Written by Emma | 27 June 2011

As the Foundation has progressed so has our understanding of the everyday problems our students have to face....

Our primary focus is on education so that our students will have skills to last them a lifetime but we also understand the importance of supporting them and their families in other ways. As the Foundation has progressed, so too has our understanding of the problems that our students have to face.

Over the past five years we have begun to address some of the following issues:

Food

Many of our students receive little food at home. We provide a nutritious vitamin enhanced mid morning snack and a two course lunch including meat, vegetables and fruit.  For some this is the only food they will eat that day. Without providing food at school, many of these children would have to go to work or beg to earn enough to eat.

Medical Support

Health care and medicine is expensive in Guatemala and completely out of the reach of our children and their families. Without providing healthcare many of our children would become too sick to learn.

We have very recently found a new health check provider for our students; Specialist Operations Support (SOS) are emergency paramedics in Guatemala City and have been coming to our school once a month to assess our students’ health and give us guidance with regards to improving it.

A report was produced based on the findings of the team, which gave us cause for alarm.  We realised that we desperately needed qualified medical/nursing students to help pass on their knowledge to our school staff so that we can better respond to medical situations and improve the general health of our students - we would like to use preventative rather than reactive measures but in Guatemala, this can be extremely difficult.

Even dealing with minor medical issues as a Guatemalan can be impossible as there are often simply no facilities and most of the children in our school had never seen a doctor before we took them to clinics or had medical staff visit the school.

As well as dealing with any medical cases on an ad hoc basis, we also run other health initiatives

Clean Teeth

We pay for toothbrushes and toothpaste to ensure that our children have healthy teeth and gums– all of the Primary children brush their teeth at school each day.

Women’s Health Day

We held a Health Day for our students and for women in the local community in 2010. The day included education and advice on reproduction, menstruation, maternity issues, breast and cervical cancer and was attended by around 150 women from the area.

We’ve also provided hearing aids, glasses, operations, care for premature babies, tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, breathing apparatus and much more…

Social Conditions & Psychological Support

In Guatemala, we operate in very challenging conditions. Our children come from some of the poorest families in Jocotenango and the surrounding area.  We face serious social problems on a day to day basis. As we developed a deeper understanding in this area, we became very aware of the need to employ a specialist worker to co-ordinate our efforts.  We now have Rosa Elena Giron Cano who is a qualified psychologist working alongside our teachers.

In 2008 all of our children were seen and appraised in this initiative.  We identified 27 children who urgently required a structured programme of help.  These children are seen by Rosa each week in sympathetic surroundings.  As you would imagine, progress is slow and a lot of patience is required, but a start has been made and the children are beginning to work through and understand some of their issues.

Without supporting each beneficiary as an individual we know that we would lose many of our students as they fail to hurdle the huge challenges that life throws at them.

Safehouse

As we got to know the children and their families better and got more involved with the social issues it became apparent that more of our children were suffering from abuse or severe neglect. We discussed these issues at great length with the teachers and psychologist and came to the conclusion that we needed to do something.

In June 2007 we purchased a plot of land in nearby San Isidro for £5,300 and in October 2008 we opened our Safehouse.  To read more about the safehouse please click here.

Dangerous Living Conditions

Many of our children live in conditions which are beyond our comprehension.  They live either on dangerous hillside areas susceptible to mudslide, or extremely unhygienic or unhealthy conditions.  We have relocated all of the families displaced so far but sadly, we have been unable to do as much as we would have liked due to insufficient funds.

We have however managed to help a few families who were living in extreme poverty.  This has been due to very generous personal donations.

A generous donation from two of our supporters allowed us to rebuild Ana Luisa’s house.  The family were living in awful conditions; with mud floors and barely enough corrugated iron to make one room.  The ‘house’ didn’t have a roof and had absolutely no shelter from the elements.  We built two rooms and a bathroom; the family now have safe and dry living conditions.

Shaun Wright-Phillips and David Howell kindly donated enough money in order to rebuild Daniel Chonoy’s home.  Again, his family were living in conditions beyond our comprehension; with mud floors and corrugated iron placed around them to try and protect them from the weather.  The ‘house’ was built into the hillside and when it rained, water would literally flow into their home.  We built two rooms and re-routed the drainage away from the house, Daniel’s family now have somewhere safe and dry to live.

In 2009, we were very lucky to have three separate donations to pay for the building of three new houses. We chose three families who were in desperate need of re-housing. With the help of a local charity, Construcasa, who help build basic housing for families living in extreme poverty, three new houses were built. The donations were a fantastic help to the charity, and allowed us to make a massive difference to these families and their way of life.

During Shaun Wright-Phillips trip to Guatemala in 2011 he also helped rebuild Henry's house which was in very real danger of falling down the hillside.

 The cost of moving a family and building a dry safe house is approximately £3,000.

Stove Appeal

The World Health Organisation has stated that children exposed to open fires used for cooking in Guatemala will develop permanent lung damage by the age of five. We felt we couldn't stand by and watch this inevitability, so we began looking into supplying a safer alternative.  In 2008 we managed to raise sufficient funds in order to buy and install safe stoves in each of our children's homes.  These children are no longer exposed to this terrible risk and we are so grateful to all our sponsors.  Due to our increase in student numbers, we will undoubtedly encounter more families who cook with open fires.  Our stove appeal can continue with your support.  The cost of a safe stove is £90; to read more about how you can help with this initiative please click here.

Water Filters

Our children were frequently becoming sick and it soon became apparent to us that this was due to the water.  None of our families had access to a safe water supply so we decided this had to change.

Our 2009 appeal was consolidated by a very generous grant and subsequent grants in 2011 have enabled us to continue supplying clean water to our families.  As with the safe stoves, we are aware that new families to the Foundation will also need access to safe water.  The cost of supplying a water filter is just £20; to read more about how you can help please click here.