Changing the World, One Child at a Time

Dear Friends of Casa Guatemala,

Well it is hard to believe that September has flown by already and we are now in the middle of October! We are kicking off our annual year end fundraising campaign today and I am excited to share that, thanks to one of our generous donors, we already have a matching grant of $10,000 to help us to double your impact! All donations will be matched until November 20th but hopefully, we will meet our goal before then! So please help us to kick off our campaign by donating today! 

I have been reaching out to our major donors in hopes of securing multiple matching funds for this campaign as they have been so successful in the past! It really is a great way for all of us to make the most of our funds that we so desperately need! Your support is a huge help to us here at Casa Guatemala where it has been such a struggle to make it through the last few years! Things are getting better and we are so grateful to everyone who has helped us through these trying times, but it has been hard. There are so many sleepless nights where I worry and stress about how we are going to make it through the months to come! And yet, here we are. Once again barrelling towards the year’s end! We continue to make it work, through hardships and times of joy, thanks to you! Every single one of our supporters, who allow us to continue this important work! The impact your donations make have a ripple effect that have changed entire communities and families over the 46 years that Casa Guatemala has been serving the children of Guatemala.

September was a really busy month for us here at Casa Guatemala, as we had our Independence Day celebrations, parent teacher conferences, doctor visits and of course lots of learning and fun! The kids all did an incredible job preparing and performing in their folk dances, gymnastic routines and presentations of poems and songs that celebrate their Guatemalan pride and Mayan culture. It is such a beautiful thing to see all of our children and staff celebrate their Indigenous heritage. It means a lot to us that we make a conscious effort to ensure that the majority of our staff are also Q’eqchi so that the language and customs the children are accustomed to at home are the same here at school. I was contacted this week by a fourth grade teacher in Arkansa. A new student in her class only speaks Q’eqchi and they have no way of communicating with her which is causing her to feel very isolated, frustrated and sad. Her parents also don’t speak Spanish so even though there is a teacher who does speak Spanish, it doesn’t really help. I was so happy that she found us on the internet, and took the time to reach out so we could connect her with our staff and send her resources to help her to communicate with the student. We will set up a video call with her class and one of ours, so that this little girl can feel the solidarity of her peers, albeit over video, and  know that she is not alone! I think it will be such a learning experience for both classes. I am so proud that we can help that little girl feel strength in her culture and show her classmates that she isn’t a minority at all, but part of a strong, established culture with a rich history and deeply seeded roots and traditions. Watching our children celebrate that culture with such pride has been so uplifting to all of us this last month! 

We now have over 12,000 followers on Facebook which is pretty impressive for us! And Facebook is impressed too! They have now offered us the ability to monetize our posts and enrolled us in a bonus program where we can earn up to $30,000! Sounds too good to be true!? Well, it kind of is! We have been posting and sharing and liking and commenting with the help of so many of you all who already follow us over the last few weeks, but so far we have only raised $35! We may not get rich from Facebook, but the videos and pictures from the last few weeks will keep you scrolling for hours, and I guarantee it will bring a smile to your face and some joy to your heart! I have spent hours uploading all of the kids' presentations from the three day festivities for Independence Day here at Casa Guatemala! Usually I would only film small parts of each presentation and put them together in Instagram Reels and TikTok videos because I am hip like that, but so many of our parents have Facebook now and I wanted them to be able to access these videos well into the future. I want them to be there when our kids are grown up and able to see them for themselves! There are  a lot of pros and cons to social media, but it does serve as an archive for people who don't have fancy phones and data clouds! Hope you take a chance to watch some of them, and share them if you enjoy! We appreciate everyone making comments and liking our posts this month so we can get that Facebook money! We aren’t getting rich from it, but it all helps and it doesn't cost anything to you! And there are far worse things you could be looking at on the internet these days! 

Our high school kids have been working hard at the final projects they need to finish the year, and they are almost done!  This year, we have three of our scholarship students graduating from high school which is very exciting and stressful for them! They have finished their major group project and presented their work in a seminar where they presented their findings in a paper as well as in a big presentation in front of the whole school and their families. There was a powerpoint, public speaking and a question and answer session with their teachers that they were all graded on. I was very proud of the efforts that Filomena, Yaquelin and Estuardo put into their projects and the way that they worked with their groups!

They just spent the last month at their work practicums; Estuardo at a mechanic shop in town and the girls at the Hotel Nanajuana, which is a very prestigious hotel and marina. Joining us at Hotel Backpackers for their practicums we had Miriam and Angelica who graduated from Casa Guatemala and have been studying on scholarships at the Villa de las Niñas in the capital city. Both girls did a great job working with us, especially because Miriam is Yaquelin’s sister and Angelica’s sister Deysi also works at the hotel! It was a happy reunion for all of us! 

Deysi is one of many of our Casa Guatemala alumni that has come to work at Hotel Backpackers after graduating from high school. We always try to provide opportunities for our past students who are starting out on their professional career tracks. Especially our girls as it is often the first time they are out on their own and having the opportunity to live here with us is something that both they and their parents appreciate! Last month, Evelyn, who worked with us for a few months this year came back to visit and was telling me about her new job. She said she was so grateful for all the help that she had received from Casa Guatemala and that she would not be where she is today if it hadn’t been for our support and the experience she gained working at the hotel. It makes me so proud to hear this and to see our children grow up to be hard working professionals! It means so much to us all to know that they recognize the impact that we have had on their lives and that they carry their love and pride for Casa Guatemala into their daily lives as adults. 

None of them would be where they are now if it wasn’t for your support. I hope that you realize just how much you mean to all of us here at Casa Guatemala. You are changing the lives of these kids and we can see the end results every day. I see it in their homes and their communities and I truly believe that it will help to bring change to Guatemala and to the world. And we can’t do it without you! So thank you so much for all you do to help us change the world, one child at a time!

With love and gratitude, 

Heather

Links:

• We're Kicking off the Season of Giving with a Matching Fund!