Devastation in Guatemala

CNN reports on Guatemalan mudslides

BBC reports on Guatemalan mudslides

Guatemala has been hit with the horrible effects of torrential rains and mudslides. As many as 37 people have died, and the numbers are expected to rise.

CNN reports that "thousands of homes, in addition to infrastructure and fields of crops, also were damaged by the heavy rains." In Xela, "a family of four died when their home was buried by a mudslide" (BBC World).

Many roads were also destroyed by the mudslides. The children of La Escuela Pacaja will be affected with limited supplies being brought into their already deprived school.

Please keep these images in your mind when we ask for donations towards La Escuela Pacaja. We are very grateful for your thoughts and prayers and we will keep you posted.

- Liz

We can make a difference.

We were a group of 14 volunteers with different background coming from different states, sometime speaking different languages and some of us also came with their children.
We knew we wanted to make a difference, we knew we wanted to help others but one thing we did not know is that the week we all spent together in helping la escuela Pacaja in sanding and painting desks and chairs and sharing some of the life of the students will change so much our lives.

When we came back on August 21st, we knew we could not stop here. So, that same day some of us were already sending emails to the principal but also to someone in Xela who will help us make sure the right investments are made with the donations doing an onsite follow up with the school.
Few hours after landing and several emails later we were a little more organized and we decided to start a fundraiser for la escuela pacaja.

As we are working with the principal and local representatives to better understand what their urgent needs are, so we can fundraise wisely making sure the money we collect is effectively going where the needs are, we share our experience volunteering at the school with you so, like us, you’ll want to make a difference in helping students a la escuela pacaja.

In Guatemala and in that school about 60% of the children won’t go to the end of high school; in Guatemala, literacy is around 70% and only 63% among women. Even if our action is a drop in the ocean, we want to make this world a better place to live for these children with the support we will bring. Shortly we’ll share with you about things that will contribute to improve literacy and the number of students in la escuela pacaja able to finish high school.

if you want to learn more about our recent action a la escuela pacaja, and share the personal experience of one of the volunteers, click here to read the blog posts.

Yes we are passionate, yes we believe in what we do and YES we need your help to make it happen.

Stay tuned!

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Office of the principal and main entrance of school.

Computer lab for la escuela pacaja (600 students and 9 PC in operation)

Children during recess

  

Small update

Hey everyone!
Things might be a bit slow for the next week or so, because our lovely Guatemala contact is wrapping up some business things before transitioning to her new organization (www.kindredvolunteer.org).  She should be able to visit the school soon and develop a plan to utilize our future donations!

While we wait, allow us to introduce ourselves!  We are a group of people from all over the US that met on a week-long volunteering trip to Guatemala.  Our volunteer project was to fix up classroom furniture for kindergarten classes at La Escuela Pacaja.  At Pacaja, we got to play with the students every day during their hour-long recess. We fell in love instantly with the wonderful children, but were also saddened by how little they had.  Guatemala is a very poor country with depressing statistics (70% literacy rate, $1200 per capita GDP, 60-yr life expectancy for males), and we don't want the children at La Escuela Pacaja to be trapped by these dreary numbers.  That's why this website was created, because every little bit DOES matter, and differences can be made in those innocent lives!

And now ... more lovely pictures!

We brought sidewalk chalk for the kids one day, and they loved it so much that we had to break each small stick into > 5 pieces!  It's so nice that such a small thing could bring so much joy (to them and to us!).

The kids are very creative when it comes to fun.  Fact: we learned 539 new clapping games per day during our stay in Guatemala.

The kids do have a beautiful view of the Santa Maria volcano -- it wouldn't be so bad to go to school under its majestic shadow!