Dear friends,
As many of you know , we have struggled to find a location for Mayan Families.
We started Mayan Families out of our house in Panajachel.
We used Zoe's computer in her bedroom. Sandra, our Social Worker and I used to share that computer....when one got off, the other jumped on.
Then we moved into having an office in my bedroom. There were three of us working in there during the day.
Then we had 2 rooms built outside in the garden and we had the offices moved over there, but we continued to use our bedroom as my office.
After the flood in 2010 ...we had to evacuate our house and moved into the building Marti, which we had the use of half the building, the other half was used by a school.......then we moved to Calle Monterey, where we had a house with 5 rooms and a large garage outside that we used for many different activities....but anyone who visited us knows how squished we were. There was barely room to move in our offices.
Then we moved to the present location about 9 months ago now. It is a huge space...a two storey building with 60+ rooms. ( a few of them are really storage rooms, no windows and small.)
But the other rooms are fantastic...we now have space for all the staff to have office space....we have the small medical clinic, the physical therapy room, the volunteer room, the pre school has four rooms and a large playground. We have two kitchens, one for the pre school and one for the Elderly care program. We have emergency accommodation room for families who have to go for medical care and need to stay over, we have three rooms for the four children that we have in our custody, two bedrooms and a kitchen for them. We also have a library for students, a computer lab.. two sewing rooms, a meeting room.and we still have some space.
We have been concerned because we have a 3 year lease on this building and were worried about where we would go when the lease ran out. Where would we find anywhere to be able to fit ?
Well , now we no longer have to worry about this.
We have had the most amazing miracle !
A small , private U.S. family foundation has gifted the building to Mayan Families!
We have just been pinching ourselves ever since we got this news.
Mayan Families now owns the building and does not have to ever worry about moving again, finding a place big enough to rent or finding the money for the rent.
Mayan Families now owns the building and does not have to ever worry about moving again, finding a place big enough to rent or finding the money for the rent.
We are more grateful to these wonderfully generous and kind people, more than words can express!
Thanks to this gift we are also able to open the Mayan Families Manicure and Pedicure salon - Trade school - Beauty School on Monday...we have two store fronts that we do not have to pay rent on ..and now have this space available for the small school we are starting. On Monday, 9 women and one man in a wheel chair will start taking classes to learn how to do manicures and pedicures!! We hope that they will be learning a skill that will help them to earn an income in the future.
We are so grateful for all your help that made it possible for this gift to be given to Mayan Families.
It is thanks to your support that we have been able to grow! It is also thanks to your support and efforts that Mayan Families has be able to help the community here in Guatemala as much as we have!
It is thanks to all that you that have made this all possible, that the family foundation thought that Mayan Families was worth giving this wonderful gift, of this building to us.
We are humbled, relieved and so grateful to have a permanent home where we know so much good will happen to be able to help the impoverished families we serve.
Sharon
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