Christmas Presents with a Difference

Reminder! VIDEA Fair Trade Fair is Saturday, Nov. 23, 10-4, at First Metropolitan Church Hall, 932 Balmoral, Victoria. Look for our scarf table.

Christmas Presents with a Difference

Having trouble shopping for friends who already have everything? Why not give something that’ll link the receiver to Guatemalans who have next-to-nothing? You can give a Maya child the gift of learning, or a frail elderly widow the gift of food and companionship.

The Gift of Learning

The inside of our ¡Feliz Navidad! Education cards say: A gift has been made in your name, helping the children and youth of San Antonio Palopó to build a brighter future. (And we also have book plates, if you’d like to pay for a library book your friend’s name inside the cover.) 

Treating an Anciana to Lunch.

$25 provides an extremely poor elderly widow with a whole month of 2x/week lunches, plus a social time of fun stories and exercise. Donations of any amount are welcome. Inside the card, the message reads: A gift has been made in your name, ensuring that twice a week, elderly widows in the small community of San Antonio Palopo will receive a hearty lunch and time together to share their stories.

Thanks for your help in bringing a better future to the community of San Antonio Palopó. (And don’t forget, when you send in a donation for this type of Christmas gift, you receive a tax receipt.)

GUATEMALAN SCARF SALES

GUATEMALAN SCARF SALE IN
VICTORIA

VIDEA FAIR TRADE FAIR
at First Metropolitan Church Hall 
Saturday, November 23rd from 10 to 4
932 Balmoral, Victoria

BUY A GORGEOUS HANDWOVEN GUATEMALAN SCARF or MAKE A DONATION AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT instead of exchanging gifts with family, workmates or friends, and make a huge difference in a Mayan family's life. (Stop by to see our beautiful gift cards.)

Thanks to your generous support over the years, most people in the village now have clean burning, fuel efficient stoves that have replaced dangerous open hearth fires, and we will continue to maintain them so they are safe and working well.

Two years ago with input from parents, teachers and community leaders we established  a much-needed Learning Centre and Library for San Antonio's children, who were falling behind and dropping out of school as early as Grade 6.  It has been a huge success. We are also  continuing  with our lunch program for very poor elderly widows.

FINALLY! A New School for San Antonio

Almost 10 years after the landslide that destroyed their school, over 500 children of San Antonio are finally going to be moving into a new permanent school building. If all goes according to plan, the students will begin the 2020 school year in their new school. 

As with most Guatemalan schools, this one is only built to receive half the students at one time. Students will attend in morning/afternoon shifts. There is some complaint from the community that the school is already too small for the number of students who need an education. However, it’s a huge improvement over the hot and crowded conditions of the hastily-constructed ‘provisional’ school that has housed the students for the past 5 years. 

The tract of land that ICO purchased is slated to be the playing field for the students. It’s not right beside the school, but close enough for PE activities and football games in a community where there is very little space to run and play. 

So how will ICO next be involved? The Guatemalan government is only committed to constructing the shell of the building. All amenities like furniture, library books, computers, etc., must be provided by the community of San Antonio. Our team has collected enough money to help in some way. Last February, two of our volunteer team – Susan and Mary – met with the two principals of the provisional school (who will probably move with the students to the new structure) to discuss the needs of the new school, and how we might help most effectively. This discussion is still continuing. We hope by this coming January/February, when the students move in, to have a clearer picture of how we can most effectively enhance the learning environment of the new school. Will keep you posted!

How Climate Change is affecting Guatemala

An article from yesterday's New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/how-climate-change-is-fuelling-the-us-border-crisis

What’s Up at the Casita? Update in a nutshell

Volunteer Sue Bailey helping girls read

In mid-January, four of our San Antonio team climbed on the plane heading for San Antonio Palopó. En route, we stopped in Mexico City for a book-buying binge. Mexico City, unlike Guatemala, is filled with wonderful bookstores – the ideal place to buy Spanish kids’ books. When, laden with books on every possible subject, we arrived in San Antonio, we were delighted to find the Casita (our little community centre) buzzing with energy. The school year had just started, but teachers at the two primary schools were already identifying children needing extra help and sending them for learning assistance. And children are reading! One of my lasting memories is of a group of little boys who, arriving early for their learning assistance, each pulled a book from the shelves, and for a few moments all that could be heard was the murmuring sound of them reading softly aloud to themselves – this in a culture where reading doesn’t generally happen.

Yesenia and Lidya, our energetic coordinators, are planning new ways to build a love of reading. They are working with teachers to organize a story hour each day, when a different class will arrive for an hour of storytelling. And already started is a Moms’ & Tots’ storytime.

2 ancianas consult on their sewing project

As well as young learners, the Casita continues to host twice-weekly dinners for the ancianas – 25 poor, elderly women who come to enjoy a nourishing lunch, as well as craft activities, exercises and games. We got to share a delicious lunch of chiles rellenos, made from peppers grown in the Casita garden, and a birthday cake to celebrate the birthdays of ancianas who had birthdays in January.

Young entrepreneurs working together for change

We met with an inspiring group of young community leaders – the jovenes emprendadores, young entrepreneurs. These 15 recent graduates, experiencing first-hand just how scarce jobs are in the Atitlán region, are creating jobs themselves. They’ve started up a mushroom-growing business in a little corner shed, are digging fishponds down by the lake to raise tilapia, and have been taking cooking lessons in order to fulfil their long term dream – to start up a café in San Antonio.

To keep the programs going, the Casita relies on additional help from our becados – scholarship students. The philosophy of the becado program is that those receiving a scholarship pay back by helping out at the Casita. Students help out in preparing the lunches, keeping the bookshelves in order, tutoring kids, and working in the garden. This year there are 11 scholarship students – 2 in junior high, 2 in senior high, one in technical college, and 6 in university. None of these amazing young people would be in school if they didn’t have the support of a scholarship.

All of this thanks to our generous donors, without whom none of this would be happening. ¡GRACIAS!