Like much of the world, Guatemala is still under a fairly strict lockdown and movement within the country is limited. Schools - including Saludos Niños - are still closed. We understand that at this point, classes are suspended until sometime in August. The President of Guatemala may extend that suspension until later in the year. Thankfully, there are no documented cases of COVID-19 in Panyebar right now. We miss these faces!
Although the school is still closed, the teachers are keeping busy. The Mayor of Panyebar is helping to buy groceries for needy families and our teachers are distributing those groceries to the families of Saludos Niños. They are also awaiting an ‘ok’ from the Mayor to resume cooking take-out meals to give to the families. Our teachers continue to be paid during this time.
With the school closed, no activity in the yard and some heavy rains, the yard and our school have suffered some damage and over-growth. A tree branch fell on the bathroom, causing damage to the roof. A landslide caused our tire-retaining wall to collapse. As you can see, the yard had turned into a bit of a jungle! Thankfully, our staff have coordinated to have all of the damage repaired and the vegetation cut back. The school looks as good as new - as you can tell from the before and after pics.
Saludos Ninos and our staff are doing everything we can to keep the school in tip-top shape and help the families of our students in Panyebar. It’s a difficult time for our school as we’ve been unable to run many of our usual fundraising activities due to the pandemic. If you’d like to help us out during this time, please visit the ‘Donate’ page on our website. Every donation helps!
