The Mayan Families Beauty Salon 

Picking up on the global demand for income generating programs for women, we launched an innovative training scheme in July of this year to teach local indigenous women the art of manicures and pedicures with the view to open a fully functioning salon that will meet the growing demand for tourists and locals alike. 

The Mayan Families Beauty Salon is the first of its kind within the region in that it selects women who have no formal education and are often in desperate economic circumstances to be trained from scratch by experienced beauticians from the US as well as Guatemala. 

Our Co-Founder, Sharon Smart, believes that projects such as this are key to creating sustainable change within the community. “For many of these women, this is the first time that they have ever had any sort of independent income,” she says. “One woman, Marilyn, lost her home after Hurricane Agatha. The home her family currently occupies has a tin roof and the walls are falling apart. Marilyn and her husband struggle to provide for their three children by holding unstable jobs such as selling cell phones or driving a moto-taxi. A steady income will give this family the ability to lift themselves out of poverty.”

The school is currently seeking cash and in-kind donations. To sustain the project for the next 3 months, the organization needs $2,500 which covers the following costs: 

• Restocking supplies and materials 

• Training equipment 

• Monthly bills such as water, electricity, rent 

• And local Guatemalan teacher’s salary 

Help us raise $2,500 to continue this important project! If you are able to help with even a small donation, we would be very grateful. You can send a donation at http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow. Please fill in the amount in the field marked OTHER and in the DETAILS field, please indicate ‘Beauty Salon.’ 

There are several ways that you can get involved to keep the exciting project alive:

Option 1: Become a Beauty Salon Sponsor! 
For just $100 a month, you can be a principal project sponsor and enjoy the following benefits:

• Your picture and name will be up on our salon “Hall of Fame” 
• Free salon services when you visit us here in Guatemala
• Pride for helping a Guatemalan woman empower herself and her children

Option 2: Give a small donation
To continue the project for the next 3 months, the organization needs $2,500 which covers the following costs:

• Restocking supplies and materials
• Training equipment
• Monthly bills such as water, electricity, rent
• And local Guatemalan teacher’s salary 

If you are able to help with even a small donation, we would be very grateful! 

Option 3: Send down in-kind donations
The salon is in need of in-kind donations as well. If you wish to send supplies, materials, products, training equipment, etc. please contact melanie@mayanfamilies.org 

Once the first group of women is trained, the salon will open its doors to tourists and locals alike that can enjoy the services in exchange for a suggested donation, providing a new income source for the first group of graduates who will then pass on their skill to a new group of trainees!

Children's Day in Guatemala

These photos are from the celebration in 2012. This week we will celebrate Children' s Day in Guatemala .....Each child in our Nutritional programs /pre schools will receive a food and a gift....but we need help to do this. It costs $2 per child to make this possible. If you would like to sponsor a whole pre school...we have schools that have 35 children up to 111....any amount will help to make this a happy day for them. If you would like to sponsor in honor of someone special in your life, we will be happy to take a photo of the children with that person's name and send it to them. To send a donation, no matter how small..http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow.

ONE OF OUR FAMILIES IN AQUA ESCONDIDO

This morning we had a call from Aqua Escondido...this is where we were able to buy land and build 8 houses for families who did not own land.

One of the poorest families there is a family of 11 ....9 children ...and 2 adults. The parents, Jesus and Clara...have had a very hard life. 

This family often has nothing to eat ...the signs of malnutrition are very visible on the children.

They have an older son who would have been 26 next month.  He has brain damage but the family could never afford to have medical care for him. He would often forget where he was or who members of the family were.

Last night he went out walking and didn't come home. This morning they searched for him and found him lying dead on the side of the road.

They are not sure what he died from and probably will never be able to find out whether he had an accident or if someone hurt him.

The family called early this morning sobbing. They have no money for a coffin. 

This family has no money to for food to eat daily...and if they have to buy a coffin on credit, the interest will soon mount up and they will not be able to pay it.

We need $300  US to be able to help this family.  The coffin has to be delivered to them by a pick up as they have no transport and no way to get here.  They need to go and file papers..they will need bus fare for this and to buy whatever is needed.    Because the father will not be able to work today, they will not have food. 

Those of you who have visited these families in Aqua Escondido know the situation that they live in....if you can spread the word on your social medias ...we may get some help for them.

If you would like to send a donation, please send it to http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow and mark it for #1147....that is Ana, who is one of the 2 children we sponsor in this family.

If anyone would like to help with just a little towards this families 

This is when we delivered building materials to the family.

This is inside the very humble home.  There is only one bed and this is the bed that they have their son lying on who just passed away. They do not have a coffin for him yet. 

Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES

a registered 501.(c).(3) Non Profit Charity
www.mayanfamilies.org

Maximo and Angelina go to the hospital

10 year old Maximo and his little, 4 year old sister, Angelina were admitted to the Govt. hospital for malnourished children.

Either the parents took them there or the govt. officials would have taken all four of their children to an orphanage and they would have lost custody of their children. 

It was a very hard decision for the parents but it was made easier by having the situation explained to them in their own language by a Mayan Families social worker.  

They were taken to the hospital in the Mayan Families pick up...accompanied by the driver, Juan Carlos, who has a very good heart and as a father knew how hard it was for the parents to leave their children.  Elisa and Vicki from the Mayan Families ..Family Aid program accompanied the parents into the hospital. Elisa speaks Kakchiquel and the parents speak Tzutjil but they understand each other, Vicki, a Canadian, speaks fluent Spanish and was there to check out the hospital and confirm the conditions for the children and what the parents could expect. 

Vicki was pleased to report that the hospital was very clean and bright...that there was a play area for the children with toys.   

She told me that the nurse that received the children was very gentle and welcoming to the family. The mother and father told the nurse that they love their children very much...that they wanted the nursing staff to know this.

The parents will not be able to visit the children for 2-3 weeks....and after that they will be able to visit every Sunday from 9-11 a.m.    I wonder how many parents can  actually make this trip. These children who are in this hospital are there because the parents can't afford food....so how are they going to be able to afford the bus fare to get to the city.  Many of the parents will be like Maximo and Angelina's parents. ...this is their first time ever to the city...it is very scary for them.  Is it possible for many of them to afford to do the trip and to even know how to get there to visit their children ?

Now we are focusing on helping this family. There are two other children in the family who are not as in such a severe state of malnutrition as Maximo and Angelina but they are not far behind.   Tomas  is 14 years old and weighs 72 lb...his little sister, Ana...7 years old, not only is very underweight but she also suffers from asthma......the parents cannot afford medical care for her.

The parents and the two remaining children are now coming to Mayan Families 5 days a week ...where they can eat and receive medical care.   The father is going to start taking classes at the carpentry shop this Monday.   We hope that with the father learning a skill, it will give him a chance at being able to work and have an income. Until now the father has only been able to cut coffee and work in the fields. This is often seasonal work and he makes only $3 approx a day.

We need help to be able to help this family.  

We need sponsorship for their food for the weeks that they will be at Mayan Families.

We need help to be able to pay for their medical care.

We need help to be able to pay for their transportation to and from the city to visit Maximo and Angelina.

If you can help, with even a little, it will make such a difference to this family.

There is a saying that I have seen attributed to Mother Teresa..." If you can't feed the world...just feed one"   This is definitely one family that needs this help.

Donations can be sent to http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow

Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES

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

www.mayanfamilies.org

Jesus 22 years old is in desperate need of help

Last night we received an urgent phone call about help for this family.

Jesus is 22 years old. ...last week he had collapsed and was sent to the hospital in Solola. ...he is diabetic and could not afford the much needed medication. 

He was released from hospital after being stabilized and sent home.  Last night he started convulsing and became unconscious.  

His mother, who is shown in this photo, anxiously waiting for the ambulance to arrive, is also diabetic and in poor health.

18 months ago this family lost the oldest brother from very similar conditions that Jesus is suffering from.  They could not afford medical care for him ...and he died. The family is now terrified that this may happen to Jesus. 

This morning they need to be able to buy medicine and do tests for him. 

Jesus's father is a fisherman and he does not make very much money at all. It is barely enough to keep the family fed.  He has two younger children who are still in school and it is very hard for them to even manage to keep them in school. 

Jesus was told last week that he needs to have a Electroencefalograma ..an examination of his head and he needs to have a test for his pancreas as well. 

We need $300 US. to be able to pay for the insulin that he needs and get these tests done. 

If you can possibly help with even the smallest amount, it will mean a great deal to this family that has already suffered a terrible loss and are dealing now with the fear of losing their other son.

Please send your donation to  http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow and mark it for FA #335. 

Any help would be so appreciated.

Sharon

These two children are in desperate need.

These two children are in desperate need. Angelina is 4 years old and weighs 16 lb ..her brother, Maximo is 10 years old, very stunted and weighs 28lb. They are the worst affected in a family that is starving, there are other children in this family. The children were hospitalized for a week but they now need to have food to take home. We need to be able to provide this family with food till they are able to take better care of themselves. If you would like to help them, please send a donation tohttp://mayanfamilies.org/DonateNow and put the name Maximo #931 in the notes section. This money will go directly to purchase food for this family.

Saturday and Sunday classes in rural Guatemala

Hi everyone,

The Saturday classes are not just a tutoring class, they are formal school classes. They are held on Saturday or Sundays for students who have to work ..or for students, like Claudia who are so much older than the kids in their regular school classes. ...in these situations it is often embarrassing for students to continue school ..when they are 16 years old and everyone in the class is 8 - 10 years old.   These  are accelerated classes...and they often do two grades in one year...like 3 and 4 th grade....etc...and they give the students a lot of homework to do during the week.  When the student graduates from these classes , it is as if they have graduated from the classes at school. These classes are totally accepted by the Minister of Education.  

Apart from these classes...Claudia is coming regularly to computer classes twice a week.

She is also working a few days a week babysitting.

She is also going to church and is taking the classes to be baptised.  Here in Guatemala this usually means one or two nights of study and all day on Sunday.   

So she is keeping pretty busy.

She has asked if we would give her a job at Mayan Families but we just do not have the money to pay for her.  If you would like to sponsor her for work ...we would be delighted to have her. 

I am also very relieved that she has gone in a different direction...we were all concerned for the direction it looked like she was going. 

For her baptism ...she needs to have a traditional outfit  ....( we just gave her a second hand outfit for her birthday ...it was in good condition but it was obvious that it was not new )   If she could have a new guipil ( Blouse ) to go with the corte ( skirt) that would be great.  The skirt looks a lot newer than the guipil.  A new guipil is approx $80 US...these are the woven ones for her village.  ( there are plenty of other guipils that are a lot cheaper) 

I think she needs a veil...I am not sure how much that is...and I think she may need a bible and a special candle. 

Most families will then go home and have lunch but as you know it is just Claudia and her grandmother and they will not have any food. If you would like to give them some tamales for their special lunch...we could organize that.   I think that a photo frame is also nice...and we could get the photo from the baptism and frame it.   All of these things are just suggestions ...and any of them would be appreciated. 

Sharon