USA, which contributes school supplies to Ak’ Tenamit. “After one year at the school, they’re accessing a computer. Young people, if given a chance, are able to run with it. That’s the key. Just open the world to them.”
Dudenhoefer says he could not have carried out the project that changed his life and those of hundreds of children without the financial, moral, and hands-on help of Rotarians. His club partnered up with other Rotary clubs to obtain Matching Grants from The Rotary Foundation to equip a chef’s school, training restaurant, and medical clinic at Ak’ Tenamit.
Today, Dudenhoefer, now 47, stays in the background, allowing his graduates and volunteers to run the center’s operations. The school’s board of directors consists entirely of Ak’ Tenamit graduates. “I’m the adviser,” he says. “My primary job is to remind the people that they have the power to do anything they want on their own.”
- March is Literacy Month on the Rotary calendar. Learn how you can support the educational mission of Ak’ Tenamit this month at www.aktenamit.org.
- Learn more about Rotary’s literacy initiatives in our Literacy Issue.
Want to volunteer your time at Ak’ Tenamit?
Rotarians and non-Rotarians are invited to join members of the Rotary Club of Schaumburg - Hoffman Estates, Illinois, USA, on their next visit to Ak’ Tenamit. For information, please contact Rotarian Mary Smith at smith@baecore.com.