Empower Highly Outcast Children and Their Families

As part of our COVID19 action plan, Mayama continues her work in support of children and families. The organization maintains focus on educational processes without losing sight of the enormous need for humanitarian aid for families living in high marginalization in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara. Our action plan includes 4 goals, and these are its main results:

1. Zero hunger: from April to October 2020, the organization has supported with food pantries the 148 families that are part of our programs, and 60 families graduated from our programs. In total, 11 fortnightly and monthly deliveries of this aid have been made, delivering more than 1600 pantries during this period.
2. Zero infected: At the end of March, prior to the suspension of activities at our Educational Center, we held briefings with girls, boys and families to raise awareness of the severity of the COVID19 pandemic and provide basic information on care and hygienemeasures for contagion prevention. In addition, 300 hygiene kits were delivered to Mayama families including soap, antibacterial gel, chlorine, water cover, surface disinfectant, among others.
3. Zero violence: From April and until now we adapt educational sessions with Mayama children and families. The sessions we held at the homes of the families were replaced by sessions by telephone or videoconference (when the technological infrastructure of the family allowed it). Some of the topics that have been addressed are the formulation of an Action Plan for each family to address the pandemic and to complement this family plan, Mayama educators have permanently accompanied and provided information regarding programs of other government institutions, private and social to support the economy, health and education. Educational sessions have also been held to reflect on gender equity and the distribution of domestic work among families during the pandemic. In total, distance sessions with an average attendance of 82% have taken place from April to October 1665.
4. Peace and resilience: During July and August, the 214 girls and boysparticipated in the Corona Challenge, who using the Design Think method and supported by the Mayama education team and the Dutch organization Designathon, were informed about how Coronavirus is affecting the lives of millions of people around the world and the different problems related to the pandemic. Girls and boys sketched and prototyped the ideas they generated to solve the multiple problems. In the end, 12 finalist works were selected, which were recognized and awarded. Another project carried out with children during the pandemic is the "Real Heroes and Heroines in a Real World" campaign, which consisted of creating stories about those who, from the perspective of Mayama children, have become true heroes during the pandemic. Stories about care, protection, love and resilience in the midst of the crisis. Subsequently, these stories were told through the social networks of Mexican actresses and actors to raise awareness of the new reality for Mayama families. Finally, this project, with the help of professional writers and illustrators, has been transformed into a publication that will soon be shared to the world.

"Peace is not only our ultimate goal, but also the only way we will achieve our goal." / Martin Luther King

On the occasion of COVID-19, and from March 20, Mayama decides to suspend face-to-face activities in its Day Center, as well as family intervention processes in the communities of the Municipalities of Tonalá and Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. In the face of the health emergency, the organization decided to implement an Action Plan based on 4 key strategies: zero hunger, zero infected, zero violence and peace and resilience, which in turn are part of an Integral Plan that ensures minimum conditions of safety, food, education and health (physical and mental) among the beneficiary population during the contingency.

 Among the actions carried out are the development of a campaign for the delivery of food pantries, hygiene and health kits, as well as educational kits.  Although the organization focuses on development and human rights, due to this contingency it has also adapted new actions towards humanitarian aid and assistance.

 Mayama is convinced that she should not miss the compass of educational work with girls, children and their families, as it represents the lever to ensure the sustainable development of these individuals and their communities, so the project takes on a fundamental relevance to continue the education of girls, children and their families at a distance, both with family sessions and sessions with themselves, to ensure reflective spaces that allow to continue the development of social, emotional, resilient, educational, educational and gender equity skills. From the above, families can generate family improvement plans, think of solutions through support networks and proposals for substantive improvement in the face of this contingency, as well as having tools of survival in the face of critical situations like this in the future.

 Their donations have been of vital importance for the continuity of the remote project, in which technological equipment is being integrated.

 "Resilience is the ability to deal with life's adversities, transform pain into motor force to overcome and emerge strengthened from them. A resilient person understands that he is the architect of his own joy and his owndestiny."  Anonymous.

At the beginning of 2020, the girls and boys Empowerment project remains active and with great success by various factors; among the most important because of the contributions received by GlobalGiving donations. As a result, the fifth generation is part of its third year of training.

The fifth generation has a total of 65 families and 93 children benefiting from our programs at Mayama Day Center. At this stage, girls and boys are working on personal, interpersonal and group projects development with any collaborative theme, which enables them to develop skills for decision-making and life skills approach. With their families, work is being strengthen with parental skills, which develops positive parentality and this allows children’s full exercise of their rights, as well as a significant improvement in their quality on life.

At the same time, as of the last quarter of 2019, Mayama has worked in the Exploration Face in 8 very violent neighborhoods in Tonala, Jalisco, which involves the search for new children who are candidates to be integrated into the sixth generation. In this process, 100 families and 140 children in labor conditions were contacted. We applied a socioeconomic test, as well as psychometric and psychological tests, which made it possible to determine, among other things, their maturity development needs and level of poverty so they can access to our Education Model successfully.

Once this described process was completed, only 95 families and 136 girls and boys were integrated to the sixth generation, who today mission is to establish agreements with the families; at this stage aims for a process of mutual knowledge in which educators are identified by the children, and visited the “Mayama Day Center” facility.  This trusting phase is critical to be able to make transformation processes in a sustainable way.

Thank you for support and we invite you to continue to join and invite your family, friends and co-workers to join forces.

“Every great dream starts with a great dreamer, always remember, you have inside you the strenght, patience and passion to reach the stars and change the world”. Harriet Tubman.

2019 was a great year for Mayama. Our number of beneficiaries grew from 120 children in 2011 to double children in 2019 to 289 and 53 families in Family Intervention Program. And also we visited to UN in order to present to Mayama Model and the new recent aspect with a Mexican enterprise “PETSTAR” that includes elements from an economy circular; as an example of project that includes he objective number 8 of 2030 agenda.

In terms of professionalism, we obtained a renovation and achieved the maximum level of transparency and resources management by the Mexican Philanthropy Centre (CEMEFI) and this is for us an opportunity to thank our donors for their confidence. We are now taking a path of constant evaluation, beginning with the children's improvements, and from the team as well, and also a commitment to share our results with both donors and beneficiaries (families).

And finally in this December we say goodbye a entire generation of 82 children that conclude their program; and we celebrated with a traditional Mexican party call “posada” with all families and children from Mayama.

Thanks to be part of Mayama this year. 

What’s your best memory of summer when you were a child?

As humans, experiences are a powerful element that help us grow and know the world that surround us, specially during childhood. For this reason, we are always in search of learning experiencies for our children that help them create amazing memories.

This summer wasn’t the exception, on the first week, children visited the local Zoo, in which they discovered the animal species that exist, the enviromental conditions that they need and the importance of taking care of the earth as the home that it is for all of us.

The second week they visited the local Aquarium, which was a sensory experience because of all the beautiful colors of the fish. Children were amazed by the diversity of sea animals they saw.

It was a great summer!

After it was finish, they were ready to go back to school. With the help of a local company, all of our children were able to have new school supplies, making possible for all of them start school on time, accesing their right to education. 

Thanks for being part of our story through your donation.