Chairs delivered to a school in need in Guatemala!

Members of the Upper Arlington and Tri Village Rotary Club of Columbus, Ohio visiting Guatemala last week. One of their gifts this week was to deliver chairs to children at a local school...who until these chairs arrived were sitting on the floor.

Co-Sponsor Maria Angelica for just $15 a month!

MARIA ANGELICA
 



Student #241
Name: Maria Angelica
Status: Needs Co-Sponsor
School Level: Elementary School
Co-Sponsorship Fee: $180           
Sponsor This Child by emailing education@mayanfamilies.org

MARIA ANGELICA NEEDS A CO-SPONSOR FOR 2013!
Maria Angelica was born on June 12, 2001. 
She is in 6th grade in 2013.
She lives in San Jorge la Laguna with her mother, Maria, 47 years old, and her father, Rigoberto, 50 years old, and 5 siblings:
The eldest is Estela, 24 years old, who is married.
Irma is 18 years old.  She is in 10th grade, she works to pay the costs of her studies.
Julio Cesar is 16 years old.  He is in 10th grade in Sololá.
Edgar Roberto is 13 years old.  He is in 7th grade in Panajachel.
Maria is the youngest. Maria was horribly burned when she was three months old. She was burnt on the face and the arms.  She almost died, but she received treatment from a group in the U.S. Once a year she was flown to the U.S. to receive treatment. More info here:
http://www.mayanfamilies.org/sponsorastudent?id=241

January was a whrlwind for us!

Dear friends, 
January was a whirlwind for us. As some of you may be aware, our family was on a little tour of some parts of the U.S . We were invited
 by the Rotary Club of Upper Arlington, Columbus Ohio to visit and give an
 update to their club about the progress with our Trade School and Junior High
 school that they have so generously funded.
 It was exciting for our daughters to see snow. For Aleeya , our 8 yr old,
 it was her first time to see or touch snow!

 We were also able to visit and give a talk at another Rotary Club in
 Columbus, meet with the service committee of a very large church who is
 interested in supporting Mayan Families and bringing down groups and visit
 with COFLAC....which is a group of people who have adopted from Guatemala
 and sponsor children through us, we spent a lovely night with them, it was
 so nice to see old faces and meet new friends. We then visited a church
 group in Cincinnati who have been doing service trips to Guatemala with
 Mayan Families for several years. It was an honor to give a talk at their
 church and see many of the people who had come down and others who are
 interested in coming down.
 From Ohio , we went to Zearing, Iowa which is a tiny town about an hour
 from Des Moines. It was wonderful for us to see the stark beauty of the
 snowy countryside. We visited the church in Ames, that sponsors several
 children and elderly...and had a wonderful evening with a Fish Fry and gave
 a talk to about 80 people about Mayan Families. Everyone was so welcoming
 and supportive.

 Many of these people are members of this group and we want to thank you
 again for your hospitality, your warmth and for being so welcoming and
 supportive!
 From Iowa ..we headed to California..where we went from San Diego to Santa
 Barbara..where we met with another Church group that has been very
 supportive with Tamale Baskets and a Rotary Club President. We also met
 with the organization, Direct Relief who we hope may be able to help us
 with medical equipment. They have an amazing warehouse full of medical items to donate. We also met with the Vitamin Angels organization that has been giving us vitamins and prenatals
 for the past year.
 Their office is in downtown Santa Barbara ...and was a surprise to us to
 see that most of the staff...( mostly mid 20's) were sitting, not on office
 chairs, but on large exercise balls! Apparently, this is the new thing, it
 is supposed to be very good for your posture and for your spine. It was a
 very big surprise to us...and when I accompanied Aleeya to the bathroom,
 she whispered to me, "Mom, I don't think that they have enough money to
 buy chairs here"!
 After Santa Barbara we had a meeting at UCLA with the Latin American
 Studies Dept. They are very interested in bringing groups down to work
 with us. Some of the dept. were here in January installing stoves with us.

 At the meeting they invited us to participate in a symposium in May at
 UCLA. We just received confirmation of this and they are generously paying
 for our plane tickets to be able to participate.
Thanks to the flight attendants of SouthWest Airlines, spear headed by Connie who is a member of this group! Mayan Families was nominated for free tickets which made it possible for us to fly from San Diego to Ohio, Iowa and back to San Diego.
 It was a great experience for us to meet so many supporters and we hope
 that we may have encouraged some new people to support Mayan Families.

 We will be in California in May....so if you would like us to come and give
 a talk at your church, club or home, please let us know.

 The only problem with traveling is that we really had very limited time on
 the internet so we are behind with answering some emails. Please re
 send your email to me if you have not received an answer. My apologies for
 the delay in getting back to you.

 It was wonderful to meet so many of you up there!
 Mil gracias,
 Sharon

Isabel needs Cosponsorship!

 
Student #44
Name: Isabel
Status: Needs Co-Sponsor
School Level: Junior High School
Sponsorship Fee: $360           
Sponsor This Child!
ISABEL NEEDS CO-SPONSORSHIP FOR 2013!  CO-SPONSORSHIP COSTS ONLY $15 PER MONTH ($180 PER YEAR).  IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CO-SPONSOR ISABEL, PLEASE CONTACT OUR EDUCATION PROGRAM COORDINATOR AT education@mayanfamilies.org THANK YOU!

Isabel was born on June 20, 1994.  She is in 9th grade in 2013.

Favorite Subject Accounting

Favorite Activity Playing basketball

Favorite Color black

Speaks Spanish and Kaq'chikel.

Isabel is the second child in a family of four children. Her sister Dina is 13yrs old, Patricia is 10yrs old and Jorge, the brother is 5 yrs old.
Here is her page where you can see the details!
Click here please!

Mayan Families January 2013 Newsletter

This is the link for the Mayan Families January 2013 Newsletter!
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs175/1103559743325/archive/1112214223971.html

January 2013       In This Issue Student In Need of Sponsorship Anciano In Need of Sponsorship Remembering Gabby Lewis Preschools Monitored for Malnutrition Ready To Help? Donate via our NEW QR Code Write a Review 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! 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. 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!  Remembering Gabby Lewis Becky Lewis and librarian Josué Bocel  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. 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! Ready To Help? 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  Top-Rated Nonprofit 2012 Thanks to all of the amazing reviews we got from all of you, we've won a 2012 Top-Rated Award from GreatNonprofits. Less than 1% of eligible nonprofits won a place on the 2012 Top-Rated List. Check out our great stories: http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/profile2/mayan-families.   Mayan Families' Valentines! Check out our Valentine's Day fundraiser benefitting the Feeding Center for elderly people and orphans in San Jorge!

Volunteer Opportunities   We could use help, whether you're in Guatemala or at your own home! Check out our listings here! Help Mayan Families for free... Use our resources to fundraise through third-party organizations, such as the Goodsearch toolbar, where we'd receive a penny for every single search engine search you perform. Don't forget that pennies go a long way when families in our services live on mere $'s a day. Click here to get started...     Our Blogs 1)Sharon's Blog 2)Family Aid Blog 3)Elderly Program Blog 4)Orphan Care Blog 5)Connections Blog 6)Nutrition Blog 7)Sewing Blog We appreciate the opportunity to communicate with you. We are committed to protecting your privacy and will not sell, exchange, or rent your email address.

Happy THanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the people who make the work of Mayan Families possible. Thank you for all the children you send to school, the people you have sent for medical /dental care, the wheel chairs, the beds, the chairs, the tables, the homes you have built, the land you have purchased, the birthday cakes that give joy, the baskets of food that bring tears of happiness and relief
to mothers who know, that for this day, their children will be able to eat, the Christmas toys, the Tamale baskets so that families can also celebrate Christmas., the shipments of clothes, shoes, school supplies, toys, books , blankets etc...the 1,001 things that you do to bring hope and happiness to so many impoverished people here in Guatemala.
Thank you for spreading so much love and kindness with your generosity...thank you for giving hope to people who are often in hopeless situations and in need of a hand up.
Thank you for the small miracles that you make happen every day.
We are so grateful for all you do!
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!
Sharon
Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES
a registered 501.(c).(3) Non Profit Charity
Website: www.mayanfamilies.org

It is Graduation time!!!

It is Graduation time!!!!!!!!!!!

So many of our students are graduating...it is such a joyous time for the families!

All our pre schools are having their graduation ceremonies.

Yesterday, the Panajachel Pre school...had their graduation.

It is our 4th graduation ceremony from our little pre-school.

25 students graduated!

It is a bitter sweet time. 

Some of those students have been there since they were 3 years old and now they are moving onto elementary school.

One of them , little Walter when he came , he could not hear well  and he could not speak.  

We were able to get him medical care and he is now hearing well and is speaking fine ....this took several years of therapy..it wasn't overnight but it is a huge victory for him. Without having come to the pre school, he would not be going to school for the first time ...and not being able to speak.

All of the students that graduated are starting school with a huge helping hand.

They can all write letters and numbers, they can count, they can speak Spanish and they like learning. 

Their parents were so proud! 

They had all put in money to buy gifts for myself, Gloria, Sandra and the two Padrinos for the ceremony, Rachel and her husband, Daniel. 

Then after the ceremony they presented us with a delicious chicken lunch.

It was a very special day. 

I couldn't help but have tears in my eyes watching all those little ones moving onto the next step in their lives.

 

Today we are having our first Graduation from the Chukumuk pre school!

We are also very, very fortunate to have the wonderful people from the Nuestros Ninos group (  Angela, the group leader  is a member of our Mayan Families Connection as well)

they will be coming with us to Chukumuk this morning.

They have a bag of food for each child to take home plus they have a blanket and a gift bag for each child!!!

This is going to be one very , very happy day for each of these families. 

The families are so much in need of food in Chukumuk.

Nuestros Ninos has also made a special treat for each child, they have taken the photos off each student page and made them a Memory Book!  How wonderful is that!!!!

 

They will then be installing 4 stoves in Chukumuk  and then installing 5 stoves to the rest of the families in Aqua Escondido who do not have stoves. 

 

We will have photos posted for you as soon as we can.

 

Also today the Jnr. High School in Tierra Linda is holding their special day when they will present all the work that they done through the year and they will also have a theatre performance and I am sure that they will be playing music with all the wonderful new band equipment that they have received.

 

Tonight we will be celebrating an early Thanksgiving with Mayan Families staff and volunteers. 

 

Wishing you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving.

We are so thankful for each and everyone of you!

Sharon

 

Sharon Smart-Poage

MAYAN FAMILIES

a registered 501.(c).(3) Non Profit Charity

Website: www.mayanfamilies.org