Casa Guatemala News

Rio Dulce June 2009

Dear Friends,

 I would like to start this newsletter on a positive note.  We are in the process of building a children’s theatre in Rio Dulce, despite all the assaults we face daily. 

The declining world economy and the H1N1 virus have descended on us and are making our already difficult situation even worse.   People are traveling less and that has taken a toll on the business at the Backpackers Hotel.  Donations and sponsorships are steadily decreasing, but hope and children’s laughter always prevail in our home.

 To that end, I want to share with you the exciting news our children’s theatre.  A group of twenty five children have been working very hard to put on a presentation of “The Lion King”.  One of our Australian volunteers was planning on bringing the body paint with her, but to be sure they make it on time for the opening show on June 18^th, she mailed them.

 We then had a problem with the lycras.  It has been challenging to find the right colors and lengths.  Then there is always the issue of expense.  So we have settled for the short lycras.   The wooden stage is covered with rugs donated from Spain.  Jorge, a Spanish volunteer has taken charge of this project.  He is a professional and perfectionist and the children just love it.  The show will be filmed and downloaded on YouTube, details to follow. 

 More good news, the young women from the neighboring Indian villages are being trained by a teacher in Casa Guatemala to do beaded crafts and to make crochet belts.  This nice project is supported by Diane Nesselhuf from “Sharing the Dreams”.  It will enable young women in the community to sell their crafts to the tourists who we hope will return soon.  Finally with the help of two groups from Canada and Colorado, we are constructing a gathering hall, and two classrooms.  These new additions are already up and running and the children have been involved in the construction of these buildings.  It is an opportunity for the children to help build their home while learning about construction at the same time.   If we continue to survive and thrive here in Guatemala, it is because of the hundreds and hundreds of helping hands who have reached out and shared their expertise, their time and the financial support.

 Thank you for continuing to provide our children with a safe, nurturing environment.  They may not know you personally, but they are secure in their belief that there are people who care about them. 

 Please visit our www.casa-guatemala.org and send your contribution using PayPal or Google option, but if you prefer to send your aid direct to our bank in Guatemala, here are the instructions.  Remember us in your prayers.

Thank you very much for your interest and support.

I would like to add that we have volunteers worldwide who continually contribute their time and expertise.  Claudine in South Africa is working on our Web page, Simon in London is working with sections of the Web, and Fernando in Spain is developing a new accounting program.   We would like to encourage you to send in your donations in before July 31 st, 2009, as we have a dollar for dollar matching donation by Mr. Lennox McNeely of $40,000 dollars.   In order to receive this gift we have to receive donations of the same amount.   Hope we can count on you!

 Love you

Angie

Rio Dulce August 2008

Dear Friends

Casa Guatemala is a nonprofit organization founded in September of 1977 for the care and protection of children. There are currently 250 children who are placed in our care by the Guatemalan Ministry of Child Welfare because of abuse, abandonment and extreme poverty. By providing good nutrition, medical care, education and adoption services, Casa Guatemala has made a positive impact on the lives of thousands of children who would otherwise be faced with abuse, exploitation, starvation and even death.

A Children’s Village situated in Las Brisas, Rio Dulce was created to achieve our goal of providing an atmosphere filled with love, learning and laughter. It is a paradise spanning over 100 acres of tropical jungle peppered with eco-friendly structures which make up the community. These include separate dormitories for the girls, boys, volunteers and local staff. In addition, there is a school, medical clinic, library, carpentry shop, outdoor playing fields and a dining hall. The village attempts to be self-sustaining through farming and much of the produce such as eggs, meat, fresh fruits, and vegetables are consumed in the daily diet.

We are in the midst of the horror movie. There has been a rash of vampire bats biting the children at night. We have had a relatively peaceful existence in the jungle up until the last couple of months when eighteen of our children were bitten by the bats. They gain access to the children’s´ dorms through openings in the roof which are used for ventilation. All the children have mosquito nets, but because they move about during sleep, their exposed limbs are frequently targets for the bats. Our children are being vaccinated for rabies, but in the meantime, we are taking measures to safeguard everyone at night by sealing off the openings on the roofs.

A SWAT team from the Police Department of Tallahassee, Florida responded to our plight by coming to Rio Dulce to work on sealing the roofs. They were off to a great start, but unfortunately due to circumstances out of our control, they were unable to complete the job within a week as the temperatures were so high that three members got very sick and had to return.

Despite the setbacks, one quarter of the work is complete. We still have to seal off all the other structures and put screens on all the windows.

We are once again appealing to you for your financial support. While Sam, the leader of the SWAT team is organizing another team, Kathy Price from Ohio is organizing man power to help repair the green houses. We are hoping to use Kathy’s team to instead complete the work of sealing of the roofs of the dormitories, as the children’s safety is our TOP PRIORITY. However, funds are lacking.

We need $14000 to complete the work on the dormitories, but have collected only $5000 dollars thus far. We are looking for a miracle at this point. We trust that God is with us and will help us provide for all of the children in our care. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity and for making a difference in our world.

May your days be filled with love and peace.

Thank you.

 Angie and the children

Casa Guatemala.

Please make a donation to help us to help these young children.  You can donate online or find out the address to send a cheque to at: http://www.casa-guatemala.org/donate.php.

May 2008

News from the orphanage

Christmas celebration: Gifts, food, a good group of volunteers came back to celebrate this marvelous day with the children, it was fun for everybody

First month of 2008:

SCHOOLING

• Organisation of twenty teenagers ready to go to boarding school in three different locations; Zacapa, Chiquimula, Poptun. This is a hard one!
• Review of the school staff, interviewing candidates to take the teaching positions available; Teachers for English, kinder, second, third, computer, craft and special classes (ie children with learning difficulties).
• Meeting with Ministry of Education official
• Clear concise plan for school year ahead
• Preparation of school supplies, including inventory and obtaining what is necessary and distribution to each teacher
• Organisation of seminar for teaching staff including volunteers taking on teaching positions
• Registration of all students, cleaning and organizing classrooms

PROBLEMS

FIRST AND SECOND MONTH

Once we get underway for the school year, the problems start to arise. We have volunteers and teachers having to adjust to ´what we have´. Paint on the buildings is fading and tatty, roofs leak, toilets not functioning, not enough desks for all the students, no lockers. Teaching staff upset because some children are not wearing shoes. Then we get problems from the kitchen. Not enough plates, cups etc for all of the kids. Do we even have enough food to cover the first week of feeding for around 250 children, 30 volunteers and 45 local employees? Diesel for the generator is getting more and more expensive, the water pump has stopped working and we are now having problems with the boat that takes the village children to and from school.

THIRD MONTH

The number of complaints start coming down, either because the problem was taken care or we become resigned to the fact that we just have to live with what we have.
Right after the school opening we have Carnival celebrations, celebrations and special activities for Valentines Day, Day of the Indigenous and Day of the Woman. For Holy week, we take the week off because many of the children go home with their families but still a good number stay with us, we try to have fun activities planned and because the teachers head home, it is down to the volunteers to fill that gap. We are busy all the time and by 8pm all of the children are fast asleep.

FOURTH MONTH

We then have World Wide Day of Health, Day of the Earth, Day of the Book and Day of the Secretary.

FIFTH MONTH

Labor Day, Mothers Day, Day of the Tree, International Non-Smoking Day.

SIXTH MONTH

Environment Day, Fathers Day, Teachers Day, Army Day.

SEVENTH MONTH

Grandparents Day.

EIGHTH MONTH

The day of the flag.

NINTH MONTH

Independence Day, International Day of Peace

TENTH MONTH

Childrens Day, Day of the Animals, Day of the Hispania, Day of Revoluntion, Halloween.

ELEVNTH MONTH

Day of the Dead

Every month of the year, we struggle to get the money to pay salaries. Every week struggle to get the money for fuel, and every day for the food, we never relax, money never gets here before the need.
This month we have to pay the total of four salaries to the staff, (salary, vacation, legal bonus, Christmas vacation) and of course we never have all this money at once.
We also order the school supplies for the fallowing year, no money in the bank, no money in the way, just the hopes that God will not leave us alone with all this burden.

TWELTH MONTH

HIV DAY, Day we burn the Devil, Day of Innocence, Day of Peace signing, Christmas Day.

This is a crazy month! Preparation and getting ready for Christmas is a lot of stress. We do not have any money to plan ahead for the celebration. We go with the plans according in what we will be receiving. Sometimes it is already the 22nd and we still don’t have enough gifts. Sometimes the decorations are not up until the 23rd. And of course we have to make the children believe that all is ok and Christmas for them will be a success. They behave so well in the hope that Santa is on his way to Casa Guatemala
.
As you can see the life in the orphanage revolves around school, celebrating all of the above plus a monthly birthday celebration. We try to keep our activities whether in or out of school fun for everyone to keep the children from getting bored! We are constantly teaching (and learning) in order to keep every child as happy as can be!

I am the one who is running out of ideas in how to deal with this terrible situation, every volunteer who takes positions in the administration, and mainly the one who accept to be the "administrative director" quit when he/she realized that there is no money ahead to plan anything. All is done day by day, it does not matter how many plans and wonderful ideas we might have, everything has to be improvised and adjusted according to what money is coming in.

It is sad when people come to visit us, bringing money but then deciding what is needed. For example an expensive printer that we don´t even have the electricity for and the cost of replacing the cartridges is expensive. In the end these lovely, but unpractical gifts just sit in our storage area. We simply need to obtain the day to day things that keep us going. When we are feeding around 330 people a day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks FOOD is at the top of our list.

I hope you enjoy reading about our yearly life in the orphanage, and of course if there is something you can do to help us, we will be thankful to eternity. We are here happy to do the job, but WE need YOU to be able to make possible our endeavor.

Thank you.

 Angie,

Casa Guatemala.

Please make a donation to help us to help these young children.  You can donate online or find out the address to send a cheque to at: http://www.casa-guatemala.org/donate.php.

February 2008

Team of Medical Doctors perform physical exams on all of the children

Thank you to the following doctors who are currently performing health checks on each of the children that attend Casa Guatemala.

Dr Osman Ahmedfigi from Somalia
Dr. Sachin Chandhary from India
Dr. Larry Kelly from Michigan
Sandy Kelly RN from Michigan
Dr. Ryan Murphy from Michigan
Dr. Saira Butt from Pakistan
Dr. Alan Barber from Kansas City

Cleft Palate Special Project

To some children born in poverty, in villages far away from civilization, there is no medical or social care provided by the government. For the children who are also born with this terrible birth defect the situation is immeasurably worse.

A typical example of a cleft palate defect

These children not only suffer from difficulties with speech, breathing, ear, gum and teeth defects, but also with rejection and shame that is heaped on them by their societies. Families often keep these children hidden away from the curious eyes of people who would be cruel to them. The situation would be the same in all corners of the world, but in more developed places the cure is readily available, and at a relatively low cost considering what is at stake.

We travel far into rural areas - to places that you would have to walk for hours to reach from the nearest real road. We look for children with this condition, and when we find them we explain to the family of the child, or the person suffering that we can help. Most of these people do not believe it when we tell them we are able to help - they do not think that this condition is something that can be fixed without a trace of the former disfiguration. They also do not believe that we are willing to help with asking for anything in return.

So we have to spend time and convince the local shaman, the priest or the pastor, the village elder and the parents of the child. We have to convince them that our intention is not to steal the child, and so we agree with them that two adults will accompany the child along to the hospital in the city. Usually the mother and the father come along. We then realise that many of these people have never seen a car before, let alone ridden in one. They expect to walk or to ride a mule. We then have to explain that we cannot take them to a hospital 600km away on the back of a mule.

It is not an easy task, but with enough persistence we are eventually able to get the child to the hospital and perform the surgery. We provide the parents with food and a place to sleep for the two days that the child is in the hospital, and cover all of the costs of transport to the hospital and back. We also have to make a return visit to the child to remove the stitches, once the skin has healed.

The average cost for all of this in Guatemala is $300. This is the contribution that we need to transform the lives of these children.

We have been performing these surgeries for the last 26 years, and every year we search deeper into the jungle and rural areas where transport is more difficult and the people are more afraid to trust outsiders. Often we need to take a translator for the Qéqchi language that is most common for the Mayan people that we visit, otherwise the task of convincing the villagers would be impossible.

This year we have 15 cases lined up so far, and we expect another 15 by the time the medical team arrives. The surgeries will take place on the 2nd March 2008. We will soon have pictures of some of the young children who are going to undergo the surgery.

Please make a donation to help us to help these young children. Thank you.

23rd December 2007

Comedor Extension is Completed

We have just completed the construction of the extension to the dining room.  The new area will be used by the staff.  The extra space will be gladly
welcomed particularly when the new school year starts - 600 meals a day are served in this building!

Thanks to Geulia Zgraggens for donating the money to build this extension.