Build a Brighter Future for 80 Kids in Guatemala

At the Integral Heart Foundation our work is to offer educational opportunities and to empower children who come from the most humble of homes.

This is the story of one of them; his name is Chente.

We met Chente for the first time in 2010. He and his two siblings were in a such a state that our mouths literally dropped open. There were three siblings ages 3 and 7 and Chente was the youngest one, only one and a half years old.

The father abandoned the home when Chente was born leaving behind the mother with their three children. Later on, the mother found a boyfriend who didn´t know she had children, so she decided to also abandon them in the care of the grandparents to begin a new life with her boyfriend. This is quite common in Guatemala and there are little or no public services to counteract this level of abuse.

The grandparents also had the own children living at home and hardly the means to survive and they would spend all day in the mountains picking up wood so they could sell it later and that´s how they mostly survived. Then, some their own older children had their own families with no jobs or any financial help. It was a crowded and abusive compound.

The situation was even worse since the these three siblings were at the bottom of the chain. They just spent all da alone in the house waiting for grandma to come home for wood picking and fix something to eat. Luisito, the oldest one who was seven at the time, was the one who took care of the two younger ones. Needless to say they were generally filthy severely malnourished, and Chente, in particualar was terrified of adults.

Seeing these kids was the catalyst for our kindergarten program back then which as evolved into our school program now. We began taking care of them and the family from that point on, and still today they come to our school.

Chente was very scared at the beginning and it took some months, if not years, to take pictures with him smiling.

Today he loves coming down to our school and he is a very important and happy part of our work. He has good grades in his public school education and he is participating in our reading program.

We have high hopes for him and wish him a great future. We want to appreciate all the effort of our donors throughout the years to see this happening and make possible amazing stories like the one from Chente.

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass

Much love to you all from all the Integral Heart Family.

Empowering children is one of our primary goals. Integral Heart Foundation is all about giving those who really strive to change and grow the right tools, environment and possibilities to shine.

In this newsletter we have the story of Jacqueline, who now, at the age of thirteen, can take charge of a full class of her peers and teach them English.

Jacqueline began in our program two years ago and we only managed to get her a sponsor four months ago. She and her younger siblings never stopped attending our school classes as they have passion for learning. They also told us that they got great benefit from our tutoring sessions with our senior students and teachers-in-training, fondly known as the ‘Isas’.

Doña Graciela, Jacqueline´s mom, is a 36 year-old divorced woman. She works making and selling tortillas and washing other people´s clothes when possible. Her oldest son, Diego, who is 18 years-old works during the week in order to help the family financially and to pay his studies as a mechanic over the weekend. He works as a mason assistant and sometimes as a helper on trash trucks.

Jacqueline has two younger siblings, Yajaira, who is 11, and Leonel who is 9. Their passion for study comes from their mom. When she was abandoned by her husband, soon after Leonel the youngest one was born, she realized that her children didn´t have to go through what she did. She hersef was abused as a child and never was sent to school. Now, as a single mother, she didn´t know how to write or how to read so she registered herself in an education program for adults where she got her high-school level diploma. She did it because she wanted to help her children with their homework so they could study and have a better future.

The mother learned about our program through our social worker, Marisol, and asked her if she could send her kids to our school. We were happy to accommodate the. Our surprise came when Jacqueline, who at that time was only 11, began speaking to us in English fluently, something very unusual for kids at that age in Guatemala.

Only four months ago we found Jacqueline a sponsor and now the whole family is benefiting from the advantages of our sponsorship program that includes a monthly basket of groceries. But the best part is that Jacqueline is playing an active role in teaching English to her schoolmates when our senior students are not available for that class. She and her sister Yajaira have conversations in English between them and we think that she can be our future English teacher for the school.

Her motto is “nothing is impossible if you want it really badly” and she is living up to that. I am sure in the future you will hear more about her from us, but for now, kudos to Jacqueline and her strength.

Integral Heart Foundation couldn´t be more grateful to all of you who make these great dreams possible. We feel really fortunate of being the bridge between such powerful hearts.

Thank you.