Happy New Year! I hope you are enjoying the holidays. As we begin a new year I wanted to send a special thank you for your pivotal support for our mobile school program. Thanks to you, hundreds of children in Guatemala have been able to access primary education that would have been denied to them without your support. I have created this page and included some pictures from my recent trip to Guatemala to give you a better idea of the impact you are making.
As a Registered Nurse, a major reason I went to Guatemala was to lead a medical brigade to our partner communities. While the schools obviously serve primarily for education, they also help us bring in desperately needed health resources to the communities as many health programs in Guatemala are run through public schools.
While these may appear to just be pictures of cute babies, unfortunately Gloria and Sofia were two of the many young children we found to be severely malnourished and in danger of starving to death. We were able to provide them with milk, vitamins and medications to help them survive and within a few years they will be attending one of the schools you help us maintain!We were able to distribute a significant amount of medication during the trip. Because most children in these communities are suffering from chronic malnutrition, their bodies are very weak. Their parents can not afford basic medications like Tylenol, and young children often die of a simple cold or diarrhea due to the underlying malnutrition and lack of medications. We were able to give medications that saved lives, as well as leave extra medications and instructions with community leaders.We prioritized children under 12 and pregnant women during the medical brigade, but we also saw many adults suffering from various illnesses who do not have access to medical care.The schools remain very basic. Almost all have dirt floors, handmade desks and very limited supplies. But many communities have worked hard to improve the school buildings and purchase materials for the classes.In this last picture below, students who graduated from 6th grade were able to join a larger graduation ceremony at a far away school that served as an “umbrella institution,” therefor receiving official recognition and credit for graduating from the school that you made possible.
Myself and so many of us in the US take it for granted that we have access to a basic education. I can tell you that these kids definitely don’t. They are working very hard to take advantage of this opportunity, and they and their parents are very proud of what they have accomplished. Thank you once again for making all of this possible.
