San Antonio Christmas Cards

Amazingly, Christmas is almost here, and our team has created 2 different gift Christmas cards for those who would like to make a donation to the work of the Casita in the name of a friend or family member.  Here are 2 designs that highlight the work being done at the Casita. Inside, the message reads:

A gift made in your name supports La Casita, a hub of learning and support for children, youth and vulnerable elders, in the small community of San Antonio Palopó, Guatemala. This donation also supports poor, bright students studying in high school and university. ¡Gracias!

If you would like to have one or more of these cards to give to your friends in return for a donation to the project, please contact Susan: susangage@innovativecommunities.org

La Casita in the time of COVID

The past seven months seem to have gone by very quickly.  Our apologies for taking so long to give an update.  Life is slowly getting back to the pre-pandemic normal but a great many folks are still struggling very hard and many have lost a lot of ground due to the pandemic.  There seems to be a lot of fear and anxiety about the future and whether the kids will go back to class or not?

A lot of students did not pass so they are facing a choice of repeating the year or giving up.  Unfortunately, many students will not be returning to school due to their need to help the family. The federal government has raised the taxes on electricity usage which is already a burden for many families. And, food prices are up significantly here, as they are everywhere.  

However, in spite of COVID, and schools being closed, there is a lot happening at La Casita. 

Vaccination Clinic

Our Administrator, Candelaria, was able to give a vaccination clinic for the staff, becados, parents, and ancianas so that they would be able to ask questions, and have the information they needed to alleviate their fears.  All of our staff and becados have had at least one vaccination. 

While the school continues to be closed, the children receive packages of school work they need to complete in order to finish their grade.  So, the number of children coming to La Casita for tutorial help, access to resources, and space to study has definitely increased. The roof extension over the patio has certainly increased the learning space.  However, it isn’t quite enough.  This fall, with Gregorio’s advice and expertise, we initiated an ambitious building project - a 2-story extension to La Casita which gives two more classrooms, a second bathroom and a hand washing station.

No Workspace!

We are currently sponsoring 20 scholarship students - becados. Quite a few are still young, some are in middle school or basico, and a few, like Magaly, are almost ready to move on to University (maybe we can tell you a bit about one of our becados in our next update.) Their expenses vary according to their individual needs.  We do expect them to maintain their grades to at least 75% and volunteer their time at La Casita.  

Two of our becados, Melina and Antonio, are volunteering their time by giving special math and reading classes at La Casita. This month Candelaria is interviewing new applicants and we are hoping to accept six more bright young students from extremely poor families.

Olivia's Sewing Class

Anna Olivia has been active as a part-time activity coordinator and community outreach advocate and has initiated an entrepreneurial sewing project.  We bought an industrial sewing machine for the class and she is teaching ten students to use that machine and other sewing machines to produce quality  fabric items to sell at the Mercado Global. 

The garden is flourishing in spite of the construction work.  The builders have been very careful and respectful of the children’s safety and the garden’s produce!!  The children love helping German, our care-taker, harvest the good food.  The Ancianas are always pleased to have fresh food from the garden for their lunch and sometimes to take home.

La Casita Extension!

 Our apologies for taking so long to update the blog!!  So much has been happening in spite of the schools being closed and many families in the village dealing with COVID.  This summer we began reviewing our strategic plan and realized very early that one of the major issues at La Casita was lack of adequate space.  So, with advice and encouragement from our administrators Candelaria and Gregorio, we initiated a fundraising campaign that would support a Casita extension.  We’ve been able to meet that goal and have raised enough to complete the building and also to buy some furnishings.

Things are definitely well underway. Gregorio, who is a really great administrator (husband to Candelaria, who is the main administrator), had decided that rather than turn the whole project over to the architect, it would be better to work with a local contractor in order to save money and also to have more flexibility to make improvements as the building went along. His projected start date was August 2^nd. Shortly after making that decision, he came down a) with COVID, and b) following that, with dengue fever. We fully expected to put the project on hold for a while, but no. Gregorio is pretty fit and tough; he pulled himself through both of these afflictions and pronounced himself ready to go ahead. Since that time, the building has been underway, on budget and on schedule. It’s due to be completed by the end of November.

Our volunteer group had a Zoom meeting with Gregorio a couple of weeks ago, and learned that they are close to completing the finishing on the first floor, and at the same time are moving ahead on the top floor. One of the as-we-build improvements was that they decided to make the supports on both floors stronger, so that if we ever decide to build upward one more story, we can do that. As well, they decided to put the stairs on the outside of the building to save space, and have the bathroom accessible from the outside as well as the inside, so that kids from the main Casita can also access it, as well as the outside sink..

Meanwhile, while all this construction is going on at the back of the property, the programs continue in the Casita. School is once more closed due to COVID, and so there are piles of kids learning in groups, reading books and working on computers, as well as getting help with the assignments that they need to complete to pass their year.

So, we’re all feeling pretty excited about this new addition, which will give us lots more possibilities for programming. We really want to stress that the only way we were able to launch into this project was because of funding from our generous donors; without that, we wouldn’t have felt confident to move ahead with this building.

The next update we send you will probably include pictures of the completed extension, possibly furnished and maybe with kids learning, reading, using the computers. If this were a non-COVID year, a few of us would probably be going down to Guatemala for a grand opening. As it is, Kim, our volunteer who lives in San Antonio for part of each year, will be our sole representative.  But we’re all raring to go down, as soon as it’s safe, and see the new building and how it’s being used.

What’s happening in San Antonio Palopό March-April 2021

Well, here we are in mid-April.  Recently, we’ve heard of people fleeing Guatemala trying despite all odds to get into the US because of hunger, violence and lack of any sort of future. But,  with help from our generous donors, there’s a little corner of Guatemala where people do have food and education and a way of going forward without having to flee their country. 

Here’s what’s happened in San Antonio Palopό since our last blog in February. 
Students in San Antonio finally got back to school at the end of February, but they only attend 2 days a week. The rest of the time they’re expected to do assignments – no easy task in their small, poorly-lit homes with parents who most often aren’t educated themselves.  So, La Casita is hopping with groups of kids sent by their teachers for work on specific skills.  As well, lots of kids come for homework help, to use the computers, and read books from the library.  

We also took on the task of helping kids who were starting without adequate school supplies or backpacks at the 2 primary schools.  Lidya and Evelyn, the two teachers, worked with the teachers to develop a list of the most needy students. They managed to get a deal with a wholesaler, and were able to provide 120 backpacks to kids who really needed them. 

For some time we’ve grappled with the problem of space at the Casita – where will are all these people and programs fit?   As well as the indoor space, the Casita has a large flagstone patio in front, partially covered by a roof. However, when it rains this is unusable. So last month, Gregorio – one of our amazing administrators – took on extending the roof, using a combination of clear and opaque lamina. And voilà!  A whole new area of usable space, and all for Q6,200 – just over $1,000 CDN. Here you see the latest monthly food distribution, taking place under the extended roof. 

We also decided to upgrade our technology. Our existing computers were starting to show their age, plus there weren’t really enough of them to meet the needs of our 20 scholarship students (who often need to borrow a laptop to be able to do their homework), plus the kids who come to the Casita for research.  Computers are expensive in Guatemala, but we were able to find a source of good reconditioned laptops and bought 10 of them. There are a couple of pretty skilled senior scholarship students who give regular computer classes, so a whole raft of students are being trained in the skills they’ll need for the future.

The Casita garden continues to be a place of teaching gardening skills for the wider community. Some of the scholarship students help maintain the garden, the younger kids learn about the value of planting even a small patch in this fertile soil, and the garden produce is used in the twice-weekly lunches enjoyed by the Ancianas.

And lastly we want to share with you a couple of entrepreneurial success stories. A couple of years ago we sponsored a course for recent highschool grads to help them with job-seeking skills, etc. This turned into an entrepreneurship program (the sad fact being that there aren’t enough regular jobs in Guatemala, especially if you don’t want to live in the capital). Out of this program emerged a mushroom-growing project (which is still going strong, run by some of the scholarship students), a café (which sadly folded), and a tilapia-raising project run by 3 young men, graduates of the program. After a couple of false starts, they’ve really come into their own, and now have a successful business selling their fish. 

So that’s about it for now.  We’re hoping this helps you feel like we do, that – in the midst of this country filled with poverty and insecurity –we’re helping a whole host of people build the skills they need for a positive future.

 

Thanks again to all of our donors. ¡Gracias desde el fondo de todos nuestros corazones!

 

A Bright Light in San Antonio Palopó

As we slog through these rather isolating times, the little community of San Antonio Palopó shines brightly. We’ve received lots of information and pictures during the past month, and we thought we’d share a bit of it with you.

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS

In Guatemala the COVID-climate has relaxed enough that schools are opening. As in Canada, some of the secondary and university classes are still online, but the schools in San Antonio are set to open in person later this month. Candelaria, our wonderful administrator, spent part of January testing, interviewing, and selecting new becados (scholarship students). We are so thankful to have enough in the budget to be able to expand this program, and this year we expect to have around 20 becados — young people who otherwise wouldn’t have a hope of realizing their potential. As always, they sign a contract agreeing to help with the Casita programs – cleaning, gardening, keeping the library organized, helping in the kitchen, and tutoring younger students. This year we’re also starting on a support program for the becados in junior high. There’s a high failure rate at the junior high school in San Antonio. So this year all the Jr. High becados will come to the Casita for 10 hours/wk. of extra study in Maths, Language, Computer and English. The Jr. High school takes place in the afternoon, so the kids can take these extra classes on weekday mornings, and on Sunday morning for a couple of hours. It’s a lot, but these kids are keen (and they’ll get a healthy snack). I can’t share with you all the pictures and information we’ve received on each one, but let me tell you about some of them.

Ximena lives with her mother and grandparents in a very poor home. Candelaria describes her as ‘muy chispada’ (very sparky) and very ready to talk. She is starting her first year of Jr. High.

Sandra lives with her mother (shown in the picture), and is also beginning Jr. High.

Alma, although she has a child, is determined to go to university (this happens on the weekends in Guatemala) and become a teacher. She has excellent marks from secondary school.

Elcer dreams of becoming a mechanic. To do this, he will attend the 2+-year mechanic course at INTECAP, the junior college 1½ hours away by bus. 

PROGRAMS at the CASITA

Meanwhile, the children from the village continue to come to the Casita to receive extra help from Evelyn and Lidya, the two teachers, in basic subjects, and just to read. This has been such a hard year for them, without a school to go to, and these lessons at the Casita will help them keep their academic skills tuned up. And the Ancianas continue to arrive twice a week for their lunch and activities.

FOOD
January also saw another distribution of food from the Casita. Up until the end of 2020, there was another group in town distributing food to some of the needy families, but this group has now run out of money. So our list of families has undergone a change. Some on our original list are starting to do a little better (many are artisans, and a few orders are now starting to trickle in), so these have now been removed from the list and other, poorer families, added – bringing us up to 220 families. Our little equipo of volunteers is constantly reviewing the situation. We are able to continue the food distribution, if necessary, for a few more months. However, we don’t want to create dependence on this food source, and so don’t want to continue longer than is absolutely necessary. We’ll keep you posted.

So – a snapshot of what’s going on with ICO in San Antonio Palopó. We hope it warms your hearts as much as it does ours. For sure, none of this would be happening without your support.
Once again¡Gracias!