Saludos Niños! : Photo Album

MARCH 2014

Roof repairs March 2014

MARCH 2014

Delivering wood shelving March 2014

March 2014

New shelving March 2014

March 4th 2014

The kids are very happy to be able to do puzzles and play with lego and other toys again.
March 4th 2014

You can see how cleaned up and groomed the front yard is now that it has been levelled and sandbagged along the edge to prevent the kids from falling down into the neighbours place. T

March 4th 2014 some activities in the class.

Here is a food specialist meeting with the cook at Punyebar to go over the menus to help adjust the foods used to feed the kids each day and thereby cut some cost from the food budget. March 4th 2014

March 2014

February 2014

February 2014 Heritage college Students preparing for visit

February 2014 Heritage college students preparing teaching kits for daycares

The mothers in our biggest, most remote centre are making jewelry from the things they have at hand- that means coffee beans, corn,and other seeds of squash and watermelon for instance. They also use up leftover bits of nylon cord and wool. We will be selling these in the spring to help them keep their centre running and the mothers working.

February 2014 Jewellery produced by mothers

January 2014

2014 Heritage College team

Heritage College continues its support of the Daycare Project, for the third year by sending down a large team of nursing and early childhood education students, and some of their instructors. They present a workshop to all the Guatemala Daycare teachers.Then visits are made to each centre to do medical assessments and treatments of the children and familiarize both the teachers and their daycare kids with new educational supplies. Heritage students prepare the workshop information and leave health posters and teacher binders of professional activities which they have prepared before coming to Guatemala. They also bring much needed medicines. It is a practical hands- on outreach program for Heritage College and provides a tremendous gift to the daycares.

LASO (Latin American Student Organization) 60 members strong , ranging in age from 14 to 18 from San Jose, California.Their teacher Brenda Mercado contacted us to donate backpacks of school supplies to our daycares this year.

The mission of LASO is to raise acknowledgement of their Latino culture through community service to help their members become confident leaders of the future, and show that even though they are a minority group, they can make a difference. By contributing to our daycare project, they are really stepping up to the plate to help Guatemalan children reach their fullest potential to obtain the opportunities and quality education that children receive back in California. We are very excited that LASO chose to partner with us. Helping a Latin American country was a goal of LASO since its start and these young people are to be commended for this important step in promoting their cause.

January 2014 Tyler and McKayla who are keeping students at Wakefield elementary school updated on how donated funds are being used

January 2014 Students at Peggy Brewin Pre-school making heart hand prints to be sent to daycares in Guatemala

December 2013 Veronica and Ben helping out at craft table Wakefield Elementary school Christmas sale

December 2013 Fundraisers Wakefield Elementary School

December 2013 Wakefield Elementary School

Fund raisers Pictured here , the boys, left to right are- (back row) Quinn, Keenan,Jacob

The girls, ( left to right) Haylee , Clea, Molly and Jessica (front row) Logan and Reese.

Canadian volunteers and daycare mums complete a long day
working on the new bottle classroom at Chacap, 2013.

Nursing student working with an interpreter to

examine a young girl in the daycare

Outdoor play area set up under a big tarp at

Palestina daycare to keep kids out of the sun.

badly infected thumb gets cared for by the doctor
who visited the daycare with Heritage College.

The power of books to teach and entertain.

Daycare mums and volunteers working on a new

classroom.( 10 mothers and 25 kids collected and

stuffed nearly 200 bottles with trash for the class.)

Volunteers starting to apply the adobe .

Above-kids enjoy art as the work crew says adios below.

Lining up for the first swing ride -April 2, 2013

First girl to ride in the new swing for Palestina.

New 3 section crib made and delivered to Chacap.

Crib installed and ready for the 3 babies at Chacap.

New playpen for babies at Punyebar-
no more sleeping in a woodbox.

Singing with Rising Minds volunteers- Punyebar.

Using new CD player with pop up speakers- Yeah!!

Completed board and batten- Punyebar, 2013.

Inside Punyebar classroom before the board and batten is done.
Notice all the holes for wind and rain to enter. March 2013.

U.S. volunteers installing board and batten.

Inside view of new classroom being built - March 2013.

Happy in new sweatshirt and shoes. Chacap 2013.

Medical area set up by Heritage College- 2013.

Makeshift play area made of woven rush matts
and packing boxes at Chacap daycare - March 2013.

Mum waits with 2 other children while her

daughter is examined. San Pablo.

Buying handicrafts from a street vendor at his house.

Excited to have new clothes.

Heritage students play with the kids outside while
the nurses examine kids a few at a time, inside.

All ages love to build with the new lego.

A new cow puppet is a hit with these girls.

Nursing student ready for another examination.

Nursing stations work well when there are so many
children to be seen and treated.

Father is happy that his son had his badly infected
thumb seen and bandaged, now healing will start.

Donated clothes are tried on by the most needy.

This sweater is really mine??! Wow.

Happy in new sweatshirt and shoes.

Fun at the art table while waiting to be seen inside.
Finished art pieces are displayed on the wall.

Medical information explained at the teacher
workshop held in Panajachel in March 2013.

Parachute games are introduced to the kids at
the Santa Maria daycares. What fun!!

Heritage College teams eating lunch on the Chicken
bus- comfortable,shady and secure. March 2013.

Tarps donated by SUDEN provide much needed
shade during the daycare visit to Santa Maria.

Participants at the 2013 Teacher Workshop.

Presenting action songs at the workshop.

The nursing students ready to deliver information
they prepared to the daycare teachers at the workshop.

Foot examination- March 2013.

                                         Each daycare was given a binder of teaching activities
                                         and at the workshop the Heritage teams demonstrate
                                         how to use several of these new teaching aids.

This girl loves the baby doll, even without clothes.

Happy in new glasses donated by the Wakefield
Optometrist , this man can now better do his job.

Lots of new books donated by a Girl Scout Troup

from Wisconsin will provide hours of fun.

Displaying a finger puppet made at the Workshop.

2013 work on new classroom at Punyebar.
In the background you can see the bathroom constructed last year and
the green turtle tire play structure.

February 2013 work on new classroom -

cement and re rod framework

February 2013 work on new classroom

January 2013- earthquake in November resulted in many
road repairs to remove trees and boulders.

Much road construction resulted in wider roads but
long delays when going out to daycares

Workcrew installing board and batten

A new swing for San Juan daycare.

Volunteers from Rising Minds singing with

the kids at Punyebar while crews work outside.

A much needed playpen for a baby at Punyebar -

before the baby slept in a woodbox!

New eyeglasses enable this man to keep working-

glasses donated from Eye Clinic in Wakefield.

Installation of new 3 section cradle at Chacap.

Previously, teachers carried the 3 small babies

all day long.

Big smiles from the girl getting the first swing

ride at Palestina.

Quite a line up for the swing rides at Chacap.

Entertaining the children during construction.

Building up the "bottle" wall. We utilized close to

200 plastic bottles stuffed with dry garbage to

complete a big new classroom at Punyebar.

Friends from Canada and daycare mothers at the

end of a long week of work on the bottle classroom

at Chacap.

The new classroom is attached to the bottle class

we constructed last year, because due to an

earthquake in November, another class made of

adobe, was completely destroyed.

Purchasing beautiful scarves and shawls to sell in
Canada to help fund our daycare project

Selling scarves and cards helps these boys go to school.

Buying key chains to help this boy pay for school.

He is so proud of the first embroidered cards he made.

Broken swings in need of repair.

First visit of 2013 season to San Juan daycare-
kids are happy with some new supplies.

Craft making great hats.

Long delays as boulders are cleared away from the roads.

January 2012

Our goods were shipped to Suden in Pananjachel.
Brian took the big boxes through this small door

Our mountain of supplies safely delivered
by truck to the Infantiles SOS office.

Due to the heavy rains this year,
there has been a lot of damage
done to roadways but now the roads
are being worked on and
in some places they are being
widened and guard rails added. Yahoo

We sorted all the supplies ,then the
Daycare teachers arrived from each
centre to collect their goods.

Volunteers from Rising Minds
organization helped to construct bathrooms
using bottles,dry garbage and cement.

Adobe is mixed with cement to provide
the strength in the walls.

A volunteer cements the base of the
bottle construction bathroom (Punyebar)

Brian is working the cement mixture

While construction takes place in the background, the kids
play games out on the play field .

At Punyebar, two classrooms are separated along this
roadway which is busily used by the farmers to move goods
during the day. This makes it dangerous for the kids to have
to walk up and down for their meals from one building
to the other.