MAYAN FAMILIES - SAN JORGE LA LAGUNA

San Jorge Preschool.

2009-01-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

January 2009.-Today we went to the San Jorge preschool with visitors from the U.S.
Carrie and her Mom, Marcia and their friend, Patti had a great time
playing with the kids.! Marcia is a school teacher and the children
enjoyed the time that was spent a the pre-school with the visitors.

COMMUNITY / LEARNING CENTER

2008-04-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

WE NEED YOUR HELP - SAN JORGE WOMEN'S GROUP

2007-05-07T07:13:00.007-07:00

The San Jorge Women's Group Committee and a picture of the Group

Update - June 2007. We got enough money donated to buy the land and it is already paid in full! We are now receiving donations for the actual building. Thank you so much to everybody who made it possible.

Update.- October 2007. A wonderful member of Mayan Families Connection, Carla Cooey and Westminster Church have raised $2620 toward the building! The best news is that a wonderful couple, who are members of the congregation, have agreed to match the first $15,000!!! Thank you!!!

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We have had a situation come up very quickly, as things often do here.

The place in San Jorge where we have always held our women's meetings, Christmas Parties, etc was sold several years ago to an Evangelical church. They will be taking it over soon. Also the President of our Women's Group, Juana, who has kindly lent us a room in her house for the sewing classes, now needs to use the room for the family. She is giving us notice that in a few months she will need it back. She has been very kind letting us occupy her brand new room for this long.

For those of you who have been to San Jorge, you know that it is a very small town, really a village. Land is at a premium in this town. There are very few flat spaces, everything is either up or down.Right across from where we have always held our meetings a piece of land has become available. This land is big enough for us to build a house that will be used for many things.This has been a dream of ours for awhile now.

We would like to be able to have a permanent house for the women's group. We would like to be able to set up a co-op store there, so that their goods can be put on display.

We would like to have a pre-school space there during the day where children can come and learn, and mindful of the malnutrition there, receive two meals a day, they can also learn to draw, play with educational toys and receive some stimulation. There are many single mothers who work who have to leave their children unattended.

We would like to have a permanent space for the Sewing class.

We would like it to be a space where medical and dental clinics can use the space and it would be clean. Have a decent toilet and running water. (Things that these groups like to have!)

We would like to have classes there for teenagers and adults to be able to learn to read and write. If people do not know how to read or write, there is no place for them to go and learn.

We would like to have cooking classes and other classes as they become available.

We can also use it for emergency housing, for women who need to get away from an abusive situation, for natural emergencies.

Land space, especially, in the centre like this piece is highly sought after. We are very fortunate that the man who is selling it would like us to have it, he likes what we are doing in San Jorge. There are other people who are asking him for this land. It will go very quickly. So we have taken a great leap of faith.The land is $10,000. U.S. We have put a deposit on the land of $1,350. U.S. We have signed a contract to come up with the rest of the money in two months. This is a huge risk we have taken but this center is very important. It will be a wonderful thing to have. There is so little land there that this opportunity to have a piece right where we need it may never come again. If it wasn't for this fact that land is so tight there we would not have taken this risk. It is really a Miracle already that this man is willing to wait two months for us to pay when he has people willing to pay it in full today.

We envision a two storey building. But in the meantime we have to pay for this land. We are asking for your help in any form that you can give it, donations, prayers, suggestions and ideas.You all have such great ideas .

I am counting on you to come up with some now!!! Fingers and toes crossed, Sharon

The piece of land bought is the one with the crumbling walls.

If you would like to make a donation, please contact us at mayanfamilies@yahoo.com or visit our website http://www.mayanfamilies.org/

SAN JORGE LA LAGUNA

2007-05-07T07:13:00.005-07:00

San Jorge la Laguna is a small village between Sololá and Panajachel, on the side of the mountains, overlooking beautiful Lake Atitlan. It is a very steep, hilly village and the communal water supply is in the middle of the village. Women and children have to carry numerous heavy loads of water on their head in plastic containers, daily, up and down the steep trails and pathways. It is time consuming and back breaking work.

The population is approximately 5,000 and entirely Indigenous. The language spoken is Kaqchikel.

Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America and struggles with some of the lowest social indicators in the hemisphere. It is still suffering the effect of the 36 year old civil war that ended in 1996. It suffers from extreme income inequality — 56 percent of the population lives in poverty, one in five in extreme poverty. Infant mortality is among the worst in the region (39 per 1,000 live births), maternal mortality is extremely high (153 per 100,000 births) and chronic malnutrition remains a serious problem (49 percent)In the Department of Sololá, where San Jorge la Laguna is located, 76% of the population lives in poverty – living on less than $2 per day.

Our recent survey found that 75% of the families in San Jorge have daily incomes of about $1 per person. Most women make beaded jewelry or weave and many don't know how to read or write.

There are approximately 600 kids under two years of age in San Jorge.

School children in a parade in main part of town

PEOPLE AND HOMES OF SAN JORGE

2007-05-07T07:13:00.003-07:00

This family's bathroom

Woman in need of new kitchen

SOME HOMES

SEWING CLASSES

2007-05-07T07:13:00.001-07:00

We need a place to continue the Sewing School in San Jorge.

Nearly all the women in the group want to learn to sew on the machines. Part of their traditional clothing includes aprons that have machine embroidery on it plus their traditional skirts (cortes) also includes machine embroidery. The women really want to learn to sew to be able to make these items for themselves but also are able to then make money sewing these items for other women.

We started this project with a donation of $3,000 and have used the same principles of the chicken project.

A group of eleven women do four months of classes twice a week. They are very excited about learning this skill. They now can sew purses, shorts, blouses and the traditional clothing.

We are doing the classes by lottery and the next group of eleven women have already been chosen and are waiting to start. We have a professional tailor who teaches the women and he also repairs the machines.

The women are very keen to learn anything that could help them financially. We still have many women wanting to learn to sew on machines.

Members of the San Jorge Women's Group proudly display aprons made at the Sewing Class

Alberto, the teacher

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Feb. 2007 This happy group of women are all graduates of the sewing classes that we teach in San Jorge. They are seen here receiving their sewing machines to take home. They are photographed with Jan Jantzen from Miracles in Action who was present the day we were giving out the machines. Jan has been buying machines and bringing them down to Guatemala and supporting the sewing group.

May 2007. Stan and Grace from the Canadian group Connexiones, photographed with the sewing machines that they brought down for the new graduates of the sewing class.

October 2007.- This is the current graduating class from our sewing classes. They have finished four months of classes. They have been attending classes twice a week, four hours a session for the past four months. They are now in graduate class and attending the class once a week. They are very proficient at sewing and very anxious to keep going. We have had enough sewing machines donated to us that they will all receive a sewing machine after the graduate classes finish. Thank you to the people who have donated sewing machines - these women will have the chance to be more self sufficient.

MEDICAL AND DENTAL CLINICS

2007-05-07T07:12:00.007-07:00

We have arranged various medical and dental clinics in San Jorge. Due to the lack of a facility to hold the clinics, some of them had to be done in an open plaza with no easy access to running water.
We need a place to hold these needed clinics in the future.

We organized a Canadian team from Project Gift 2003 to go to San Jorge La Laguna for three days and treat the people of the village.

We organized one of the children diagnosed with Spina Bifida to receive an operation in Guatemala City.

We arranged for “Wings” to go to San Jorge and discuss with them Women’s Health Issues.

We raised funds for a baby in need of a heart operation to receive the operation in Guatemala City.

We have arranged medical help and assistance for many different women and children and supplied wheelchairs, walkers and crutches to those in need.

Dr. Jennifer from Nelson, B.C. Canada set up a clinic in San Jorge to check the weight and height of children under 5yrs of age and especially focusing on babies under 1yrs of age. We are hoping from this that we may be able to head off medical problems and get early treatment.

She found 30% of the children malnourished. She also decided that we need to get funds to be able to do laboratory testing on many of the children complaining of stomach aches. A lot of these are parasites but it needs to be confirmed by a feces test. We need to start finding the parasite medicine to treat these children.

The children are usually very healthy until the mother stops breastfeeding. That is when the malnourishment starts. Some children are lucky and breastfeed until 18 months or older but many of the mothers are pregnant very quickly and so some only get breast milk until 9 months of age.

The women are learning how to fill out the forms and do height/weight checks.

Milk formulas donations are always needed.

SCHOOL AND STUDENT SPONSORSHIP

2007-05-07T07:12:00.005-07:00

The rural school in San Jorge la Laguna has 550 children enrolled in 11 classrooms this year. Lots of them suffer from malnutrition and parasites. Very few are exposed to any educational material before starting school and they struggle in crowded classrooms. Spanish is their second language and instruction is given in Spanish with no extra support.

When we first went to this school, there was no running water. We are now pleased to say that they have running water in the toilets and wash basins thanks to generous donations from private donors. We also supplied this school with desks, chairs, paint, school supplies, tin trash cans. In June 2007 we finished paving with cement the space between the classroom. The children now have a safe place to play and the classrooms are kept cleaner.

We have also found sponsors for students from San Jorge.

These girls attend the San Jorge School and they are sponsored by Mayan Family donors. They received new uniforms in April 2007. Please visit our Student Sponsorship blog http://mayanfamiliesstudentsponsorship.blogspot.com/

School is free here but there are many costs attached to it. The inscription fee, the school uniform, the books, the backpack, the school shoes, the tennis shoes and the added extra costs. This puts sending a child to school way out of the range of many families. These costs vary from school to school.

Quite often if there is a choice between which child shall go to school the family will choose the boy to attend school and the girls will stay at home. We sponsor many boys but we like to make sure that girls are getting a chance to go to school as well.
We especially try to sponsor children from single parents as these are the most disadvantaged. We also sponsor two parent families who are suffering hardships.

It costs us $120 a year to send a child to school. This includes school subscription, school uniform and sweater, all school supplies, backpack, two pairs of socks, underwear, school shoes, tennis shoes, shorts and t-shirt for gym. Depending on the school and the grade it may also include a musical instrument, it also usually includes an annual school excursion and help with projects - such as mothers and fathers day crafts etc.

If you would like to sponsor a child, please contact us at mayanfamilies@yahoo.com.

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June 2007.- Mayan Families donated water filters for each of the classrooms and now the kids are able to drink clean water.

Temporary classrooms in center of town:

Classrooms at the permanent school:

This new classroom needs electricity and paint

Volunteers playing with the kindergarten children

This is the cereal snack being cooked at the school in San Jorge la Laguna. It is a cereal called Incaparina which is rich in vitamins and fiber. It is mixed with a little powdered milk and a lot of sugar. The children at this school are lucky. They receive this snack daily. The women are cooking these huge pots over wood stoves. The heat and the smoke in the room is overwhelming.

The school is also in need of more classrooms, desks, chairs, their dream is to be able to have a library and computers for the children.

The needs of this school are:
*URGENT* New classrooms to replace the makeshift ones currently used in the center of town.

Glass for the windows.
Bookshelves.
Desks for the teachers.
Computers.
Typewriters.
A microphone and speakers.
A play area for the children.
Supplies such as paint, markers, paper, pens, pencils etc.
Chairs and Desks for the students.

The boys' lavatory

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October 2007.- This week we were able to install bookshelves in 15 of the 17 classrooms in the San Jorge school. The other two classrooms are temporary classrooms and the shelving will be installed in January when school re-opens.

This was a donation from G.A.F.I. - a wonderful group of parents who have adopted their children from Guatemala and want to give something back to the country and to help the children here.

These classrooms had no shelving previously. The books and equipment had to be stacked on the floor. These shelves are going to be of great use to the teachers and pupils of the San Jorge School. Thank you so much G.A.F.I.!

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January 6, 2008.- Thanks to an anonymous donation from a Mayan Families supporter, 2 bathrooms are being built in San Jorge so the children that go to the temporary school don't have to use the Mayors Office. They are hoping to have them finished by the time school starts.
Now students and the people of San Jorge will have a public place to use the bathrooms and wash their hands. They are going to be the only public restrooms in San Jorge so they will be a busy place.

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January 11, 2008.- New Gas Stoves for San Jorge School.
The school in San Jorge had been using huge wood burning stoves to cook the snack provided each day to the children. This snack is sometimes the only meal that the children have from the moment that they get up until they go home at 12.30pm. Many children do not have breakfast before they come to school. The school provides a cooked oatmeal drink called mosh, or sometimes a meal of noodles and meat.
This has always been cooked over these very large wood burning stoves. The kitchen was laden with smoke, it was so hot for the women working there.

The school had a wish to be able to buy these gas stoves but no money to be able to make that a reality.

Along came a school in the U.S. that wanted to be able to do something for the children of Guatemala. They sent the money to buy these stoves.

This will not only help the health of the women working in the kitchen but it is going to really help the environment. Before each child had to bring wood every week to be able to keep the stoves going. Now the school is charging $1 per child per year to be able to buy the gas.

Now the stoves are being installed in a smaller room that used to be a very crowded classroom. There was barely room to move. The old stoves are being dismantled and the old kitchen which was much bigger than the small classroom is now going to be painted and used as a classroom. This will give the children and the teacher much more room to move.

Today the arrival of the stoves was greeted by loud firecrackers and applause and many speeches of appreciation.
Most of the students and parents gathered to see these stoves and waited in the hot sun to hear the speeches.

Thank you to all the people who made this dream become a reality.

MICRO CREDIT

2007-05-07T07:12:00.003-07:00

We received funding to do a micro no- interest loan project with the women in San Jorge.

Our microcredit program is simple: we give a loan, deduct Q10 for paperwork costs, and the women pay back the loan interest-free over 10 months. Our largest loan is Q990 ($132), paid back at Q100 monthly. No-interest loans are controversial in the world of microfinance. Here is our position. These families are extremely poor. The best thing we can do is to give them an opportunity to help themselves by financing businesses that supplement family income. The fact that they can pay back a loan's principal is the first step, and later, if their business grows we can worry about interest.

The money has to be used to either start a small business or enhance an existing one.

Many of the women make jewelry or weave so they have taken that money to invest in their business and to be able to buy their merchandise at wholesale prices.

One woman has started a small goods store. Another has bought two blenders to start a juice stand. Another to invest dry goods into her already existing stall. Another to buy a stove for her tortilla business.

Our survey found that these home-based part-time businesses increase family income by 38 percent on average. The most successful business averages daily sales of Q30 ($4, the exchange rate is about 7.5 Quetzales = $1). What are these women doing with the income from their businesses? They are feeding and clothing their families, sending their children to school, saving to improve their houses, and growing their businesses.

So far we have had a 100% payment return. One of the advantages of this project is that the women have had to learn how to use the banking system. The repayments are made directly into an account at the bank so the women have had to become familiar with filling out deposit slips. For many women this was the first time that they have ever had to enter a bank.

We have many women waiting who want to participate in the micro credit loan.

CHCKEN PROJECT

2007-05-07T07:12:00.001-07:00

We have been able to help with funding a “Chicken Project” for the Women's Group.

Each woman received 10 chickens.. The purpose of this was to increase their income. After raising the chickens most of the women sold them, keeping one or two to eat. This enabled them to supplement their income and increase the protein content of their diet.

When they sold them they would buy two extra for every one sold. This way they increased their stock of chickens, they had food to eat and they had some money left over.Some women sold their chickens and invested in thread for their weavings.

All of the women used the money to better their financial situation. Almost three quarters of the group still has chickens that they are continuing to sell.

ENERGY EFFICIENT STOVE

2007-05-07T07:11:00.005-07:00

These women also need to have simple stoves built in their houses. They cook over open fires and the smoke is very bad for the whole family’s health. We need to be able to put in stoves that are wood efficient and with pipes-chimney's that can take the smoke outside.

Onil stoves are an excellent solution to this problem. They reduce smoke emission's from within the dwelling by 99%, they increase the cooking surface height - eliminating burns and/or uncontrolled fires, and they create a 60-70% savings in fuel consumption - allowing for a reduction in deforestation and freeing the women and children from having to gather and carry large quantities of wood for cooking.
Mayan families has secured donations for 120 Onil stoves in San Jorge. We held classes to teach the women how to install them. We are very proud of this project and we hope to continue providing this life changing stove to more families.

The women learning to make the energy efficient stoves. We need a facility to hold meetings and classes for this and other projects.

January 25, 2007. Yesterday 120 energy efficient stoves were delivered to San Jorge la Laguna. They were laid out in the main square while all the pieces were put together. This was a long awaited day for these 120 families. Now the work of installing them begins!

HOUSE REBUILDING

2007-05-07T07:11:00.003-07:00

Many of the houses in San Jorge are in need of urgent repairs. Lots of these house are made with all kinds of improvised materials, like tin sheets, pieces of wood, plastic, mud bricks, etc. Hurricane Stan destroyed and damaged many more and the people living in them will suffer even more now that the rainy season has started.

Mayan Families has secured donations and volunteers to build and rebuild houses for the most needy families. The families that receive the house must contribute with work during the construction and they are very happy to do it, even the small children.

Lukas and his family pose in front of the house that was built for him thank to a generous donation. Lukas suffered an accident and became a paraplegic. His wife and children make beaded jewelry to help support the family but it is a very low paying job and they do not make enough to support the family.

Some other projects that we have done in San Jorge are:

Constructed three more houses

Supplied new roofing to a widow.
Built a retaining wall to stop a house falling into the river.
Constructed two bathrooms.
Built a ramp for a child in a wheelchair to make her house more accessible.

We have many women in this group in San Jorge who after the Hurricane Stan are in need of new tin for their roofs and at least three people in need of rebuilt-new houses. One elderly couple’s house was completely destroyed in the storm and they are in need of a new house.

WATER FILTERS

2007-05-07T07:11:00.001-07:00

Many people in San Jorge suffer from parasites and stomach ailments due to the contaminated water that they have to drink. Mayan Families has actively searched for donations to provide families with Q Beta water filters.

Five hundred Q Beta water filters have been donated to the town of San Jorge. Juan Carlos Cheves has coordinated this project and we have been very happy that he chose us as his partners. This project has been sponsored through a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant (60923) together with the Florence, OREGON Rotary Club of District 5110 and the Guatemala Sur, GUA Rotary Club of District 4250. Rotarians George Lewis from Oregon and Juan Carlos Cheves from Guatemala have been coordinating the project. For more information on the Q Beta water filters, visit www.bombagua.com.gt

The people of San Jorge are really delighted to have these filters which will give them access to clean drinking water and hopefully, this will help relieve the terrible amount of parasites that the population currently has to suffer. We thank Cropa Panalapina for donating their services free of charge to bring these filters to San Jorge la Laguna from Guatemala City. It was a very happy day in San Jorge la Laguna when the first water filters were delivered.

Water filters in action

CHRISTMAS PROJECTS

2007-05-07T07:10:00.008-07:00

Another Christmas project we had last year was sponsoring families for CHRISTMAS TAMALES FOOD BASKETS.

There are many families, mostly single, abandoned & widowed mothers, who cannot afford to provide the traditional Christmas celebration for their family. A food basket costs $30US and provides a Christmas Tamale celebration meal for a family of 10 or more.

It includes:
The plastic basket that hold all the food. This can be used by the family to stack dishes, wash dishes or hold food
Ingredients for the tamales
Oil, 15 lbs of Rice to make the tamales, a block of drinking chocolate (this is traditional to drink at midnight), a loaf of bread with which they eat the tamales at midnight, raisins for the tamales, grapes, apples, sugar, 5lbs of meat, tomatoes, one pound of coffee, leaves to wrap the tamales, cloves, pepper, sesame and pumpkin seeds.

CHRISTMAS PARTIES

We collected donated toys to be given away at a Christmas party in San Jorge. The toys were given by Santa Clause and the children and their families had a great time. For some, this was the first time that they had received a Christmas gift. We are grateful to all the people that donated toys for this wonderful event. We have already started collecting toys for Christmas 2007.

Getting ready for the party. The women of San Jorge sorted and wrapped donations received by Mayan Families.

For some kids, this was the first time they got a Christmas gift.

There were many happy children in San Jorge

OTHER PROJECTS

2007-05-07T07:10:00.007-07:00

OTHER PROJECTS

DISTRIBUTION OF DONATED CLOTHING AND SHOES.

May 24, 2007.- Today we took a lot of children's clothes, blankets, towels and blouses that we had made from fabric donations and gave them out to the Women's Group. They were all very happy to receive new clothes for their children, especially with the wet season coming, when clothes do not dry too quickly.

DONATED BEDS TO SEVERAL WIDOWS WHO WERE SLEEPING ON DIRT FLOORS.

RECYCLING TRADITIONAL CLOTHING

One of the projects that is very close to our heart is enabling the people who wear traditional clothing to be able to maintain their culture. We have a project of buying and giving second hand Guipils( pronounced weepeel) and Cortes ( traditional skirt) at a fraction of the cost of new ones and giving them to children and adults who cannot afford to buy new ones.

These children received "new" Cortes and Guipils yesterday. They were thrilled.

The main reason that there are less children wearing traditional clothing in Guatemala is because the family cannot afford to buy it for them. The cost of new hand woven clothing is very expensive. If you would like to donate a Guipil ( blouse) or a Corte ( skirt) for a child - we can buy them second hand for around $10 US each. If you would like to donate a new Guipil or Corte to a child - the costs is approx. $25 US for a blouse and approx. $40 for a traditional skirt.

The woven belts that they use cost approx. $7. These costs are way beyond the means of many families here who would like their children to be able to wear the traditional clothing but because of economic hardships are forced to buy second hand western clothing.

WEAVING PROJECT

The great beauty of Guatemala is the color and design. The traditional clothing is unique to Guatemala. Unfortunately, due to the cost of thread many women can no longer afford to weave their own clothing or their families. We are seeing more and more children and adults buying cheap, second hand western clothing because that is all that they can afford.

They would dearly love to be able to continue using their traditional clothing but the cost of the thread makes it almost impossible for many families to buy it. We are looking for sponsors who would like to help this endangered tradition continue and donate towards thread for traditional “cortes” (skirts) and guipile's”( blouses) .

Each village has its own designs for guipiles but for example, a traditional guipil for San Jorge la Laguna costs Q350 ($46.us) price for a “corte” or skirt is Q300($40). These garments usually can be worn for more than 5 years. For a child a “corte” costs Q150 ($20) and a “guipil” costs Q250 ($33.00). These costs are approximate because of the variation in each village.

In addition to supporting their unique cultural and traditional values it also enables them not only to clothe themselves but also augment their economic situation by the sale of their own weavings.

Without money to buy thread the women are unable to pass down the tradition of weaving to their children and this unique Mayan skill, which has been developed over millennia, is in serious danger of being lost to future generations.

Each traditional garment is hand woven of natural fibers. They are beautiful, visually pleasing and unique to each cultural group. They are extremely practical and hardwearing enabling these textiles to be worn for many, many years then passed on in the family or re-sold and recycled.

MAYAN FAMILIES

2007-05-07T07:10:00.005-07:00

DONATIONS

Paypal via www.mayanfamilies.org
or

Please make check Payable to Mayan Families and mail to:

Mayan Families
c/o Dwight Poage
2609 Hartford St.
San Diego, CA 92110-2315

email: mayanfamilies@yahoo.com

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