Two teenagers' journey to Guatemala - in pictures

13 February: It's beginning to sink in that we're finally in Guatemala. This trip is such a great opportunity for us to develop our passion and interest in worldwide education Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

13 February: We’ve been told that 80% of people in Guatemala live in poverty, and two-thirds in extreme poverty. This country has the fourth-highest rate of malnutrition in the world. Meanwhile, it also has the highest number of helicopters per capita in the world! As we travel from one place to the next, the disparities in wealth are clear to see Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

14 February: This morning we met Kevin, Heidi and Maria, three Guatemalan education campaigners. Maria, 13, told us about the dangers they face on their journey to school, including rape and muggings. Girls seem to struggle far more to get an education in Guatemala. They make up 70% of all children missing out on school. Maria added that the education provided was unsuitable for her as it wasn’t taught in her indigenous language; only 10% of teachers can speak any language other than Spanish. Also, although education is free until the age of 14, parents often struggle to afford the cost of uniforms and books Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

14 February: Later we visited San Luis, a shanty town on the outskirts of Guatemala City. This is where El Castillo, a partner of the UK-based charity Toybox, has been working with families to encourage them to send their children to school instead of selling things on the streets of the city. One boy we met, Victor, was losing his hair, which we were told is a sign of chronic malnutrition Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

15 February: We started our day with the British Ambassador, Julie Chappell. She explained that tax revenues in Guatemala amount to only 13% of the nation’s GDP compared to almost 40% in the UK, and that education spend was as little as 2%. El Castillo then took us to the city centre to meet children living and working on the streets. The organisation teaches them about their rights and the importance of education, and provides them with shelter and food Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

15 February: We spent time with a brother and sister: Rosalita, 11, and Jose, 13. They spend hours every day selling bags of fruit on the city buses. Rosalita told us she wanted to go to school more often. We then visited their home, which was horrific. It was just one small room made of corrugated iron, and was full of flies and black bags of rubbish. Seven people lived there. We asked Rosalita what she wanted to do when she was older, and it was heartbreaking to hear that her only ambition was to sell fruit like her mum. She didn’t know there was another world out there Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

16 February: Today we visited a primary school in a dangerous area of the city. It was surrounded by tall walls with barbed wire. We spoke with the inspirational headmistress, Flora Suarez, who has a budget of just £2.50 per year per child. That has to cover everything apart from the teachers' salaries. A typical class size is 50, but we saw one with 72 pupils. Flora told us about a nine-year-old boy who had come to school with lots of money in his hand, and told his teachers he'd earned it working as a prostitute. Children regularly come to school high on drugs, or having been beaten up. And this is a primary school Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

16 February: Later we visited the vice-minister of education, Miguel Angel Franco. He told us about the Safer Schools Programme, but we saw no police protection at the school we visited. We also talked about language barriers in education, and he admitted that many children (12% in the first year alone) drop out of school as they can’t understand the lessons Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

17 February: Today we spent time with the children's charity Viva, which briefed us on a report about education and street children. Many of the 5,000 children living on the streets here are drug dependent and most come from a broken family. We learnt that more girls are moving on to the streets because of the violence and abuse they face at home. A total of 1.5 million children in Guatemala spend at least part of their day working and not in school Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

18 February: This incredible journey has really opened our eyes to the problems other children face purely because of where they were born. Although education can't change things overnight, we firmly believe it's the key to opportunity. What it can do is afford girls like Rosalita an opportunity to see a life free of danger, poverty and injustice. Guatemala is such a beautiful country but it is riddled with so many overlapping problems. Solving them will be a long process, and it needs to start with education Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian