Guatemala, Spring 2011

Breathtaking volcanoes looming silently in the distance. Stray dogs in packs roaming rough cobblestone streets. Bustling markets aglow with vibrant hand-woven cloth. Busses roaring passed trailed by thick clouds of black smoke. Rain water turning streets into raging rivers in minutes. Tree limbs heavy with limes and avocados. Armed guards with thick, black vests. The gentle patter of hands forming tortillas. Happy, smiling children. Razor wire and broken bottles sparkling in the sun. Contagious laughter floating through the air. Plates of delicious fried chicken. Piles of trash. Mountainous speed bumps. Fleeting glimpses of lush interior gardens. Pastel painted stucco….

These images, sounds, and smells remain vivid  in my mind since my return from Guatemala. Along with these memories, my favorite and hopefully most lasting souvenir is my new understanding of the world in which I live. It is clear to me now that I have never really appreciated the blessings that fill my life.  I have overlooked my home, my family, my education, my country, and even my kitchen sink with its reliable flow of pure, clean, potable water time and time again. 

Another striking realization is that I’ve done nothing special to deserve these blessings and privileges. They were simply bestowed upon me and could have just as easily been bestowed upon someone else.  People in developing nations have just as much potential as I do. ..they are filled to the brim. Their economic, political, and cultural situations, however, have a big impact on what they can accomplish. While I surf the web and go shopping, people in developing countries work hard to simply survive.  I never worry about what I will wear or eat or what will happen to me if I get sick. Sitting in my cozy home, eating my plentiful food, talking on the phone and reading books, it is all too easy to think that my life is normal or somehow the standard. After visiting Guatemala, however, I know that this is not the case. Had I been born there rather than in the US, life as I know it would be drastically different.

So now, what do I do with my new understandings and realizations? It is simple. I must respond. The stories of civil war, drought, earthquakes, eruptions, violence, and oppression that flash across my television screen every night are happening to real people just like me. Rolando, Aracely, Zaidy, Berta, Yolanda, Breici, Sergio, Rebeca…they are my sisters and brothers. We are all living out the circumstances we are given. We are all responsible for helping each other however we can.

 If I could, I would send everyone on a short trip like the one I just took. I am so thankful to have my eyes opened. My new vision changes everything…how I spend my time, my money, and my energy and how I see myself in relationship to the rest of the world.

It has been a long delay since our last update, a combination of internet issues, family has been busy but God is gracious. But the good news is there has not been a delay on the work going on here in Guatemala. For those of you who keep a closer eye on our projects here you know we have been busy the past several months and there has been a lot going on. There will be a series of updates coming out over the next couple of weeks so please read up!

 Most recently we have distributed the school supplies for 2011 to El Barrio la Cruz and El Rejon to a total of about 110 children. We were also blessed to be able to distribute 11 backpacks with donated school supplies from the states and purchase 12 pencil holder bags as rewards for children who excelled at their school work last year. Each child received a bag of school supplies containing notebooks, pencils, crayons and all the basics to start school. We held the event at the church in El Barrio and called each child up, took their picture and gave them their supplies. This also gave us the chance to explain the rules of Paso a Paso to the parents for the year of maintaining grades and attendance. We will hand out toothbrushes and basic food supplies in the next week to the families as well. The children are always so excited to go home with their supplies and the parents so grateful for the assistance as the children can not attend school without them. As far as the children who are in secondary school and higher this is when we  gather all their information and go to their establishments and pay for their fees to attend school for 2011. This is where the sponsorship or donations become a huge help. We need at least $10,000 a year for the children to attend school under full scholorship.

We have great news that we were welcomed into the one of the institutions in Pastores were a lot of our students study and they allowed us to pay for multiple students and said we could come back as much as we want. They encouraged us to come and check in with the teachers and see how the students are doing and how their grades are, this is a huge step for us!! We are also open to do some tutoring in the schools, we hope that if we are here long term next year we can do tutoring in the afternoons in one of the schools and offer this to our students. We will also have our older students mentor some of the younger students in the program.

There are many opportunities that are up and coming for 2011 we are excited to share them with all of you but most of all are excited with all the new opportunities that the children and families may have here this year. Please keep everyone here in your prayers and please consider donating via our website or making a trip down, the need is great!!! Happy New Year to all!!

Guatemala Support by Vintage Kids

Some of the backpacks for pasoapaso

Just this week in Barrio la Cruz Enrique was able to plant all the coffee plants that were purchased for his farm. There will be pictures and a post to follow. Another great reason  for the rain!

There has been a lot going on in Pastores. The children have now finished their first trimester of school and there was a group of children who did extremely well, in the top 10%  of their class. Of course there were a decent amount of children who still need to improve. It has become a struggle to tell the child that they need to try harder when the parent can not be of much direct assistance. We hear constantly ‘how can I help my child in school when I never went, or I don’t know anything?’ But we are at least telling the parents to encourage their children, to follow up with the schools to see how they are doing, find someone else who can help them and of course to let us know to see how we can help. We hope that has time goes on, the children will improve more, the parents will take an interest and we will have people to assist in the community.

 The first Saturday in June we will have a meeting with all the people in the program. For the families who children excelled they will receive a supplement bag of food and supplies and the children will also receive a supplement bag of school supplies. We hope that this will be an incentive for all to do their best.

 We continue to follow up with families and see the overall well-being of the family, there is much to be done. Also, we have met with more families about stoves and filters and hope to have more training underway soon. We have two men coming to spend some time in the community the first week of June. We will visit families, talk with others about filters and fire safety and meet with all the children and also will be doing a distribution of toothbrushes to everyone in the community.

Please continue to support Paso a Paso as our needs are great, and if you would like to be a new supporter please email us and let us know in what way you would like to help.

Lower Elementary

The kids in Barrio la Cruz of Pastores have finally finished their 2008 school year. The school was full of smiling faces and content parents as the children received their passing grades and diplomas for the year. We had a great success rate this year and we hope that the the kids are motivated to study hard next year and that the parents felt the relief of the help from Paso a Paso and the sponsors.

We have numerous children from kindergarten to high school that need sponsorship so please email or contact us if you are interested in helping a student and their family. Our goal is to come alongside the family and help them close the gap so their children can obtain an education and the family can function better as a whole.

Thanks to all those who have sponsored this past year, your support is making a big difference and helping to unite families.

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Flor(center) with siblings, with Stephanie, one of their 2 rooms, Flor’s mom beside their stove

I hope to start writing updates on children in our school program and their families. Of course this will vary depending on my time here and the amount of people I am able to visit with.

I recently went to visit the family of Flor de Maria, she has been in our school program since the beginning and she hopes to pass onto the 5th grade this year.  She also has 4 other siblings in our program now, one entering the 4th grade, 2 entering 6th grade and one more brother which will be added this year that is entering kindergarten.

Their mothers name is Gilda Yolanda Garcia Alvarez and they have lived in Barrio la Cruz for about 4 years now. Her husband’s family was very abusive and are alcoholics and also provided no income to their family. For her own childrens sake she moved them to Barrio la Cruz. They have now made a small 2 room home atop a hill and cook outside but feel safer. The children attend school but must make it to school and return from school on their own. They are left unattended from about 5am to about 8:30pm while the mother works in town.

The children are doing well in school for the most part. All the children get good grades and enjoy going except Flor. Flor is having a very difficult time with school and in almost any different environment. They say maybe it is due to her exposure to the abuse or alcohol or violence which all was very extreme. The children were often left running away from family members being chased with machetes.

We are hoping to see how we may be able to assist this family more and see them excel in their, family, school and grow with Christ.

A thank you to Leslie and Oscar Sepulvada for your sponsorhip of Flor, what a difference a little can make in a life of a small child.

Check out the photos of Flor and her family on the photo link.

Next year is the start of another school year for the students and I hope to raise the $8000 dollars needed to keep everyone in the program and to make room for a few more eager students.  This does not include the money needed for the few water filters, stoves and special projects I try to purchase or complete each year.

Unfortunately, so far we have commitments for ~$3000 and registration is only a few months away.  Last year I was able to make up the difference myself. This year, with your help, I am hoping for more support.

Now would be a great time to consider donating (paypal link).   I know not everyone has the flexibility to donate but your participation is a great help.

In the last update we asked that you pray for Rolando’s mother who had surgery and was not recovering well. Good news, we had the resources to take her in a vehicle to the private pay hospital and pay for a consultation to evaluate her condition. She is starting to recover now, it turned out her diabetes was out of control and she needed new medication. Many woman in Barrio la Cruz have diabetes so we are now currently working on a simple diet/lifestyle change for them. Something they can do easily but may help reduce their diabetes problems.

We are continuing to visit with families and students and will do more evaluations when the children finish school in the next 2 weeks.

Currently we have a young girl by the the name of Breisly who is 9 years old who is suffering from kidney failure. We have some friends of Paso a Paso that are working to raise money for her treatment. At this time she has had to stop school and is studying as she can in the hospital or at home. When she feels better she attends school. The doctors say that she has been suffering from kidney failure since birth due to the effects of alcohol. We pray that God will use this trying situation to shed his light on the community of Barrio la Cruz.

Several families are struggling to pay for their day to day staples and provide for their family while sending their children to school. We are still in need of financial support for Paso a Paso to sponsor the children to attend school, and we would like to support the families with nutritional supplements once a month.

We will do a follow-up trip in the fall to see the progress of our students and check on our women in job training. We hope to do a painting project and some life training skills for the women. If we have the funds we will install a wood burning stove for a family in need.

The needs in Barrio la Cruz are great and we are asking that everyone consider how they may be able to contribute as we can not do it on our own.

“She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.” Proverbs 31:20

Next month, our pastor, Cesar Rolando Garcia, who is blind will be sharing his testimony with us on the website. I will have it translated. He has a very powerful story and can’t wait to share it all with you.

We are very proud that we have over 30 children that are attending secondary school or above. We have paid for all their initial fees and some of these children have sponsors. Unfortunately, we still have about 20 children that need monthly sponsorship. Paso a Paso was not able to provide for the other 20 students to pay their fees in full. This has left several families still in need. We paid at least 50% of their fees, but for many of these single family homes it is likely that the children will end of dropping out if the rest of the fee is not paid. I urge you to consider sponsoring a child or giving a donation to our education fund.

Last year we had a great success rate. We had 92% of our students pass onto the next grade and they want to continue their studies! The year prior to our sponsorship program, we had less than 50% even attend school.

Please pray for the students and their families as the school year begins. Pray for perseverance, provision and protection.

The women and men who are starting up our job training program are in need of support, prayer and financial. We hope that these individuals will succeed and help in training others.

“But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.” Psalm 9:18