This is little  8 yr old girl from San Jorge la Laguna was examined by the recent dental team from Poco a Poco.   Ana, the dentist was horrified to find that this child had a huge swelling in her neck.  This huge swelling and infection that she had was caused by an infection in her tooth that had gone untreated for a long time. 

We arranged that she have an operation at the clinic with Dr. Juan Pablo, he had to open the abscess and drain the infection from her neck.

Thank you to Ana and her team who discovered this little girl during their check ups on the children's teeth and thank you to Ana for making this operation possible. Thank you to Ana and her wonderful team for all the hard work that they did in Panajachel and San Jorge.
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ERNESTO UPDATE:  

MAYAN FAMILIES HEALTHY PETS UPDATES.

 Septembers' vaccination event  for dogs and cats in San Jorge was a fantastic success. We vaccinated 33 animals with rabies and combo vaccines. Many, actually most, of the human participants were interested in spaying or neutering (!) their pets. With so much interest, Dr. Miguel and Mayan Families Healthy Pets are anxious to get back up there and do an on-site clinic.

We did agree to arrange to have a truck of some kind in the square at 8 am on Sep. 27 to transport 10 animals to our first clinic at Dr. Miguel's office.

There is a law coming into affect in San Jorge that people are only allowed to keep one dog per household.  People are very worried about what is to become of the extra dogs that they have and they are really worried about the young puppies that have recently been born.   We are trying to address this situation and help prevent future poisonings by offering spaying and neutering clinics.

Travel plans for Andrea , the dog that we rescued from a huge hole in San Andres, she had been suffering in that hole for two days heavily pregnant, no food and in the pouring rain, are progressing; a little slower than we'd like but we have a learning curve.   We have a family that is willing to adopt her in the U.S.   She is improving more every day!

Two days ago, I picked up three new puppies who were living around the garbage bin behind a local restaurant. A couple of local young girls told us that the mother had delivered 5 pups back there, one they knew had died, so off we went looking for the other two. No luck. However, the three we have look quite good for living in their conditions. They have all of their fur, are alert and frisky and thankfully, not running temperatures!

Hey, do you guys remember me telling you about "Lil' Goldie"? She's the one we picked up during the last s/n clinic and was another one too far along in her pregnancy to abort? Well, she and her BEAUTIFUL four pups are doing great! She looks fantastic! Check out new pics.    Now we just need homes for them all.
Thank you all for caring! Just knowing you're out there gives me strength every day.
all my best wishes,
Selaine
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Dear S,  I can understand your frustration but I want you to know that the work that you and everyone is doing with Mayan Families is very important.  Nothing can happen in Guatemala to make a change without money.   The work that you are doing fundraising and spreading the word regarding projects etc. is very, very valuable.  Without you and people like you - nothing could be achieved.  

I know it may not seem a big change to be able to supply a backpack to a child, but believe me, to that child, it is a big thing to be receiving a backpack, school supplies, shoes, and education that gives them a chance for a much better future. These things are just a miracle to a child whose family cannot afford it.   We will have so many people at our door in January, literally begging for help to send their children school.  Now we have approx. 350 children sponsored....we will be turning away almost that amount again, so any help or awareness that you can spread regarding school sponsorship will be affecting a great change for the family  fortunate enough to be sponsored.   Giving a child an education will have a positive affect on generations to come.

Selling the beaded jewelry can help perform miracles for other people, as we have witnessed for Petronilla this week end.  The bulk of the money for her operation came from those sales. It may not seem much when you are selling a keychain for $5 but it really adds up and for this family it will be a miracle.   I don't know if this operation will save Petronilla's life but it will give her a chance and I am sure that if any of us were in her shoes, that is what we would also want.

The things that this group achieves may seem small, a stove, a water filter, a cement floor, a new roof for some families, even a new house but these things are life changing for these families.  Anyone who has visited could tell you that.  

Instead of feeling frustrated, I wish you would feel proud that you are doing something and that with this group, together we are achieving so much.  The people who receive your help, appreciate it more than you can imagine. I wish I could convey just how appreciative they are - in Guatemala there is very little or no help - when you are in a desperate situation and there is no where to turn, to have a group of strangers come along and help you - is just an unbelievable miracle to them.   

Warmest regards, Sharon 

Dear Beth, thank you for all your efforts, we really need this money for the emergency medical treatments. We have one woman, Marta 42yrs old, whose daughter, Glendi 15 works for Mayan Families and we send to school who has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  She is in the final stages and is desperate need of pain killing medicines, morphine is very expensive but she has been suffering so much , we want to make sure that her final weeks are much more comfortable.   We had arranged chemo for her 18 months ago but she was too scared to go to the city, too scared to go to the hospital and too scared of the treatment . All very understandable.  She chose instead to go to natural healers in the Mayan community.   She has 6 children, 3 are very young 5, 7 and 10yrs old. This family has been through such an awful time in the past five years.  The husband left her when she was pregnant . The baby died when he was 8 months old. They could not afford to seek medical attention.  Then 2yrs ago her 16 yr old daughter died from what I think was the complications of appendicitis. She had terrible stomach pain and was operated on but died shortly after the operation.  The family never really knew what exactly was the cause. 

The boys 21yrs old and 16yrs old work during the week and go to week end school. The money that they make and Glendi is all the money that the family has.  They are often short of food, we have been supplying them with food.

Dear Sharon and all Mayan Family Connection wonderful people, 

I hope hope that I am not overstepping the bounds of this group .............. I have been so amazed and impressed by all the love, enthusiasm and dedication to the many various projects you have been pursuing.  I know everyone has their own love and interests ... children, causes and families that touch your heart and  soul ... and your pocket book. 

I have mine which I am asking for help with.  Through Sharon, many of you might know of Ernesto and his family.  He is a lovely 25 year old man, paralyzed in a car accident coming home from work.  He mends shoes propped up on his elbows in bed.  His wife Sylvia washes clothes 8 hours a day for which she makes the equivalent of $1.20. 

They have two absolutely beautiful daughters, 5 and 3, who I will be sponsoring through school.  I adopted my daughter Sophia Linda in February 2007 .....every time I look at her and think of his daughters, i think there for the grace of god ......  she goes 

Ernesto and Sylvia desperately need a a house.  They are living in an inaccessible 50 square foot hovel, from which they are about to be evicted. I have been able to raise donations to buy some land (done .... YAH) and build a retaining wall. From Sharon's email you know they need another 3K to build a 2 room house .... I am hoping for enough $$ to build a 3 room house, perhaps with room for a store in front to allow the family to be self sufficient. 

All that said, like I said, I know everyone already has projects and children close to their hearts, and money is always short.  HOWEVER, someone recently posted that this thread has 200 members in the group.  If everyone could find a way to send in at least $20 ..... boomalacka boomalacka shish boom bah .... Ernesto and Sylvia would have a great house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So, please please please send in what you can for this wonderful family. 

Again, I sincerely hope I have not abused this forum.  I am just overwhelmed with the fact my second adoption exited PGN today and I will actually be leaving Guatemala after living here for a year.  I have loved living her and have so enjoyed meeting Sharon and seeing the incredible impact she has on the daily life of so many needy families.  And I selfishly would love to see Ernestos and Sylvias house funded before I leave, 

Thank you all for everything you do .... and, er  ahum, might do . 

Sarah, Mamma to Sophia Linda and Alexander Hyde

Dear friends,

For the school year starting January, 2008 to October 2008, we have had to increase the school sponsorship fee for elementary children from $110 US to $120 US.   

I would also like to take this opportunity to let anyone who is sponsoring a child in Jnr. High or for High School that the actual costs of sending a child to these grades is much higher than the $110 US that we had been asking for.  We originally only had a few children in jnr. high and high school and managed to cover their fees out of other monies but now we have many more children in jnr. high and high school and we are asking your help with their fees. 

The actual costs of sending a child through Jnr. High is $330 US. for the year. Their costs are so much more because of their uniform needs, they also need sports uniforms, they also have a monthly payment fee that has to be made to the school. If you possibly afford to pay these costs for your child in jnr. high school then we would greatly appreciate it.

If you cannot afford it then please do not stop sponsoring your child. $120 US. helps enormously. It makes the difference between the child going to school and not going. 

The actual costs of sending a child to High school is $400 US. per year.

We will be putting these figures on our website and in the future these are the amounts that we will hopefully get for the students. 
But if you are already sponsoring a jnr. High or High school student I hope that you will continue doing so at whatever level you can afford.

We also encourage people to co-sponsor a jnr. High or High school student. 

We can also make arrangements to have the sponsorship for older children to be made in two payments. 

Thank you so much for your understanding,

Sharon
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The uniform the children get depends on what school they are attending. Each school is different. But it is for the boys a pair of pants, a white shirt - or sometimes a shirt that has the school emblem on it.....for older boys in high school they also need a jacket, they need black shoes, they need tennis shoes for sports, they need a t.shirt - for sports and that often has the school logo and has to be purchased through the school, they need white socks for school and sport, they get a backpack,  we go through more than one backpack per student per year and that is why it is so important to us to have backpacks donated,

The girls get a skirt, a blouse , and also need sports uniforms.  The girls also need cardigans sometimes to go with their uniforms.

Some schools use traditional clothes like San Jorge and Tierra Linda. I really love the fact that they do that...but in San Jorge we had to buy more than 50 traditional outfits, these are more expensive than school uniforms but they are much longer wearing.

Right now today, we have had several people coming to the house trying to get help with more uniforms. The big parade is coming up, Independence day in Guatemala , September 15th and to be able to march in the parade you need your uniform and you need black shoes in good condition.  We gave the children their shoes at the beginning of the year, many of them have fallen apart by now or are not looking so good, this is another reason why we depend so much on shoe donations, For some children, the school shoes they get are the only pair of shoes they have ...this is another reason why they wear out so quickly.. Our school sponsorship does not cover buying seconds of anything.  It is really cut to the bone as it is.   But we have to be able to help some of the children out, especially the ones were the families have no chance whatsoever to be able to buy anything , the children lose points off their report cards if they do not go in the parades.  We have twin boys 13 years old who are sponsored.  They work before school every day to be able to pay the extra costs that they have in Jnr. High, they are always needing to buy materials, get photocopying done, materials for projects etc.  but they do not make enough to be able to buy their uniforms.     This family is very poor and we do not want the boys to lose points on their report card so we are helping them with their uniform needs, they have outgrown their pants that we originally gave them  and their shoes are worn out.   This is another reason why we try to get as many donations as we can so that we can cover other costs.  The less backpacks that we have to buy the more money we have to be able to  help out in other areas of need for schooling.

But if we do not get enough backpacks donated we buy backpacks for the children. The backpacks here are not good quality and they do not last a very long time.

So every child does get a backpack.

How we give out the school supplies -  Firstly, the child and parent bring their school supply list to the house, they give it to Gloria, she then buys all the school supplies, orders the school uniforms if they need to be ordered, any payments for the school are made directly by check.   Sandra our secretary, goes to the school and pays all the school registration fees at one time.   Then when the child comes back to pick up their school supplies, they select a backpack that suits them,  Gloria takes a measurement of their feet and buys the school shoes or she takes the child to the store and buys the school shoes. The tennis shoes are not usually needed straight away and are usually given out a few weeks later.

The child then gets his/her photo taken with all their school supplies so that we can put it on the website.

Many times during the year parents and children will come to the house with other needs that they have for school. Yesterday , we gave five children money to be able to go on school excursions. These fees were paid directly to the school.

We try to pay as much as we can directly to the school.

If it is not possible to do it that way, parents have to bring us the receipts as soon as possible.

School uniforms are often ordered through the schools and can take a few weeks to come after school registration.   Sometimes we have white blouses donated, Alberto, the sewing teacher often makes adjustments to the sizes for us.

We also give a pair of underwear to each child.  As you can appreciate, they really need more than one pair, that is why we ask for donations of underwear so that children can have sufficient.

Whatever you send your donated child, he/she will receive,. If you send a backpack that is meant for them, so long as it is clearly marked, then they will receive it.   If you send extra socks and underwear then that is fantastic.  If you send a short sleeved white shirt / blouse that really helps them as well.  If the blouse/shirt is really not the right size for them then we will try to give it to another child that is in their family.

 January is a very hectic time with all the sponsored children coming to get their school supplies etc.

We also have many other parents and children coming to the house at that time seeking help for their education.   We have to turn away many people unfortunately. We always try to help the single mothers first. There is so much need and it is a horrible thing to know that if you turn a child away that they may not get the chance to go to school that year.

Many parents want their children to go to school but they cannot afford it. They can afford to pay the school registration but they cannot afford the school supplies, they cannot afford the school uniforms, they cannot afford the many other things that the school often requests during the year.  Some people do sign their children up without their supplies the kids quickly drop out.

If you know anyone who might consider sponsoring a child to go to school in 2008 - please mention the school sponsorship program to them.  You cannot imagine the difference it makes in the life of a child in Guatemala.

Last week 21 women from the San Jorge Women's Group received Micro-Loans.  These loans will be used to help existing business or to start up new ones.  The women will use the money for a variety of reasons. Some will buy thread wholesale at a much cheaper price than they could when they cannot afford to buy in bulk.  This will increase their profit from their weavings.  Some will use the money to buy beads at a wholesale price for their beaded jewelry businesses.  They will then be able to buy beads at a cheaper price and will also own their own product and be able to sell it at a higher price.  

 Others will use the money to be able to buy more product for them to sell at the markets, instead of having two baskets of fruit or vegetables to sell they will be able to have six! 

Our Micro-Loans have been very successful.  We have been running this program for the past two years and have had a 100% payback on all loans. The women are very enthusiastic about this program and it is working exceptionally well.  

Thank you for all that you do,  Blessings, Sharon

Olga and her two children Karla and Jose, lost their home nearly two years ago, they are still trying to rebuild their lives.  They are very fortunate that the sponsors who send them to school have been kind enough to give them beds . The kids were very happy to receive their own beds. Now the Dad just has to put them together!

Yesterday, the people who work for Mayan Families and the San Jorge Women's group threw me a surprise party, it was jointly for my birthday (which is not till the end of the month.) and a going-away party. It was very sweet, very happy festooned with purple balloons and streamers, barbeque chicken, cake and a special drink called "Caliente" which means hot, it is a hot fruit drink - delicious, they even had piñatas and a clown.  We had a nice, fun afternoon.

Getting my face pushed into the cake -  a Guatemalan custom!!

Hi, if you have gifts you would like to give a specific family please put them in a bag, like a zip lock and mark it with their name and number. If you have a photo of them you could put that on the bag and it is a great present for them and it also makes it easier for us.  

If you send goods to be given out, we give them out to the people we know who need them. We have people coming to the house every day for blankets, sheets, shoes, vitamins etc. The people who need it most, we take a note of their names and when something comes in that they need, we put it aside for them.   Sometimes we have shoes put aside for kids who we know really need them,  a lot of times it is first come, first served basis.   The other way we give things out, is that we take them to San Jorge or to Tierra Linda to the women's group and give out clothes in bulk.   The directors of the groups have asked the not to come to the house all the time asking for clothes etc otherwise , it is just too many people coming, so we have made an arrangement that periodically we take clothes and shoes ( hopefully) to them, at this time, we usually give out sheets and blankets - especially to the elders.  

How we do it is - we just get everyone to line up - usually we do the elder women first, they get blankets sheets etc.

Then we do the women with babies and they get baby blankets, baby clothes etc. We usually give out clothes for toddlers at the same time. Then the older children come in with their parents and they usually get to choose approx. 3 items of clothing depending on how much clothing that we have. Remember for the villages , it has to be appropriate clothing, we do not want to be the ones responsible for taking the kids out of their traditional clothing.

If we are giving out clothes here at the house, depending on the families needs we give out between 3 - 6 pieces of clothing per child.  Babies usually get about 6 -10 pieces depending on how much is available.   

It is only one pair of  shoes per person and we try on every pair of shoes on that person to make sure that they fit.  The people here are so anxious for shoes that they will take shoes that are way too big or way too small for them just so that they can have a pair of shoes.   

So that is generally how we give out the clothes. Unless it is marked specifically for a person it will go into general donations.  

We gave out clothes, medicines and reading glasses in San Jorge. The reading glasses were a big hit.
This past week we took a lot of clothes, blankets, sheets, towels, medicines and vitamins to San Jorge and distributed them to the Women's group. We were also mobbed for the reading glasses which went very quickly. I started off giving glass testing with letters but everyone complained because they couldn't read, so we switched boxes to an eggo waffle box and tested with the picture of the waffle. There were lots of happy people who received donations that you had sent. Thank you.

A very small orphanage that is close to Panajachel in San Andres had no toys. So we took toys and clothes to the children and they were so happy. Cindi and Pascalline went up with Olga, the social worker to take the toys. They said that the children were just thrilled!

STUDENT RECEIVES A TYPEWRITER:

We were very fortunate to receive a shipment from mayanfamiliesconnection@yahoogroups.com and there were some typewriters there that we were able to give to the students who are in High school. The manual typewriters are hard to find second hand in the U.S. now but the group managed to find a few.  They cost over a $100 US. to buy here. This student was very grateful to receive one that she could take to school with her.
SORTING VITAMINS:

Sylvia, the wife of paraplegic Ernesto, was thrilled to receive 4 boxes of food from Sarah H. in Antigua. This family is often without sufficient food. Sylvia, washes clothes by hand to be able to feed the family and she only makes a $1.50 a day.   Thank you Sarah and friends!

BLOG:   DOG RESCUE.

Nila who works for us is a great animal lover. A few weeks ago on a rainy Sunday afternoon, she heard of a dog who had fallen down a large hole at a construction site.  The poor dog had been in this hole for two days , wet with rain and with no hope of getting out of this hole. I asked Nila to wait near the hole while I sent a Vet. from San Andres to see if he could help rescue the dog. She waited in the rain until the Vet. came and together they were able to get the dog out.  The Vet. was worried that she would be savage but she was so docile and so happy to be rescued.   He then found out that she was very pregnant.  He kept her overnight and then we brought her to Panajachel and have been boarding her at Miguel, the Vet. that we work with here in Panajachel.   

Very shortly after she gave birth to 12 puppies!   She is just skin and bone and so happy to be somewhere safe, warm and with food. Some of the puppies have not survived, but for the ones that did, when they are older we will try to find homes for them.   The mother dog will be spayed and we hope to find a home for her too. If not she will be released back to the streets, but at least she will be spayed, vaccinated and hopefully, a lot stronger.
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Today in Panajachel: