For animal lovers.

http://mayanfamilieshopefortheanimals.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post.html

Mattresses!

This family was so happy to receive three mattresses yesterday to put on the bare boards that they have been sleeping on! These children will be sleeping on mattresses for the first time in their lives!
Thank you to the kind person who was able to donate these mattresses!

Medicines in Guatemala.

Yesterday we delivered medicines to the Centro Salud in Panajachel. Centro Salud is the government Health Center. They have a doctor on duty here in this center in Panajachel, some centers have a nurse. Ususally the doctor does not have any medicines or sometimes only a little. So while the doctor can diagnose the illness he usually cannot treat it because he has little to work with. The results are people leave the center knowing that they need medication, holding a prescription in their hands but often cannot afford to buy the medications.

Whenever Mayan Families has extra medicines that have been donated we usually share them between the Centro Salud and a local doctor who gives the medication away to the neediest patients.

Thank you to everyone who has donated medications. They are so valuable and needed here.

Volcano spews sand , ash in Guatemala.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/volcano-spews-sand-ash-over-guatemala-20100427-to84.html

The last time this Volcano erupted was in 1929 and 2500 were killed.

The community in Nueva Esperanza says thank you!!

The director and one of the teachers from the school Nueva Esperanza brought gifts woven by the mothers to show their appreciation for the gift of the cement floors for their little school.

We raised enough money with the Valentines Day Hearts to be able to cement two of the four floors. We hope to soon have a donation organized by Vanessa Robichaux who does a great job raising money to help families in Guatemala . That donation will pay for the two remaining dirt floors. This will make a big difference in the wet season.
The director and the teacher told us that already there are many less children coughing because they are not in the dust all day.

We also started this school on a program for the 90 children to brush their teeth and take a vitamin tablet every day. They received enough toothbrushes and toothpaste for each child and enough vitamin tablets for one month. These vitamins have been provided by Sue Frank ...Mayan Hearts, and everyone who supports her beautiful wreaths at Christmas time! Thank you to everyone who has donated toothbrushes and toothpaste. It is something that we always need. The director and teacher were very pleased because this past week they had had Peace Corp volunteers come and give dental hygiene classes but they had no toothbrushes to leave with the children, so this program starting came at a very good time!

Visitors and kids having fun at the Tierra Linda Pre-school in Guatemala.

Visitors Marta and her group, had a wonderful time playing with the children at the Mayan Families
Pre-school in Tierra Linda.

The children loved doing the craft projects and they love having the attention of visitors.

We are looking for volunteers who would like to come down for the summer and spend time with the children at the pre-schools, working on after school program and translating letters from Spanish to English. Interested....please contact us at sharon@mayanfamilies.org

Delivering food in San Marcos.

This food is being delivered to San Marcos , a small village across the lake from Panajachel.
Mario, a new Mayan Families employee, who is from Tierra Linda
The family had food donated and they are very much in need of it.
There was nothing to eat in the house when this food arrived.
The house is made of cane. It is going to leak terribly in the wet season. The floor is dirt.
If anyone has ever thought about donating a home for a family, this is one family that is very much in need of having this help.

Visiting a sponsored student.

Marta, her son, Isaac, daughter, Anna and their friends, Audrey and Amelia visited their sponsored student Olga. Olga lives above Solola in a very agricultural area. Olga's father is blind and makes a living begging on the streets. Olga often leads him around Panajachel while he is trying to make enough money to feed his family.

There are 9 people living in this little house. It has no windows or doors. They do not have enough beds, the roof has holes in it and will start leaking badly in the wet season. The dirt floor will then turn to mud.
Olga and her family were thrilled by the gifts that their sponsors brought them, soaps, shampoos, blankets, umbrellas, flashlights, pillows, toys, all sorts of wonderful things.
Olga and her family will soon have an even better surprise as Marta and her group want to put in windows and doors so it is not so cold for the family.

If you would like to sponsor a student ...please go to this link....

http://www.mayanfamilies.org/SponsoraStudent

We have lots of children who are waiting and hoping to have a sponsor.

Rosaria. update.... loses her battle.

Rosaria, a mother with two young boys and an adult daughter, lost her battle with cancer this morning.
Rosaria had an operation in July to remove the tumor that we found out was very huge. She felt a lot better since then and we were all hoping that she would have a long life. Unfortunately, a month ago the pains returned and she went down hill quickly. Rosaria passed away this morning.
Her husband has spent a lot of time by her bedside caring for her and has not been able to work much ....all the money he had has gone on food and medications. They don't have the money to pay for the coffin and the burial. They will have to borrow it at a very high interest rate and then they will be in an even worse situation. They need $300 US to be able to cover the costs.
If anyone can help them with even a small amount the family would be so grateful.
To see a link to the previous story about Rosaria please go to this link:
http://mayanfamilies-sharon.blogspot.com/2009/08/rosaria-update-on-post-of-july-30th.html

Leonel Culan's family !

New cement floor!!

The old kitchen being replaced.

Food being received!!

You may remember Leonel Culan who had an accident when he was working and fell off a building. He was left paralysed from the waist down. He is still in hospital receiving treatment. His family was left in a very bad position, they had no food and the house was totally unliveable for a person using a wheel chair.

Thanks to so many kind donations we have been able to give the family regular food supplies and also to have all the children sponsored to go to school.

We are also in the processing of repairing and rebuilding the house for Leonel.
They all lived in one room that was very small and with a dirt floor. The room had a very high step to get into. We have cemented the floor, we are building a bathroom , cementing the patio area that is all mud and will be totally impassable for Leonel in the wet season.
We have given them an onil stove and are building them a kitchen as well.

The mother who was very depressed and worried about how her family would survive is feeling a lot better. She is very grateful for all this wonderful help she has received.

Estanisalao....Urgent help needed!

Estanisalao passed away this morning. He was 72yrs old. He lived with his younger brother who is 70yrs old. They have no other family and they are living in a small room that they built on land owned by a kind hearted person who let them stay there.
Estanisalao had a lot of stomach pains and pains in his hands and feet. We sent him for medical care and purchased medication for him.
Estanisalao was one of the elderly people in our Feeding program. Five days a week we brought him a hot lunch, sometimes it was the only food that he had to eat.
He lived in a room that was made of tin sheeting and wood, a tin roof and dirt floor. It was in very bad shape.His brother cooks over an open fire on the dirt floor. They washed their clothes over a rock. He had very few possessions.
Estanisalao worked as a day laborer and took whatever work was available. He did not go to school and did not know how to read or write.
This morning, two elderly neighbors came to tell us that he had passed away. He has no-one to bury him. His younger brother is not well and he works when he can get it just to provide himself with barely enough to eat.
We are asking for help to bury Estanisalao. We need $300 US to be able to pay for his coffin and bury him.
We need help with this urgently as he needs to be buried tomorrow. If anyone could help we would be so grateful.

UPDATE....Thank you ....we have received enough donations to be able to give Estanisalao a dignified burial. Thank you so much for this help..you are all wonderful!

Newspaper article about recent visitors.

This is an article that was written about Beth and her brother, Dave who recently visited Mayan Families and did so many wonderful things. They were here with Sue and Eileen, both long time supporters who do so much work. Sue has started an NGO called Mayan Hearts to raise money for vitamins for children, so many children have benefited from this great project and Eileen does the very important job of receiving checks and sending receipts for Mayan Families.
http://www.homenewshere.com/articles/2010/04/18/tewksbury_town_crier/news/doc4bc733ce89977816413995.txt

Exploitation of women in Guatemala factories.

This is an article that appeared in the Latin American Herald Tribune.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=355825&CategoryId=23558

Stoves make a huge difference in Guatemala.

This is the stove that this family cooked on before. They are so happy to receive a stove that will make their lives not only a lot easier but also a lot healthier.

This is Dolores and this is the "stove" that she was using until yesterday. Dolores lives in a mud brick room in Solola and is very poor.

Marta and her group, consisting of her son 18yr old son, Isaac, 15yr old daughter, Anna and their friends, Amelia and Audrey raised the money to buy six stoves. They are here all week installing these stoves in homes where they are badly needed.

In the mornings they have been volunteering at the three different Mayan Families pre-schools and in the afternoons they are having the unique and life changing experiences of visiting homes as a welcome guest and installing a stove that will vastly improve the lives of the families receiving these fuel efficient stoves.

Martha also brought pots that had been donated to her to give out to the lucky recipients of these stoves. The families were so happy to receive these pots!

Installing the stoves is a very hands on experience!

With the early start of the wet season, this group was lucky they brought their wet weather gear with them.

The dirt floor has often to be flattened and packed before the stoves can be installed.

Each stove requires 11 blocks for the base.

There is a lot of carrying of materials to the houses where the stoves are installed.

Each stove costs $160 US and has a long life span. We have a long list of families who are hoping for a stove. If you would like to donate one please go to our link below.

http://www.mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow

If you would like to bring your friends, family, church group, social group to install stoves ...we would love to have you. please contact us at sharon@mayanfamilies.org

Funny faces from Pana Pre-school.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mayanfamilies/Abril19De2010GeneralPreEscolarPanajachel#
The children at the Panajachel pre-school had lots of fun making these funny faces!
To see the rest of the children please go to the link above.

Appreciation for the Mini Olympics in Guatemala.

The teachers from San Jorge la Laguna school were so appreciative of the help that they received for the refreshments for the mini-Olympics.....that they brought this beautiful gift for Mayan Families.
Thank you to everyone who was able to donate to help the children have drinks and a snack for the three day event. It was greatly appreciated!