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Student In Need of
Sponsorship
Juan Esteban, #68, from Panajachel is currently in 3rd grade and in need of
sponsorship for the 2013 school year.
Sponsorship is available for $30 a month, ($360 per year). Please click here to sponsor Juan!
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Anciano In Need of
Sponsorship
Maria Coroxon lives in
San Jorge, in a little room by herself. Because she has been sick
recently, she has been unable to come to the Elderly Care Feeding Center
to eat. She has her grandchildren bring her food to her every day. When
they can, they bring her a little food from the meals they make with
their own families. We have brought doctors to Maria several times over
the last few months. She is currently receiving treatment for the wounds
on her legs, as well as some stomach illnesses and severe headaches. When we visit, she is always sure to embrace us and give kisses on the cheek, even though she does not speak much Spanish, hear or see well.
To help, click here. To sponsor Maria for $35 a month, click here.
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Greetings!
At the start of 2013, we would like to say thank you to all
of our wonderful supporters who were able to make 2012 such a great year
for Mayan Families. Over the past year, we were able to sponsor over
2,000 students to go to school from preschool to university, provide
over 200 families with fuel-efficient wood-burning stoves, sponsor 20
elderly people in our Elderly Care Program and begin to stabilize the program, as well
as distribute over 1,400 tamale baskets this holiday season to families
in-need and give out countless presents to children who otherwise would
not have received a gift.
We
are also very grateful to the sponsors who have already committed to
sponsoring or co-sponsoring a student for the 2013 school year. Over
2,300 students have already come and picked up their school supplies to
continue their education, which will provide them with a much brighter
future!
As the new year begins, we ask that you please consider renewing your commitment to Mayan Families.
Whether it be sponsoring your student for the 2013 school year,
purchasing a carton of eggs for a family, or even just telling your
friends about the work we do, every little bit makes a difference.
Thank you for being a Mayan Families supporter. Together we can create a better future for the indigenous people of Guatemala!
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Remembering Gabby Lewis
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Becky Lewis and librarian Josué Bocel
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Becky
Lewis has raised over $5,000 to start a new library in Tierra Linda in
memory of her daughter, Gabby Lewis, who was adopted from Guatemala. In
2011, Gabby was the young victim
of a tragic car accident. Becky, her husband Shane, and their son
Tucker, also adopted from Guatemala, chose to honor her short but
beautiful life by providing a safe and fun place for the
children of Tierra Linda to learn and play.
Tierra
Linda is a remote community that Mayan Families has been working with
because of the high level of poverty and non-existent government
programs. With the help of
sponsors and donors like Becky and her family, Tierra Linda now has a
Preschool Nutritional Center, a middle school and a marching band, a new
addition to the elementary school, and now a beautiful library. Having a
library is very uncommon in rural Guatemala, and the Gabby Lewis
Memorial Library is the first library ever in the village of Tierra
Linda. The library includes laptops, a play and learn loft with puzzles
and toys, a reading nook, an area to do homework and activities, and
hundreds of books that range from preschool level to reference books for
the older students. Josué, the librarian, hosted a Vacation Program for
the local children to participate in and Becky Lewis gave out 20 awards
to children who participated in the activities. The middle
school students also showed off their dance moves for Becky in
appreciation of the new library, including some great break dancing and
beautiful traditional Guatemalan marimba.
Our
hearts go out to Becky and her family for their great loss and we'd
like to let them know how grateful the village of Tierra Linda and Mayan
Families is for the honor of commemorating Gabby's life and her loving
spirit by providing the children of Tierra Linda with a stimulating and
motivational
environment to support their education. The Gabby Lewis
Memorial Library will lead to lasting transformations in the lives of
the children and among the community members who will benefit from this
great resource.
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Preschools Monitored for Malnutrition
Last
week Mayan Families sent a team to Chukumuk, a remote village which was
built after the devastation of Hurricane Stan in 2005. The Spanish
government had built homes and schools in the area, after the village of
Panabaj was declared a mass grave and its surviving inhabitants were
relocated. They spent the next 6 months to 4 years living in a refugee
village erected by the Guatemalan government.
Chukumuk
is one of the poorest and most malnourished villages that Mayan
Families serves per research and data compiled since last June by
volunteers. We went to Chukumuk to verify our results, interview
families and bring fortified food packets to those we identified as
severely malnourished, with plans of implementing a more regular system
of distribution to those in need.
Our
in-house Dr. Louis De Peña was able to medically evaluate the current
preschoolers while we took their measurements, and later evaluated about
30 mothers. The rest of the team interviewed families to better locate
root causes of a child's malnutrition. Later, the doctor performed house
visits for several children who were ill or flagged as severely
malnourished. These families were provided with food packets from Feed
My Starving Children, in hopes of temporarily alleviating their
situations.
This
will be the first of a continued monitoring process that will help us
better understand how to serve our communities and the life and death
issues they face. Feed My Starving Children has agreed to provide Mayan
Families with over 96,000 meals this year, and this will help us to
combat the chronic malnutrition that plagues the children and their
families in the Guatemalan highlands.
If you would like to help support this project, you can donate to the Health and Nutrition Program at www.razoo.com/story/Mayan-Families. Also, please check the Nutrition Blog in
the upcoming week for a comprehensive article on Chukumuk, Hurricane
Stan aftermath and our Preschool Monitoring project here. Thank you for your support!
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Open Letter & Gallery Call 2013
In an effort to raise money for the ancianos (elderly)
I would like to host fundraisers at local or at-large galleries,
featuring the photos & stories compiled of our program participants.
We have their blessing to share their stories with the world, and I am
hoping this will procure the necessary funding to allow our program to
continue. If you or someone you know has a gallery which could lend
frames or negotiate fundraisers for the Mayan Families Elderly Care
Program, please direct this information to Megan at familyaid@mayanfamilies.org.
In addition, I will be working on compiling a book of the elderly's - ancianos photos
and stories, along with interviews and photos taken by the girls in our
Las Fotos project: sponsored youth from our schools were selected to be
in the project because of their good grades. Project managers will
teach them camera skills, and the girls will interview and photograph
some of our ancianos-- not only to have beautiful subjects
from which to hone their photography skills, but also to foster
relationships between youth and their elders. Look for their interviews
and photos in the coming months!
Thank you,
Megan
Mayan Families Ancianos Coordinator
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Mayan Families' Valentines!
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