These are from Sharon's e-mails,
edited for content:
Hi J., Thank you so much for the sewing machines that
we have received. They are fantastic!!
Just a thought re: boxes for shipping, what about
those heavy duty plastic tubs, we have had people send things down in
them and they are very durable and if you have material etc packed
around the sewing machines they should be well protected.
Re: Yes - we were discussing the funds for the tailor,
Alberto, we are always having a struggle with the funds for him. We
would love to have him work two more days teaching women here in
Panajachel as well. We have had many women asking for the classes when
they have found out that we have them in San Jorge. He gets paid $12
US a day which is the going rate for a professional. Quite often I have
to cover his wages personally because we just don't have the funds and I
cannot bear the thought of stopping the classes. The women love it and
they are doing great.
We have our fourth group of women ready to graduate in
the next two weeks. We have many women waiting who want to be able to
start the classes.
The women pay 3 cents US. for each class. This goes
to Juana who lends us her house to put towards the electricity that they
use. 25 centavos in
Guatemala. That is a quarter of a quetzal.
I am feeling fine but I have not had the operation
since I got back to
Guatemala. I was supposed to go back in Dec. but it was so busy
here with the Christmas Parties, the Christmas Tamale Baskets and then
school sponsorship came so quickly after that - it has been hard to
catch up. But I hope in the next two weeks to be able to go back. The
Dr. in the U.S. told me that I could wait a few months and have it done
up there but I really don't want to wait and would rather get it done
here. I don't want to go through that again!
Once again, thank you for all your help, you have been
amazing, I cannot tell you how much we appreciate it, Sharon
Yes - she has her new outfit and she
was just beaming!! Of course when I took the photo she stopped beaming
so much, for some reason, they always think that they are not supposed
to smile too much for the camera.
I am just having the problem again transferring the photos so as soon as
I get it worked out I will send it to you.
The particular Guipil she got comes
from a small village near Quetzaltenango.
I had wanted her to get her
traditional outfit from her area but apparently she asked Gloria (who
works with us) if she could have this kind. I guess for her it is
something different.
The Corte she is wearing is made on a
large loom by a weaver. Every thread is hand pulled. The design is done
by hand beforehand, tied by hand, hand dipped in the dye and then put
together. It is a long process. The guipil is sewn by a tailor and the
design work is usually done by a different tailor. The embroidery on
her guipil is machine done. But these are not huge factories doing it,
just small businesses, quite often, a person working at home.
If she had got her traditional guipil
then it would have been back strap woven. Which means when a woman ties
it around something in front, often a tree, then ties it behind her back
and then it is woven strand by strand. It is very time consuming.
Because she did not get her traditional guipil, this one is cheaper we
are now able to buy her a second guipil.
I wish you could have seen her face
when she saw it. She just broke into the biggest beaming smile.
She also has her very nice new black
shoes!
Thank you so much, Sharon
JANUARY 13, 2007: This is from
MayanFamiliesConnection@yahoogroups.com
Hi A., Thank you so much for
collecting shoes. As Bonnie has said there is a great need for shoes, it
is never ending. I have given shoes to a little boy who was wearing
shoes so small for him that his toes were almost doubled over inside his
old shoes.
Gloria is also right that the markets
have lots of cheap shoes. But the problem we have found with those
shoes is that they wear out very quickly. We bought those originally for
the school kids but found that we then had to buy 2, sometimes three
pairs because they just fell apart and they cost about $10US. The shoes
we buy now for school cost $20 US a pair and last (most of the kids)
through the whole school year. Some of the kids who have to walk up and
down the mountains go through the shoes a lot quicker, especially in the
wet season, the mud just rots the shoes. They also last a lot better if
the kids have another pair of shoes to change into when they come home
from school. We try to encourage them to keep them just for school. One
of the reasons is that on Sept. 15th when Independence Day is celebrated
here in Guatemala, the schools ( here in Panajachel and surrounding
areas) insist that the children wear their school uniforms with black
shoes that look in good condition. If they don't have the shoes they
often don't get to go in the parade. By Sept. we don't usually have any
school money left so we can't help the kids with shoes.
You are doing the best thing gathering
them at the thrift shops and yard sales. The quality of the shoes from
the U.S. is so much better. We do need tennis shoes as well because the
kids need them for school for gym and the boys like them to wear all the
time.
It is the same problem with backpacks.
The parents often don't have the money to buy kids decent backpacks so
the ones that they buy in the market cost between $2 and $3. They last
usually only a matter of weeks. We collect backpacks all year around ,
the ones that come from the US and Canada are much better quality, even
second hand.
When we run out of the donated ones
then we have to buy the backpacks here and they usually cost us about $8
- $10.
It has been really wonderful to have
so many children sponsored this year - I think that we maybe up to
nearly 130 so far.
We have had people at our front door
for the past two weeks asking for help. It has been very hard to turn so
many people away but we can only do what we can do. It is very hard to
talk to the mothers and discuss with them which child we can help and
which child gets to go to school.
We had a mother come from Tierra
Linda on Thursday, she has 7 children, the eldest two, both girls, left
school after only two years of schooling, they are now 11 and 12 and
working in a tortilla making store in Solola. This is a long way from
their house so they have to travel back and forth every day, walking at
least an hour just to get to the public transport -- which is the back
of a pick up. In this family, the husband drinks a lot so there is no
money for the kids to go to school. Even though it is late, I took
their photos and hope we will get sponsors for them.
I read somewhere a statement about
education. It went something like this - giving a child an education
changes not only the life of that child but the course of generations to
come. That really struck me when I read it, I hadn't thought of it like
that before.
Thank you so much for collecting these
shoes, Sharon
JANUARY 12, 2007
Dear F. What you can bring down that is needed,
Yes - blood pressure pills, diabetes medicines, pain killers especially
ibuprofen for adults and children.
Asthma sprays would be greatly appreciated, if there
are any vitamins for adults and children, and disposable diapers for
adults.
The other thing we need is backpacks for kids to go to
school, used is fine, of course, always shoes, sweaters, blankets, pots
and pans, toys for Christmas ( yes ...it will come again!) Books in
Spanish.
JANUARY 11, 2007
Please check out the New Photo's
from December-7-2006 Christmas Party.
The date format on the dated photographs is set
up in the European way. Day - Month- Year. Enjoy!
These are from Sharon's e-mails,
edited for content:
Dear S. if you have the funds ....we
have the houses!!! The houses are not a problem the funds are!!
Just off the bat I can tell you we
have an old woman in San Jorge, who lives with her blind middle aged
daughter. Their only income is really begging at the waterfall. They are
often without food. Their house fell down during Hurricane Stan.
Apparently, they received some funds
to rebuild but it only made it enough for one wall, they are now living
with a tarp on the side of the house and they have no possibility of
being able to rebuild.
The second house is further out, near
El Porvenir where Jill took you to see that house that had melted in the
Hurricane.
There is a young man, 25 who is a
paraplegic. His wife is 22yrs old. They have two beautiful little girls.
He had a car accident. They then had to move in with the wife's family.
This family is already extremely large, 13 children and mostly living in
one large room - including one mentally disabled and deaf adult son.
There was no room for them except to enclose part of the corner of their
verandah. This room is basically made of tin sheeting. It does not reach
the roof. The room is tiny, just enough room for two beds and a chest
of drawers. The tin sheeting keeps the room hot during the day and cold
during the night. The fact that it does not reach the roof, allows lots
of wind and dust to enter.
It also has no windows. It is very
depressing. There is no access for Ernesto to be able to leave the
house.
Added to this misery, the wife's
father just left the mother, who still has about 8 small children. He
left her for his new girlfriend who is 14 yrs old. He, of course, is not
giving her any money for food. The day we took some food supplies to
Ernesto, the children were very excited because there had been no sugar
in the house and they could not eat mosh without sugar.
The only financial support is the two
adult daughters, one being Ernesto's wife. She earns approx. $2.00 US. a
day, taking in washing by hand and making tortillas in a shop in the
afternoons, her sister who also lives at home, she is a single mother
with three children, also does the same work, when she does she also
makes $2.00 US. a day.
This is not enough money to feed even
four of them, never mind the whole 18 of them.
One of the things that would be
wonderful for Ernesto would be a TV. His life is so miserable with no
escape from the pain, he has terrible bed sores. I have recently taken
two U.S. doctors to see him.
Then Tomasa, who lost her rented house
and all her possessions during Hurricane Stan has been given a piece of
land here in Panajachel. She will need help to build her house. She is a
single mother with seven children.
Her mother and father are in the same
situation. They have, I think, four children living at home, including
an adult daughter who is a single mother with a small child. The father
has had one stroke and was recovering, two days ago he suffered another
one and is not doing well. They are very poor and they have been given
the land and they will need help building.
Then there is the school in Tierra
Linda. They were given funding from the University to rebuild the two
worst classrooms. They did that and they look really good. But then
they had some building supplies left over and they decided that it would
be better to use them or else the Muni would come and reclaim them. So
they decided to build a second floor on both of these classrooms. The
problem is that both of these classrooms are on different ends of the
school. So now they have run out of materials, they have no money to
buy more, there are now two unfinished classrooms sitting at opposite
ends of the school, they will now have to find the funds ( or I am
trying to ) to finish the roof, the doors, the windows and the floor,
and put in two staircases. They really need these classrooms right now
but of course we do not have the funds. School starts on Monday. --we
are delivering the Incaparina and sugar on Friday so that they have it
in time for Monday.
These are just the projects that I can
think of off the top of my head.
We have just finished building a house
in Tierra Linda for a family of 8 that were living in a completely
dilapidated house.
We are almost finished building a
house in San Jorge for a recent paraplegic and his family of seven
children.
We are also just finishing a very
small house for a family that had their house cut in half. ( I'll tell
you that story when you get here!!)
And we just supplied the building materials for an elderly woman who
lost her house in the hurricane. Her family were able to supply the
labor.
I am wondering if you would have
another one of those electric saws that you gave Manuel - we could
certainly use that for construction. We had one that came in the
container but someone stole it.
The Christmas baskets were a huge success and a
lot of work. We had to move all the furniture out of the living room
and the office and we just had pathways to walk through the house!
What a riot!
Christmas was great, wish you could have been here
for it all. Thank you so much for all your help, how did your
Christmas go? I hope it was peaceful and happy. Sharon
It is a 2 and a half hour trip from
Antigua Guatemala to Panajachel. Around about half way
there is some ruins called Iximche. The turn off is near the
very well known restaurant Katok. The name of the area escapes
me but everyone knows that restaurant. It is a great place for
you to stop with the kids because they have women making
tortillas, a very clean bathroom and a play area outside for
children. I always stop there on my trips and let the kids burn
off a bit of energy. The food is also very good.
I can recommend a very nice
hotel that is on the main street of Panajachel. It is called
Kakchiquel Hotel. They have rooms and they also have a larger
room with a kitchen which might be good for your family. They
have a sink, microwave, small stove and refrigerator. It also
has cable t.v., a small swimming pool that is very pretty and
free internet in the lobby.
I think the large room with apartment is approx. $30 US. though
it may have gone up a few dollars. The website is
www.hotelkakchiquel.com If you decide on this hotel, I can
make the booking for you, they give a slightly better rate when
we make the booking ( this is because this is the hotel we use
for the volunteers, they pay for themselves of course, for our
group Mayan Families)
They have just opened a
restaurant so I am sure that they have breakfast available.
In Panajachel, there is a
Museum in the Hotel Don Rodrigo, which is the Lake museum, it is
very interesting. There is a butterfly reserve a short taxi ride
out of town, there are lots of nice restaurants and of course
there is the lake to take boats across to other villages. It is
also fun just to walk around the streets and see all the
handicrafts for sale.
Santiago Atitlan is approx. an
hour across the lake depending which boat you take.
Santa Cruz is a very sweet little village with nice
restaurants and very relaxing. It is lovely just to take a
boat and cruise around the lake. You can usually get off where
you feel like it.
JANUARY 10, 2007
We have been really busy with the
school sponsorship program this past few weeks. We are so thankful to have
122 children sponsored and seems that there are still some people willing to
sponsor so we may get a few more students sponsored still. We are so
grateful to all the wonderful people who have made possible all the
Christmas presents that we were able to distribute, the 215 Christmas tamale
baskets to needy families and now the school sponsorship!
JANUARY 7, 2007:
These are from Sharon's e-mails,
edited for content:
I feel so terrible that I have not been able to get
the photos on the website yet. I had planned originally to send everyone
a photo of the person that they have sponsored but we have had all sorts
of problems, so now it's best to look at the web site for your Photo's.
We had bad internet connections, no electricity and then sporadic
electricity and then the digital camera that has been faithful to me for
three years stopped working, I had to use a friend's camera and it was
not compatible with my computer and then my computer program somehow got
updated with Internet Explorer 7, Dwight my husband did it when he was
down here for Christmas, ( as you can tell by this I am not a
computer whizz) and it has made it much more difficult to get the photos
updated to our website. I am hoping that we will have them up in a few
days. I am so sorry about this .....it has been extremely frustrating!
But the whole event was wonderful...we were able to
give out more than 215 baskets! There were so many happy people,
something not always apparent from the photos because quite often it is
the Mayan way to be very serious in photos and as soon as the photo is
taken everyone breaks out into a beaming smile.
Thank you so much for having made that possible for a
family to be able to celebrate Christmas. I had over 200 people waiting
outside my gate at the same time....it was quite the scene!!
We can definitely use western clothing, there are many
poor ladino families who will appreciate it.
This is a very traditional area where I live but there
are a lot of people using western clothes now because it is so much
cheaper than traditional clothing.
Thank you so much for thinking to bring these things
down for us, one thing that we really need are backpacks for children to
go to school and school supplies, not paper,....if any of that is
possible, the backpacks do not have to be new just able to be used.
Also school shoes and running shoes for school.....if you come across
any, many thanks and please keep looking at the website.
Thank you for your Student
Sponsorship! This is a family that really needs help. The little baby
brother has been in hospital all week, he has a stomach infection, the
grandfather has been looking after the two boys. With all the medical
needs that they have it would be impossible for them to afford anything
for the boys to go to school. Without your help Benjamin would not be
going to school.
Thank you once again for all your
support. With much appreciation, Sharon
Thank you so much for being willing to sponsor a child
here to go to school. Especially, I thank you for being willing to sponsor
an older child.
I am so sorry for this long delay. I
feel very badly that you did not receive your sponsorships before
Christmas. Unfortunately, we have been battling hardships on all sides.
First the internet provider went out for a few days, then when that
came back on the electricity went out, and then it remained sporadic for
days afterwards, I lost a lot of emails during that time. I have had
many people write wanting a response to an email that I did not receive.
It has been very frustrating for everybody. Then to add to the problems
my digital camera died just when I needed it most, to be able to take
school sponsorship photos and Christmas Basket/gift photos, I borrowed
Patti's camera but it was not compatible with my program so we couldn't
download the photos, then after that problem was solved Picassa - Yahoo
Photo Mail that I have used flawlessly for a year, suddenly developed
problems and I could not send the photos that way. In the midst of all
this I got food poisoning for 48 hours!
Then we had the Christmas gifts to
give out, the 215 Christmas baskets which was absolutely fabulous, so
many people were able to eat at Christmas because of all the generous
sponsors and then the mad rush for getting kids signed up into school
and getting all their school supplies. Gloria who is my assistant,
collapsed on the 23rd of Dec. from a stomach ailment and she was unable
to work for 9 days so that also gave us a lot more delays.
Anyway, I am explaining this in the
hope that you will understand that I had no intention of ignoring
emails, I have just been swamped and have difficulty trying to catch up.
Regarding the devastated town near
Santiago Atitlan. This is a very small town. Teresa is from the affected
area. She was here at my house yesterday dropping off the list of the
supplies that her children need for school. She had been through an
awful day. The authorities have finally been able to dig out some more
bodies from her village that was buried in the mudslide. Teresa lost her
sister and she lost an aunt, uncle and baby cousin. She was there
watching as was most of the village and she said it was horrible. People
hoping to be able to find their family members had to deal with the
bodies being dug out of the mud after a year. I don't know whether they
were able to recognize anyone. Teresa had tears in her eyes when she was
telling me about it.
JANUARY 3, 2007: These are from
some of Sharon's e-mails, edited for content:
Hi EVERYONE, I am so sorry that we
have not been able to get all these children onto the website, we have
had so many difficulties during the past month it has been horrible and
extremely frustrating. First our internet server went out, then the day
that came back on, the electricity went out, ( a common occurrence in
Panajachel) but it then remained very sporadic, then my digital camera
just gave up, the camera that I borrowed from Patti wasn't compatible
with my computer, and for some reason we could not get the photos onto
the emails! So I was very sorry that I could not send everyone the
photos of the families that they sponsored receiving their Christmas
Baskets. We are going to put them on the website.
The Christmas Tamale Baskets were
wonderful and everyone was overjoyed to receive them. Thank you to
everyone who donated for them. It was a real blessing for the people who
received them.
But back to school sponsorship. ... we
have ironed out many of the kinks and we will be putting children on the
website
starting tomorrow. We have at least
another 50 children to go on. It will take us several days to get them
all on the website so please keep checking daily. I have had a steady
stream of mothers coming to the house today begging for help with their
children and many sad stories. It is very hard to turn people away and I
hope that we will be able to help most of them. So far we have 91
children sponsored.
Everyone, again thank you for your
patience, I would love some help if only I knew how to go about it!
Please check the website tomorrow and for the next few days. Wishing
everyone a very happy and peaceful new year, Sharon
Dear Curious,
Thank you so much for your email.
I am so glad that you were moved to write to us.
With regards to donations and
whether we are legitimate. I can totally understand your concerns. I
think probably the best way for you to confirm our legitimacy is
that you contact several organizations that we have been involved
with. These organizations are registered 501(c)3 charities.
We work very closely with World
Link Partners. their address is
www.worldlinkpartners.org and you can see the kind of work that
they do. They are a terrific organization that help small
grass-roots groups like ours. They issue tax deductible donations
for us and they monitor our projects. You can also contact
www.miraclesinaction.org - this is a very reputable
organization that partners with us, you can also contact
www.projectgift2003.org , we work with them closely as well,
www.heartshands.ca is another group that we work with. These
are all very reputable organizations and I am sure that they will be
happy to answer your questions.
All the donations we receive go to
our projects. 10% of the donations goes towards administrative
costs. We have a lot of costs involved in running any project. We
have to pay wages to several Guatemalan people, we do not have a
vehicle and often have to rent taxis and then just the general
running costs, phone bills, photocopies etc. You are welcome to
specify which project you would like it to go to. Or you can specify
a certain individual person if you would like to do that.
Unfortunately, I did not receive
your attached photo but I can imagine it is the young girl with the
mismatched shoes. She is so beautiful and it is such a poignant
photo. I am afraid that I cannot tell you much about her except that
she lives in a rural area, called Tierra Linda. This photo was taken
at Tierra Linda school when we were giving out shoes and clothing.
We are in the highlands of the
Solola district. The people here speak Kakchiquel. Across the lake
they speak Tzutzil.
Most people also speak Spanish.
We have many children waiting to
be sponsored for school . If you go to our website you will see that
there are about 80 something children that are already sponsored. In
the next few days I should be able to load up the rest of the
children. We have been having some computer communication problems
which we hope has now been solved.
But if you would like to help a
child go to school that would be really wonderful. A lot of these
children will not be able to go to school without sponsorship. You
are very welcome to have contact with the child you sponsor and we
are happy to facilitate a visit with them.
Thank you so much for having such
a caring heart about the children here. I have two young children
myself, one is 12 and one is 2yrs old, they were both born in
Guatemala and we adopted them at birth.
Looking forward to hearing from
you, Wishing you and your family a very Happy and Peaceful New Year,
Sharon
Another
Post:
We gave out over 1,500 toys this Christmas and
we are already collecting for next year!
We have the water filter
project starting now, they are terrific and they only cost Q25.
They are heavily subsidized by Rotary, the real cost is $50
US.
All is well with Lucas's
house. I will send you photos as soon as we get them, the roof
is on and they are working on the floor, windows and doors. It
is very exciting to see it so close to being finished.
It is very hectic here at the
moment because the school inscription starts today and we have a
lot of kids that we are organizing.
Once again, there are no words
to thank you for all that you and your family has done, wishing
you all a blessed New Year,
Sharon
Hi, thank you so much for getting the
soccer cleats, you will make some boys very happy!!
A lot of people put the donations in a
laundry bag that the hotel has to offer or some bring
garbage bags from the U.S. with them, or others bring
suitcases that they no longer want. Whatever is convenient
for you.
I would love to say that I am coming to
pick up the donations but I cannot say this far in advance.
It depends on when we have someone going to the city. It is
a 6 hour round trip for me to get to the city and we have to
pay $60 to rent the mini bus to go there so we try to not do
it very often. We try to co-ordinate when we have someone
going. We have a wonderful couple, Judy and Duane who live
near
Antigua and they go once a week to pick up donations
for us. Then they take it back to their house and we pick it
up as we can. Unfortunately, they will be leaving for
vacations in Mid Jan. and returning end of Feb. so we are
going to have to wing it while they are away.
But the hotels are very good about minding
bags for us. You just have to mark it clearly MAYAN FAMILIES
and they will give it to us.
With regards to medications, we need
ibuprofen for adults and children. Lip balm for children
and adults, we always need Tylenol for babies, children and
adults (or the equivalent).
I would love to meet you and thank you
personally for all that you are doing, if it wasn't for
people like you, we wouldn't be able to do anything!
Our big challenge for the coming year
is that I will be returning to
San Diego, California at some time. We are trying to
work out some funding that will enable Dwight and I to live
here and work with Mayan Families and make a wage but at the
moment it does not seem possible. Pray for a Miracle! So
for the time being I will be coming and going. I foresee
coming here during the school holidays and working from
San Diego the rest of the time.
Just email us and let us know when you are
coming and which hotel you will be staying at and we will
work it out with you, once again, thank you so much, Happy
New Year, Sharon
Yes -
school sponsorship is $110 per year per child. We have
about 70 children waiting to be sponsored right now.
Unfortunately, we have had a glitch with the computer
and have not been able to download all their photos and
bio's onto the website. We are hoping by the end of the
week that we will have that done. But in the meantime if
you would like to sponsor a child and like to nominate
an age and gender then we can choose one for you.
You can make your payment in two ways - if you would
like a tax deductible receipt, please send your check to
World Link Partners c/- M. Dearden,
970 E 700 South #61, St. George. UT 84790 ,
their website address is
www.worldlinkpartners.org
and you can also send the payment through their website
using PayPal. Please note on check that the donation is
for Mayan Families/school. They are a wonderful
organization that makes it much easier for small
grassroots organizations like us.
Or if
you do not need a tax deductible donation you can send
the donation directly to my husband, Dwight Poage,
2609 Hartford St., San Diego. CA 92110.
We
really appreciate this because school starts next week
and we have so many people coming to us who need help.
Thank
you so much, looking forward to hearing from you, Happy
New Year, Sharon
BLOG WED.
December 13TH 2006.
It has been a busy
time but a happy time. We have been busy wrapping and wrapping lots of
gifts. We had our first Christmas Party in Tierra Linda on Saturday. We
took with us many friends who were visiting and had been helping wrap all
these wonderful gifts.
Bonnie and Mike with
their daughter, Heidi, Suzy and her 7yr old son, Cody, Pamela , Tim and
their beautiful baby boy, Mateo, who was going home to the U.S. for the
first time, Norma, Pamela’s sister and Ting, a volunteer who is staying in
Panajachel.
We were greeted by
many excited children running to meet us. The women had decorated the
school with balloons and a carpet of pine needles. We had a clown and his
young son, entertain the crowd while Santa Claus got into his costume. We
discovered that we did not have his beard, wig or glasses, so he quickly had
a beard made of cotton and Heidi lent her glasses.
We also had a large
mechanical figure of Santa Claus that laughs and sings. The kids thought
this was just fabulous. The looks on their faces was just priceless. But
everyone was waiting for the real Santa Claus and the gifts.
It was a long, hot
process for Santa to give out the gifts in the heat of the day, but all the
children got gifts, we had to do a bit of frantic wrapping in the back of
some extra presents but it all worked out fine.
It has been a miracle
to receive all these gifts from so many caring people. Thank you to
everyone who helped, I wish that you could all be here to see the joy that
you have made possible.
All the women had put
in money to enjoy a lunch of the favorite festive meal here, Polick, which
is a chicken dish in a spicy sauce. It is not something that often sits
well with foreign bellies so they made a lunch of chuchitos for the
foreigners! These are a a piece of chicken in sauce wrapped in a thick corn
covering, similar to the texture of mashed potatoes.
We had lunch in the
unfinished classroom of the Tierra Linda School. The school has received
funding to rebuild the two terribly dilapidated classrooms. They now have
two bright shining new classrooms for the start of the year. They then had
enough materials to keep building so they built up on these two classrooms.
They now have two classrooms on top of the new classrooms. But
unfortunately, do not have enough money to finish these two classrooms. They
have no money for the windows, doors, flooring or roof. They also need a
staircase to each of these classrooms because they are at different ends of
the school. These classrooms are very important because as it stands now
the school only has room for the same amount of children that they had last
year, about 50 children will be turned away because there is no space at the
school. They probably need about $5,000 U.S to finish these two classrooms.
If anyone would like to donate to a fund for these classrooms it would be
greatly appreciated.
Guatemala in the News!
Posted on Mon, Dec. 11, 2006
In Guatemala, hunger's often a part
of growing up Guatemala has the highest rate of
malnourished children in the Western Hemisphere, and the
government is struggling to reduce the deaths. By NANCY SAN MARTIN
nsanmartin@MiamiHerald.com
JOCOTAN, Guatemala
-- Three-year-old Antonio's patchy skin is thin and saggy, like
that of a shrunken old man. But his cries sound more like a
newborn's whine. And although his head seems much too large for
his frail body, it's actually his body that is too small.
Plopped on a wheelchair because he's too weak to walk,
Antonio's crystal black eyes tend to wander until the smell of
food penetrates the air and steaming bowls of beans pass before
him. Then his mouth starts to salivate and he lets out a
desperate whimper.
But Antonio must wait until 10 other hungry children are set
up with their meals. Only then can the nurse at the health
center focus her attention on feeding the boy who doesn't have
the muscle coordination to feed himself.
Weighing about 18 pounds, as much as a 6-month-old baby,
Antonio represents one of the worst cases of malnutrition in a
country where more than one million children under 5 suffer from
the condition.
''Cases such as Antonio's should no longer exist, but the
problem remains constant,'' said Dr. Carlos Arriola, director of
a health center in this remote village where the boy and other
malnourished children are being treated. ``Like Antonio, many
others exist.''
Guatemala has the highest rate of malnourished children in
the Western Hemisphere, even higher than Haiti, the region's
poorest country. The Central American nation also ranks sixth in
the world for chronic malnutrition.
The problem usually begins in the womb of mothers who are
anemic throughout their pregnancy and give birth to children
with low birth weights. More than half of those babies don't
make it beyond the age of 5.
''We have many children because we know that some of them are
going to die,'' is a phrase often heard by indigenous families
in Guatemala's rural communities, where the problem is most
prevalent. The indigenous make up about 45 percent of the
population in a nation of 13 million.
''There is no reason that this should be happening. Yet, it's
been going on for years and years,'' said Manuel Manrique, a
representative for the U.N. Children's Fund in Guatemala. ``Part
of our task is to make people aware that this is happening and
that it is unacceptable.''
ADDRESSING PROBLEM
Two efforts are under way to address the problem: a national
program for the reduction of malnutrition and a public awareness
campaign called Creciendo Bien or Growing Well. The
programs have international support from the United Nations, the
U.S.-based Save the Children and other agencies.
Launched in 2004, the goal is to reduce chronic malnutrition
for children under age 5 down from the current 49.3 percent to
about 25 percent by the year 2016. The initiative is aimed at
two types of malnutrition: chronic and acute, which is easier to
treat but more life-threatening.
Malnourished children do not grow properly. Often, they are
much thinner and shorter than they ought to be for their age.
''Children here don't grow enough,'' Manrique said. ``There
is a difference [in height] of 25 percent, compared to other
kids in the Americas.''
''It's not just what you see outside, it also affects their
brain,'' he said. ``It's a life sentence.''
Factors contributing to the widespread problem are high
illiteracy and birth rates, unemployment, scarce fertile land
for peasant families to grow their own crops, persistent drought
and insufficient government help with cultivation. Unsanitary
conditions and contaminated water raises the problem to
life-threatening levels for malnourished children.
Malnutrition is most prevalent in mountain villages like
Jocotán and Camotán in the department of Chiquimula, east of
Guatemala City. Here, most everyone is petite, the result of
years of insufficient food. Most families live in adobe homes
with thatched roofs and dirt floors and depend on agricultural
work. Poor harvests mean few jobs and many empty stomachs.
''There is too little food for so many mouths,'' said Melesia
Nufio, 25, the mother of a wispy 1-year-old boy. ``We live off
tortillas and coffee.''
The bony-framed Nufio, who has three other malnourished
children, is among about 35 women receiving instruction on
proper childcare and hygiene as part of a year-old pilot project
to stop malnutrition at an early age. A cereal distribution
program for children and pregnant mothers also was recently
launched.
The women in the program have a combined 75 children, newborn
to 6 years old. Most are underweight and several suffer from
chronic malnutrition. But the program has been successful in
preventing deaths in a community where dying children was
common.
''We used to have a child die about every six months,'' said
Irma Yolanda Martínez, a community leader. ``Thank God, no child
has died of malnutrition since the program began.''
STEADY WORK NEEDED
Even as the assistance is welcome, Martínez said that what is
really needed is steady work.
''If we give them food, they'll eat and then the food will be
gone again,'' she said. ``An agricultural program would be more
beneficial.''
Nufio's family knows the dire consequences of malnutrition.
Her mother-in-law Nicolasa Vásquez, has lost two of her nine
children. One died at birth, the other as a toddler.
''I don't have enough food to give them all the nutrition
they need,'' said Vásquez, 45, as she cradled her youngest
child, 7-month-old Jessica.
''We are used to living like this,'' said Vásquez's husband
Tereso Casiano. ``It's what God has given us.''
In Jocotán, salvation can be found at two nutrition centers.
The public Center for Nutritional Recuperation opened in 2001
with 70 patients and now treats more than 150 children annually
who suffer from chronic malnutrition. Patients, who often
display symptoms that include irritability, loss of hair and
spotty skin, stay as long as two months while they are fed a
''recuperation'' diet comprised of vitamin-rich formulas and
cereals.
But as hundreds of children are nursed back to health, just
as many fall ill.
''It remains a constant problem,'' said Dr. Juan Manuel
Mejía. ``There is a lot of malnutrition in the countryside and
this year, it seems to have grown a bit.''
Children suffering from acute malnutrition, like Antonio,
often end up at the Centro de Recuperacion Nutricional
Infantil Bethania, simply known as Centro Bethania.
Many are on the verge of death by the time they are admitted.
Antonio was 15 pounds underweight when he was admitted.
GETTING TREATMENT
The center treats about 400 children each year and on average
eight don't survive. It takes at least a month for children to
reach up to 80 percent of their ideal weight, said Arriola, the
director.
Treatment costs about $900 per child, and though parents are
asked to contribute only about $40 of the cost, that is a small
fortune in a nation where the distribution income is highly
unequal and as much as 75 percent of the primarily indigenous
rural population lives on less than $2 per day.
Arriola praised the national initiative as a good first step
but added that to successfully combat malnutrition, the effort
must be accompanied by ''concrete programs'' that will lower
unemployment, increase crop production and improve literacy
rates.
He also expressed concern that the national programs would be
dropped when a new national government is elected next year.
''What happens when we get a new government?,'' Arriola said.
``Will the state continue to take on the responsibility or is
this just going to be a program based on politics?''
Manrique, of UNICEF, blamed politics for previous failed
attempts to address malnutrition and criticized limited
resources for health and education programs. About 1.8 percent
of the GDP goes to health and about 2.9 percent to education.
''This country has a gigantic effort to take on,'' he said.
``With food and other efforts done simultaneously, in a couple
of years, we can start to see significant changes.''
The primary focus of the current campaign is to create
awareness among the population ''so that these programs are not
thrown away once this government is finished,'' Manrique said.
``Knowledge, consciousness and food: those are the three things,
properly mixed, that will make change.''
BLOG FOR
DECEMBER 10th, 2006
Hi guys, sorry it has been so long in
updates but it has been rather busy.
We have had two medical clinics in San
Jorge this week with Lyle and Andree, Project Gift.
We took a woman to the hospital
because of breathing problems, the hospital is on strike so they could
only barely glance at her because she is not an emergency.
We are now having two clinics in
Tierra Linda this coming week, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. The
14th and 15th we are having clinics in Panajachel at the Bomberos.
These are general medicine clinics.
Christmas Parties - we had the first
one in Tierra Linda on Saturday. We have a clown, and we have Santa
Clause and a raffle. The women are cooking a lunch. Some of the women
from Tierra Linda spent days here wrapping their presents.
Our second Christmas Party will be in
San Jorge. We will have the same thing, Santa Claus, Clown, Astro Jump,
raffle and they are making a lunch for everyone.
Third Party is with the second group
in San Jorge. They already have their Xmas party plans and we are just
going to give them the toys to distribute and probably put in a passing
moment to wish everyone Feliz Navidad.
Fourth party, we are giving toys to a
group in Panajachel to distribute This is going to the Comite de
mujeres Panajcehlenses 'FUMUPANA" who are mostly people who live in the
river area that was Devastated by Hurricane Stan in October 2005.
Christmas Baskets. ..... we have had a
really great response to our Christmas baskets. We have 100 to
distribute. We still need more!
We are giving these to the poorest
families that we know, the ones who will not be able to afford Christmas
tamales and we hope to be able to have enough toys for the children in
these families to receive a gift each, hopefully!
Veterinarian Dr. Jill Sampson hard at work.
Vet clinics....we had two days of vet
clinics with Dr. Jill Sampson from Canada. There were approximately 19
dogs spayed and neutered.
We had another clinic with Elsa the
vet, from Guatemala City. Very successful also.
Mayan Families has had several
visitors this week. We have a family from Minnesota that came, Bonnie
and Mike, they are the very generous family that has donated the house
to Lucas, the paraplegic in San Jorge. 'They have brought lots of gifts
etc for the family. Bonnie has also started a 'Mayan Families
Connection" group on Yahoo for people who are coming down or who want to
be involved.
The other people are a mother, Suzi
and her 7yr old son, who are from the U.S., they also brought us down a
lot of donations and she and her husband are very interested in being
involved.
We have more visitors arriving this
afternoon, both from adoption groups, they are bringing toy donations,
thank goodness and one is coming to buy jewelry from the women in San
Jorge with the specific idea of selling it and giving us the money for
projects.
The other family will be attending the
Christmas party in Tierra Linda.
We have started work on the house in
Tierra Linda. This is for the family of 8 children. They knocked their
house down already and are living in a temporary shelter. The family is
very involved in helping with the construction. We had hoped to build
two rooms and a kitchen but it looks like we will only be able to afford
the two rooms and hopefully the kitchen will come sometime later.
We have also supplied the building
materials to Dona Juana house project, so that they can construct her
house in San Jorge. She lost her house in the storm last year. The
family is doing the labor - building the house for her.
Bonnie and Mike are giving us
$1,500 to rebuild a house for an old couple in San Jorge. They have a
100 year old mud brick house that has fallen down. They have built a
temporary shelter but do not have the money to build the house.
Hopefully, we will be able to start work on that soon. They are also
going to give us the $60 to have electricity connected to one of the
houses in San Jorge, the house that we built the retaining wall.
So far we have 70 children sponsored
for STUDENT SPONSORSHIP this year (and many still to go, probably
another 50 at least) on the website. We have had a really good response
to this.
Mark Correll was here last month and
he, Julio and Juan did extensive interviews in San Jorge for micro loans
and in Tierra Linda for the Chicken project. This information is so
important to our projects and we really appreciate all the time and
effort he has put into it.
Dave has built a great chicken coop
for Lucas's chickens. Thank you Dave. Lucas had 20 chickens donated to
him and now we just have to get them to the coop.
We have received sponsoring for the
woman in Solola who has kidney failure and is on dialysis.
We have had another local secretary
start, and she has made it past the two days that the other one lasted
so that is good. Unfortunately, she is not bilingual and we really need
someone who can speak English fluently ...but that is just another wish
on the wish list.
O.K. that is all that I can think of
right now, love to you all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Sharon
BLOG FOR
DECEMBER 3rd, 2006 PART II
Dona Juans house in San Jorge.
DONA JUANA’S HOUSE:
I wrote about Dona
Juana’s need for housing a few weeks ago. She is an elderly widow, approx.
76 years old and she lost her house in the Hurricane Stan last year. Her
daughter has 10 children and there is no room for her at the house. Her
son-in-law has given her a small piece of land but they could not afford the
building supplies.
We were very lucky to
receive donations from two generous people who enabled us to buy all the
building supplies. The family is going to build the house. They had started
doing it themselves, they had found poles in the forest and had some very
old tin to put on the roof but it was full of holes. Now with these building
supplies they will be over to start over again, put in a decent foundation
and build up with block to stop water entering into her house. She lives on
a slope that without the proper foundations the water will penetrate and
ruin the house. She will now have a decent house built, with block and wood
walls, a cement floor and a bathroom. We have also arranged for her to get a
new energy efficient stove. Thank you so much to the people who made this
miracle come true for this family.
Dona Juana receiving building supplies so that we can build
her a house.
Julio
and Juan buying building materials.
A
neighbor enjoys watching the delivery.
Peeking
out to see what is happening.
The
family will carry these a long distance.
Juan
explains to Juana's daughter.
A lot of Toys!
BLOG FOR
DECEMBER 3rd, 2006
BLOG WEEK ENDING Dec.
3rd, 2006.
Happy wrapping!
Helping
hands!
Wrapping gifts.
Wrapping
party.
Aleeya
with toys.
wistfully watching the toy wrapping.
Some children watching the wrapping.
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.
Well, it has been an
exciting time here and a busy time. We have been sorting out all the
wonderful toys and gifts that we have received to be able to give the
children at the Christmas parties.
We have enough toys
for three Christmas parties and we are hoping that it will make it for four
parties. Toys are still coming in and we are hoping that it will be enough
for all the children.
The women from the
San Jorge group have been here for two days, sorting boys and girls gifts,
sorting into age appropriate piles, (though sometimes there ideas and mine
are very different!), that took one day and then yesterday they spent the
whole day wrapping and counting the presents into big bags. They will be
back on Monday to finish their presents.
Also on Monday the
women from the Women’s group from Tierra Linda will be coming down to sort
and wrap their gifts. I think they are going to be very surprised when they
see what beautiful toys we have. They are very excited because it is the
first time that they have ever had a Christmas party and have ever had toys
for the children.
The family from Tierra Linda.
FAMILY IN SOLOLA.
We visited a family
this week that is going through a very tough time. The mother, a young
woman 32 yrs old is suffering a severe kidney problem and is on dialysis.
She has been ill for two years now. The Doctors have told her that there is
no hope for her recovery without a kidney replacement. Unfortunately,
donating organs is not something that I have seen encouraged in Guatemala
and probably not something that the indigenous community would feel
comfortable with anyway.
This young woman,
Carmella, has no brothers or sisters, her father is elderly and unwell, so
there is no one in the family who could donate and even then it is doubtful
whether that would happen anyway. Her husband passed away seven years ago.
She has four children, 3 boys Oscar 13, Marvin 12, Eddy 10 and a daughter,
Angelica 8yrs old.
Angelica has never
been to school and the boys did not finish school this year because the
school was insisting that they have school uniforms and the mother could not
afford to buy them.
We are hoping that we
will get sponsors for all four of them to be able to go to school this
year.
Oscar, the eldest boy
is working in a mechanics workshop. He is working from 8.am. to 6p.m., 6
days a week and earning $8 a week. He is giving all his money to his mother
to enable her to buy more food.
The family owns their
own three roomed house. It is very small and they are renting out two rooms
so that they have some income. Carmella gets $34 a month from the rent and
this is what they use for food. The family all live in one room, there is
only one bed and Carmella sleeps in that. The children all sleep on the
cement floor on woven straw mats.
The doctors want
Carmella to stay in the hospital in case she gets a kidney but they also
have no way of getting a kidney for her. They have told her that she needs
to find one herself. This is really an impossible task for a poor indigenous
woman.
She has been very
sick the past two weeks, if she gets out of bed, she gets a very bad
headache, her legs and face swell. She has to go to the city to receive
treatment. But it is a 3 hour trip by bus, she used to be able to get out of
bed and get the bus at 3.am. and make it to the city in time for her
appointment. Her young son used to accompany her. But now she is too unwell
to make such a trip by public transportation. If she does not go to the
hospital for her regular appointments, they will cut off her treatment. She
is fortunate in the fact that she has medical insurance from her late
husband’s employment.
But even so the
medicine is too expensive for her to buy. She needs to take injections that
cost $12US a week. She has been unable to afford to buy them for the past
three weeks.
We were able to give
her the money to buy her injection this week and we are sending her by
private mini bus to the city so that she can make her appointment.
The most pressing
need for this family is help with some medical costs and food. This family
does not have enough to eat. They also need a bed and blankets for the
children.
Carmella has said
that she knows that if she goes to hospital that she will not come out of
there and she wants to stay at home as long as she can for the sake of her
children. She talked openly in front of them about the fact that she is
dying and that she is worried about where her children will go. Some of her
husband’s relatives have said that they will take one child each, she is
very saddened that they will not be able to stay together.
Her dream is that she
can live a few years longer so that her eldest son will be old enough to
look after his brothers and sister so that they can stay at home and stay
together.
FOOD BASKET TO WOMAN
RECOVERING FROM OPERATION.
Woman recovering from ruptured appendix.
Food
Basket for family.
Through a generous
donation we were able to supply this woman and her five children with a food
basket. The woman has been very ill, she had a ruptured appendix and was
operated and was several weeks in the hospital. This is a very poor family
without many resources, and the children are very malnourished.
She was released from
hospital and was unable to fill her prescription for medications such as
antibiotics and painkillers. She had been out of hospital for a few days and
was suffering a lot . We were installing stoves in San Jorge when a
neighbor asked us to look in on this woman. Fortunately, we had three U.S.
nurses who were working on the stove project. They decided that she needed
medical treatment urgently. She was unable to be moved and we brought a
doctor to her from Panajachel. He found that she was very dehydrated and was
also in need of antibiotics for an infection.
We were also able to
give her a mattress to lie on, she was on a bed of just wooden planks and
that was very hard on her body lying on that day and night.
She is now doing a
lot better, is now able to get out of bed but she needs some food to be able
to recover her strength.
BLOG FOR
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30th, 2006
Digging Foundations.
One of the daughters carry sand.
Under the tree.
Carrying sand to mix with the cement.
House going up.
Luca's wife taking a break.
Carrying building materials.
House under construction.
Work is moving along very well on
Lucas's house. The children and his wife, Rosa, are all helping to carry
building materials, digging foundations and helping the builder. Lucas is a
recent paraplegic and the family is living in a temporary shack with a dirt
floor until this house is finished. Lucas and his family are very excited
because the very generous family from the U.S. who has donated this house
and land for them are coming to visit next week.
BLOG FOR
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26th, 2006
Sandra Graduating
Luis Graduates!
Luis make his graduation speech!
Sandra is 18 years old and has just
graduated. This is a milestone for her and joy for us. Sandra has been
sponsored ever since she was in grade school. She is the only child of a
single mother. Her mother cannot read or write and makes tortillas for a
living. This is very lowly paid work and the mother has been in debt for
many years. They live with the grandparents. Florinda, Sandra's mother
left the father as he was very violent and beat her often. Sandra has
made the ! family and us proud by being an A student, she has worked
every week e nd to have money to be able to help her mother. She would
like to go onto University but is thinking of studying only one day a
week so that she can work and help her mother get out of debt. She has
been a diligent student, many night has worked until the wee hours of
the morning to finish her assignment. She has barely ever missed a day
of school. We are so proud of her. Sandra's sponsors - Migo and his
friends, from Germany want her to continue her studies and are willing
to support her, they have hopes she will go become the first female
indigenous President of Guatemala!!
Luis, is a student who attended some
of the same classes as Sandra. Sandra did not know him very well at all
but found themselves together on the bus for an obligatory school
excursion. If they did not go onto his excursion they would lose points,
so even though it cost a considerable amount of money to go on this
excursion to Mexico, there really is no other choice for the last
graduation year, nobody wants to lose points.
Sandra became aware that Luis was not
eating when the rest of the students were eating. She asked him if he
was sick, he told her no, that he had used all the money he had just to
be able to pay the expenses for this trip and that he could not afford
to buy food, as they talked tears started rolling down his cheeks as he
told Sandra that he did not think that he would be able to afford to
graduate this year. The costs were mounting up, his mother had borrowed
all the money that she could to put him through this last year. Even
though Luis himself worked every week end, there still was not enough
money.
Sandra returned from this excursion
and without Luis knowing it she came to us to ask if there could be any
help for this young man to graduate. Sandra said that she had known
this young man as one does when someone is a classmate. She said that he
had never talked about himself before, was very serious and kept to
himself. She was very surprised that he had opened up to her and she
felt that his situation was so desperate that he felt no way out.
It was almost the end of the year and
it was hard to find people to sponsor a young man, especially a young
man about to graduate when it would cost, approx. $600. We turned to
World Link Partners, they put out a plea to some of their donors and
very quickly a very generous person offered to sponsor Luis so that he
could graduate. The day we told Luis that we would be able to help him
financially to graduate, he could not believe it, he had tears in his
eyes. This past week when he graduated - he was the person chosen by
the class to give the graduation speech. He gave a wonderful speech,
thanking his mother who is a widow, his father was disappeared in the
bad years here in Guatemala, for all the help, he thanked God for
helping him graduate, when he finished tears were once again streaming
down his cheeks. We are so thankful to the very kind and generous
people who helped Luis graduate.
Carlos receives gifts.
Young Carlos who has had a very hard
life, he works in the river sifting sand to sell to construction sites,
he works late at night in restaurants sometimes, the family, his
grandmother and Aunt with whom he lives, often do not have food to eat.
His mother abandoned him to the grandmother when he was born, she has
married someone else and Carlos is not welcome to go to that house.
He was lucky enough to receive a
sponsor for the first time for this coming year. This very kind sponsor
sent down some special gifts for Carlos. His clothes were very ragged
and had lots of holes. He has never had new clothes. His sponsor sent
him a bag with jeans, shirts, jackets, a hygiene kit, even a wallet with
$10.
We asked Carlos to come to the house
and get his photo taken and receive his gifts. He was very quietly
excited. After I took his photo I went back inside, I was rushing to
get to an appointment, Gloria who organizes all the school sponsorships,
called me to come back and talk to Carlos. She told me he is so happy,
he has tears in his eyes, no-one has ever given him a gift before but he
also is very scared. I was surprised as to why he would be scared,
Gloria told me that he thinks maybe we are going to come to the house
and steal him because now we have given him gifts. Poor Carlos, his
grandmother had told him that sometimes Gringos steal children and so he
was thinking this was a prelude to being taken away.
Fortunately, there were several other
children at the house at the time who have been sponsored for several
years. They told him that they have received schooling and gifts and
have never had anyone try to steal them!
He felt much better then and left very
happily and a bit stunned with all his wonderful gifts. The next day he
came back to get his wallet with the cash, we had changed it into
quetzals for him and he was going to give it to his grandmother so that
she could buy sufficient maize for the week so that they could all have
tortillas to eat. He shyly gave me two coconuts and a bottle of soda as
a gift. He is a lovely boy, very serious and very innocent. He cannot
believe how lucky he is that someone sent him gifts.
BLOG FOR
NOVEMBER 25th, 2006
Zoe and I returned from a week in
California, it was amazing how quiet it seemed to me. No chickens
crowing, no dogs wandering the streets, no crazy tuk tuk's and hardly
anyone walking on the streets. We brought big bags full of toys that
some wonderful person had sent to our house. All brand new dolls and
stuffed animals, lots of brand new clothes, shoes and backpacks, these
are going to be wonderful Christmas presents for some children. We still
have more bags to come and hopefully, we will be able to get them down
before Christmas. If anyone is coming from San Diego and can bring an
extra bag, please contact us!!
While I was gone, lots of things were
happening, Mark Correll who coordinates the Micro Loans project was busy
conducting his third set of interviews with the women from San Jorge
Women's Group. He was happy to be able to be able to say that these
loans have definitely made a marked improvement in the women's lives. He
visited one woman in the market who sells tomatoes. Before the loan she
had only two boxes of tomatoes to sell, she now has six boxes. This is
just one example of how these small loans help these women. We are
thrilled to be able to say that we have a 100% repayment on all the
loans.
One of the women with one of her chickens.
Another Tierra Linda woman and chickens.
Mark along with Juan and Julio who
work with Mayan Families also conducted interviews in Tierra Linda with
the Women's Group there. This was to evaluate the chicken project there
that had recently finished. We are now assessing to see how the chickens
were cared for, how much they were sold for, whether the women bought
more chickens with the proceeds of their sales and if not, what did they
do with the proceeds to help their family finances. Mark was very
impressed with how the chickens looked and the women were very happy
with their success stories of selling the chickens.
Healthy looking chickens.
I have been busy with the school
sponsorship project and I apologize to people who have been waiting for
the new group of children's photos to be loaded on the web site. This is
rather slow going but we will get there. Every day we have families
coming to us for help with sending their children to school. We know
that we will get a lot more when school starts and parents find that
they cannot afford to buy the list of school supplies for their
children. We are so thankful to all the people who are sponsoring
children to go to school. Most of these children would not be able to go
without sponsorship. A small percentage may but their parents would have
to go into debt to be able to buy the school supplies, this puts the
family at a terrible disadvantage. The interest adds up and it is very
difficult to get out of debt.
An update of Juana Meletz who we sent
to the Doctor, they were suspecting that she has ovarian cancer but it
now seems that she has cysts on her ovaries which is causing a lot of
pain and bleeding. She needs to have an operation, this operation will
cost $500 approx. This family does not have the money to pay for this
operation and so we are looking for donations to help cover this cost.
Juana has 5 children and a husband who works in the city. She does not
know where he works or what he does but he comes home probably once a
month and never brings enough money to feed the family. This family is
often hungry and the children are very malnourished. The smallest child
had parasites so bad that his feet were swelling a few weeks ago. We got
medical treatment for him but he needs another check up soon.
Lucas and his house.
We have started work on Lucas's house.
Lucas is man who is a recent paraplegic after falling from a building
site.
Due to sponsorship of a very kind,
generous family in the U.S. Lucas and his family have received
sufficient food so that they are no longer hungry and this family has
purchased land and is paying for the construction of a wheelchair
accessible house for him. This is a huge blessing for this family but
it has also had another fantastic benefit to Lucas. He used to be a
builder and this has given him a new lease on life. He is in charge of
watching over the building of his house and designing it how he wants
it. He was very depressed before lying in a darkened room with nothing
to do but now we see him sitting outside in his wheelchair, making
decisions and feeling in charge of his life again. What a miracle this
is for him! This generous family has also sponsored the medical
attention for Lucas and I think this has probably saved his life.
Panajachel,
Guatemala
FROM OUR FAMILIES ..........TO YOURS.......
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
It is
the season for sharing - please consider helping a hungry family with a
Christmas Food Basket.
For $30
you can feed a family of 12 or more.
Our Christmas basket includes:
The
plastic basket will hold all the food. This will be used by the family to
stack dishes, wash dishes, hold food etc.
The food will include:
Oil,
15 lbs of Rice to make the tamales, a block of drinking chocolate (this is
traditional to drink at midnight), a loaf of bread with which they eat the
tamales at midnight, raisins for the tamales, grapes, apples, sugar, 5lbs of
meat, tomatoes, one pound of coffee, leaves to wrap the tamales, cloves,
pepper, sesame, pumpkin seeds. These are the requirements to make the
Christmas tamales.
.
You will
receive a photo of the family that you will sponsor and a photo of them
receiving their basket.
While we were in San
Jorge la Laguna, this woman approached me about helping her Mother. Her
mother’s name is Juana and she is 75 years old or somewhere about there.
Dona JuanaDona
Juana and her daughter.
She lost her house in
Hurricane Stan last year and has been staying with the daughter.
The daughter is poor,
has ten children and not enough room. The son-in-law has given his
mother-in-law a tiny piece of land where she can have her own room. But they
have no money to buy the building materials. They are asking for help in
being able to buy the materials and build her this little room. It would
probably cost about $800 to do this. It is a tiny room, it would be cement
block at the bottom and wood sides with a lamina - tin sheet metal roof.
If you would like to
make a donation towards Dona Juana’s house it would be greatly appreciated.
SEWING CLASS NEWS!
Six of the women who were the
graduates of the first sewing class in San Jorge received sewing
machines so that they can now sew at home and be able to earn an
income. They were very excited about this and have been waiting several
months to get a machine. Our sewing classes run twice a week, for three
hours a session. The whole class lasts four months. The women earn the
chance to learn to sew by lottery. Our third class is halfway through
it's four month session! . The women learn to make their aprons that
they wear with traditional clothes, they learn to do the machine
embroidery which is part of the adornment of their traditional Cortés
(skirts). They have also learned to make blouses, shorts (for the
children for school) purses and put zippers in flawlessly!
When I first came to Guatemala in 1985
sewing on a machine was considered something only men could do, I am
very happy to see women learn this skill.
HOUSE RE-CONSTRUCTION This house is
getting a re-make!
They have had a new roof
donated several months ago and we have now had a donation of $600 which
is able to completely re-do the front of the house, before this it was
just rocks with a steep, slippery, rocky mud path to climb into the
house. They had no kitchen, they were cooking over three rocks near the
front door. They were very fortunate to also receive sponsorship for
Onil energy efficient stove which uses very little wood to cook with.
Through this recent donation they now
have a wall, an alcove to put their stove, some privacy and protection
from winds to be able to cook. But the best thing is that we are
building them a bathroom. Until now this family had no bathroom, they
had to urinate and defecate in plastic bags and take them out at night
and throw them in the river. They were very embarrassed about doing
this and we are very happy to, at last, be able to give them a
functional bathroom. They have no water connected to their house, they
have no Pila-cement wash basin or sink, which is essential for washing
dishes and bathing oneself, outside of it, they also have no electricity
connected to their house. There are 6 people living in this tiny one
room house. The grandmother, 2 middle aged single mothers, 2 teenagers,
one boy and one girl and an 8 yr old. ( Claudia is one of the children
that is being sponsored this year. You can see her photo on our website
-
school sponsorship page - she is #3).
This family subsists on a very meager diet of beans, tortillas with salt
and coffee. We are so happy that through donations of many kind people
that this house is now approaching a decent conditions for them to be
able to live in.
PLEASE SPONSOR
STUDENT #46 Sandra who is 11 years old.
With Donations for her family.
Sandra is 11 years old. She is the
eldest of 6 children. Her 33 yr old mother passed away two weeks ago just
after giving birth to the new baby sister. Her father is a diabetic. He has
gone to the city to find work and does not seem overly concerned with the
children's welfare. The children are being cared for by the mother's
parents. They are in their 60's and do not have the money to be able to care
for all these children. But they are determined to keep them together. The
other children are very young, 2yrs old, 4 yrs old, 7yrs old, 9yrs old (the
only boy) and Sandra 11yrs old. The family is very concerned about how they
are going to afford schooling for her and her brother. The brother is not
pictured - he was away at the time. The 7yr old has been taken against the
wishes of the grandparents to live with the father's sister in law. This was
done rather brutally on the day of her mother's funeral and Sandra is also
grieving the loss of her sister. Sandra needs sponsoring or she will not be
able to go to school.
I'm including this in the BLOG because
we want to make sure that all of our readers are also checking out the
Welcome to Nancy Hughes and her group.
The Group organizing equipment.
Mayan Families Julio installs a chimney.
We have had the group
“Stove Team Guatemala” installing 50 stoves in San Jorge for the past day
and a half. They have done a terrific job. The Women’s Group greeted them
with balloons and fireworks on the first day, we supplied them with a hearty
lunch to keep their strength up as they went up and down the steep paths of
San Jorge.
We also had Sharon
and her friend, Carmen come to visit. Sharon is adopting a beautiful boy,
Eli and she brought lots of great clothes, shoes, toys and Christmas
wrapping paper with her.
VERY SICK WOMAN IN
SAN JORGE.
We were very lucky
that there were three nurses in the group and they were able to look at a
woman who I was very concerned about. She had just been released from
hospital two days ago after suffering a ruptured appendix. She had been
operated on, had blood transfusions and had been very ill and weak. She has
five children and the husband had taken them all to live with his mother.
All but one, the first child is not his, and so he left that child, a 15 yr
old boy behind. I was told that the boy was sitting in the field of coffee
trees crying and that he had no food but we could not find him when we went
there.
The woman has a huge
cut from her pelvis to just below her breast bone. The nurses were disturbed
to hear that she had not been prescribed antibiotics. She was in pain and
seemed to be taking a very mild pain killer.
We arranged for a
doctor to come and visit her later in the day, he thought that she was very
dehydrated, and organized for her to have a drip put in to re-hydrate her.
We bought her Gatorade and got her some antibiotics and flatulence medicine
to help her pass gas.
This morning, thank
goodness, she seems to be doing a lot better. I am hoping to be able to get
a mattress up to her tomorrow. She is lying on a bed that is made of boards
with a blanket between her and the boards. This is very poor family and
they will need help supplying the mother with nutritious food and medicines.
FAMILY OF SIX
MOTHERLESS CHILDREN.
We visited another
family who have had a devastating loss. Their 33yr old daughter, died
shortly after giving birth to her 6th child. The grandparents
are elderly and do not have much resources but they are determined to keep
the family together. They said several people had come and asked them to
give the baby to them but they did not want the children separated.
The baby is very tiny
and is drinking formula that costs $7.50 US. a week. The grandparents are
very worried about how they will be able to afford to feed this baby.
Today we went back
taking a can of formula and lots of beautiful baby clothes, blankets, bibs,
booties and clothes for the other children. All these goods had recently
been donated by people from the Yahoo Adoption Group who have been so kind
to bring down donations to us.
The children are all
young, newborn, a 2yr old, a 4 yr old, a 7yr old, a 9 yr old ( the only boy)
and an 11 year old.
The grandparents are
very upset because at the funeral one of the father’s sister in laws grabbed
the 7yr old and took her away to live with them across the lake. The 11yr
old Sandra is very upset and was crying today as she was talking about how
much she misses her sister and mother.
The father is a
diabetic and has gone back to work in the city, he does not seem overly
concerned about his children. He told Sandra, the 11yr old to forget about
her other sister, that she would not be coming back.
We are trying to
arrange sponsoring for Sandra and her brother to be able to go to school.
LUKA’S HOUSE.
We are almost ready
to start building Luka’s house in San Jorge. Luka’s is a recent paraplegic.
He was paralyzed when he fell off a building he was working on.
He has 7 children.
They were already very poor but this tragedy tipped them over the edge.
They had a miracle
when a wonderful family decided to sponsor them and have given them enough
money to buy land and build a wheelchair accessible house.
Apart
from this being a wonderful blessing for this family, it has also given Luka
a new lease on life. He is organizing all the
building, the
planning and I think for the first time since his accident happened he feels
in charge of his life again.
LUKA’S SISTER IN LAW
While we were
visiting Luka, we stopped to talk to his sister-in – law. This family lives
in a very desperate situation. The sister-in-law has five children by five
different men, none who have taken responsibility for any of the children.
She and her 15 yr old daughter are the breadwinners for the family, they
make $7.00 U.S. each a week by embroidering the traditional skirts (Cortes)
that Mayan women wear here.
She has a 10 month
old baby girl, a 4 yr old girl, a 7 yr old boy, a 13 yr old boy and the 15
yr old daughter. The 15yr old and the 13yr old are in school, the 7yr old
needs to go this year. It is a real struggle for this family to be able to
go to school and I admire that they have made such an effort. The children
are all very ragged.. They live in a tiny wood shed, they have no furniture
except for one table, they sleep on cardboard cartons on the dirt floor,
they store their clothes in cardboard boxes. Their main diet is tortillas
with salt and sometimes pasta or beans. The children are all very thin and
look malnourished.
Veterinarian Dr. Jill Sampson hard at work.
Dona Juans house in San Jorge.
Dona Juana receiving building supplies so that we can build
her a house. 
Julio
and Juan buying building materials.
A
neighbor enjoys watching the delivery.
Peeking
out to see what is happening.
The
family will carry these a long distance.
Juan
explains to Juana's daughter.
A lot of Toys!
Happy wrapping!
Helping
hands!
Wrapping gifts.
Wrapping
party.
Aleeya
with toys.
wistfully watching the toy wrapping.
Some children watching the wrapping.
The family from Tierra Linda.
Woman recovering from ruptured appendix.
Food
Basket for family.
Digging Foundations.
One of the daughters carry sand.
Under the tree.
Carrying sand to mix with the cement.
House going up.
Luca's wife taking a break.
Carrying building materials.
House under construction.
Sandra Graduating 
Luis Graduates!
Luis make his graduation speech!
Carlos receives gifts.
One of the women with one of her chickens.
Another Tierra Linda woman and chickens.
Healthy looking chickens.
Lucas and his house.
Dona Juana
Dona
Juana and her daughter.
Stoves being installed.
Stove Team Guatemala at work!
Another Stove going in!
Welcome to Nancy Hughes and her group.
The Group organizing equipment.
Mayan Families Julio installs a chimney.