Violence in Panajachel.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/guatemala-vigilantes-kill-5th-229478.html

Drama in Panajachel.

Yesterday, Saturday we had a lot of drama in Panajachel, Guatemala.
Mayan Families, ( www.mayanfamilies.org) was on the way to give a Christmas party in Chaquija. We had the van and pick up piled high with toys, Santa Claus, a clown, tables, lots of bananas. When we arrived at the bridge there was a demonstration against the mayor. The roads were blocked by burning tyres.

We tried to go down another route and were stuck in a traffic jam down a very small lane way. Eventually we got into town, only to confront a group of people who had closed the road with a bus, a pick up and a tuk tuk. It as an angry crowd, we watched as they grabbed a tuk tuk that was trying to pass and threatened to burn it.

We had decided to turn back and wait to see what happened but just then a man in the crowd started talking to the men who were blocking the way, he told them that Mayan Families was on the way to give out toys and that a lot of children would be disappointed. He also said that we help the town a lot and this was their turn to help us. Much to our surprise, the crowd agreed to let just our two vehicles pass. We quickly jumped into the vans and were on our way, passing long lines of cars on either side of the blockade.

The road in one area being blocked by tuk tuks.

They Mayor trying to talk to a disgruntled crowd. The demonstration was against the mayor deciding to block the main street and make it a pedestrian area with only limited vehicle access.

Sex Education and Family Planning finally available in schools.

This is a very interesting article.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49436

Holiday gifts being received today.

These are some of the holiday gifts being received today.
There were some very happy faces here, unfortunately we had a little problem with the camera and some of the photos are a little out of focus.















This student received a new corte and guipil to wear for Christmas.
Having new clothes at Christmas is a very important part of the celebration. Most of our students usually cannot afford to have new clothes....so receiving a gift like traditional clothing is very important to them.



























Albertina is the mother of five children, a victim of violent physical abuse , she left her husband just before the birth of her twins. She is now living with her parents, in a room built for her by Mayan families supporters.

She and her children were thrilled to receive these wonderful gifts!


To see more photos please go to this link


http://picasaweb.google.com/mayanfamilies/Diciembre5De2009General#



























This is a little girl who is very happy to have a huge bottle of vitamins for her family and her photo on the bottle!!!

Going Bananas!!!!

Today we gave out lots of bananas in the little village of Chaquijya in Solola, Guatemala.
These bananas have been donated and we have been fortunate to receive 15,000 lbs of bananas to distribute.
There were so many happy faces.
please go to the link below to see all the photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mayanfamilies/Diciembre5NavidadEnChaquijya#

Faces in Solola , Guatemala at the Christmas party in Chaquija

Today we had a Christmas party in a very small village in Chaquija, Solola, Guatemala.

There was Santa Claus, a clown, visitors Marlene and Vanessa along with their husbands and children, brought bags of food and toys to give to the children.

These are some of the faces from today.

Going Bananas in Guatemala!

Yesterday we received a wonderful gift of 15,000 lbs of bananas to give out to the Mayan communities!

Fortunately, these bananas are green but we started distributing them as soon as they hit the ground at Mayan Families.

Today we are distributing them in communities above Solola.

This is just such a fantastic gift for these families, we are trying to give 10lbs per family.