GUATEMALA DAYCARE
Fall triggers our preparation time for our
return to the Central Highlands of Guatemala. This will be our 13th
year volunteering for this project that is run by a group of dedicated, hardworking
Mayan women whose mission is to improve the family situations in these remote
communities. Our role is to provide the
much needed financial and educational support. We started with one center and now
we support 12 with the centers improving each year.
HOLA Y GRACIAS
We were incredibly busy last year and here
were some of the highlights we would like to share with you. The kids were
pretty happy as you can see and we hope that you are as well.
1) At Chacap, we built a new
classroom out of used plastic bottles stuffed with dry garbage and covered with
adobe. This was an exciting project that had children, parents and “gringo”
volunteers doing the work to accommodate the growing enrollment at this site. The
new class was built in back of the existing center. In addition, the kitchen
that had been in an adobe outbuilding was moved into the main center to make
cooking for the children easier. A cement floor was installed in the adobe
building so it could be used as another classroom. Brian then wired the house
for plugs and lights. Solar lights made of plastic bottles filled with water and
chlorine were installed over the existing bathroom and washing area to provide
good, cheap light in an otherwise dark area during daylight hours. After we
left, mothers and other volunteers built playground structures out of old tires.
This center is now a thriving beehive with more than 55 children receiving the
benefits. Following are pictures showing the transformations at this site.
2) At Punyebar, two toilets
with running water were built at the edge of the daycare site. They held kid
sized plastic toilets and had doors for privacy. Prior to this the children had
to walk 5 minutes along a road with an adult to another house, to use a
bathroom. Imagine that.
3) At Palestina, we built a
playground structure complete with a slide and sandbox. Both the kids and
teachers went nuts over this!!!!!
4) At Fe Y Vida we installed
a chimney for a stove in the kitchen so that the smoke went outside. Prior to
this, the kitchen filled with smoke that escaped only via a small gap between
the pole rafters and the metal roof. The poor cook suffered for a whole year.
5) At Neuvo Amanacer, a new
bathroom, complete with kid sized plastic toilet, was built on site to eliminate
the kids having to walk quite a distance to a crumbling concrete toilet, much
too large for the little kids, in an outhouse with no door.
6) All centers received an
equal share of a shipment of toys, shoes, school supplies, clothing and musical
instruments - donations that were shipped by container boat courtesy of a
Quebec Volunteer Organization that works in our area. They generously paid for
the shipping which was over a $600 saving to our program.
These projects
are funded by three methods:
1) The selling of local
Guatemala Crafts which we buy in the communities where we work around Lake Atitlan and then they are sold at
craft sales in the Wakefield area.
2) The Wakefield School does
an incredible Christmas fundraiser for us.
3) You, our friends, with
your generous donations, provide the greatest support for this endeavor,
without it, this project would not function to the level that it does.
We are once again asking you to participate
in our Guatemala Daycare Project through a donation. We are happy to receive
any amount of donation however for any donation of $50 and over a tax receipt
will be issued in your name. For donations under $50 please make your checks
out to Sheila Silver, attention Guatemala Daycare Project, for all others make
them out to Paso por Paso. Send all checks to Sheila Silver, Box 566, Wakefield,
QC J0X3G0. Paso por Paso is a charitable organization run by a group of retired
teachers in Orillia ON who are building elementary schools in the same area in
which we work. Fortunately for us, they have agreed to give receipts to
donators for our program. Once we receive your donation we send it on to this
group with a stamped, self-addressed envelope and they issue your receipt,
directly. They transfer all your donations to their account in Panajachel, this
is the same bank in which we have our program account. When we arrive in Panajachel
they simply transfer the monies to our account. They do not charge one cent for
this service, it is their contribution to our project. We want you to remember
that every cent of your donation goes directly to the project, in fact we personally
do all the buying of materials right down to the cement and even the nails.
WE will be in Guatemala from January
through March and the projects this year are:
1) The big project will be
the building of another classroom and a kitchen in Punyebar. This is one of the
first centers we began supporting 11 years ago, it has been so successful in
the community that they just do not have the adequate space for the children.
Work has also begun to establish a community garden to provide vegetables for
this center which will be tended by the mothers.
2) This will be our third
year partnership with Heritage College who sends nursing and early childhood
education students and their teachers for one week to do training workshops and
medical assessments in the daycares.
3) Another important
connection established last year continues with an organization called Rising
Minds which provides volunteers ( travellers from other countries) to work on
our daycare projects in an attempt to ensure the volunteers have culturally
meaningful experiences while interacting with local Mayans, in much needed
community projects.
This year we have a website created and donated to us
by friends where we will post information and pictures of our adventures as
they unfold. You can access this site by
going to guatemaladaycareproject in google search. It is up and running
now and chronicles the work we have done over the last 12 years.
We and the children of the daycares thank you in
advance for any assistance you can give to this much needed project.
Sheila Silver & Brian Swan
The
Swan’s Nest 280 Wakefield Hts
NOTE: PLEASE SEND YOUR CHECKS BEFORE NOV. 15, AS IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME
TO PROCESS ALL OF THIS AND HAVE THE MONEY IN OUR ACCOUNT FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF
JANUARY, ALSO INCLUDE YOUR ADDRESS
