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.