By Katy Morris | Communications & Marketing Manager
Thank you once again for your support in helping us save our Feeding Center in San Jorge. Your contribution will help children living in extremely dire situations, just like Rolando.
The Kids in Critical Need Program is a program that cares for the most forgotten and vulnerable children of rural Guatemala: those with no parents, those with no home, and those with an extreme risk of suffering from malnutrition. Frequently the stories are too sad or their lives too difficult for many of us to relate to. Many wake up cold and barefoot on an insect ridden, dirt floor with dirty hands and grumbling stomachs yearning for nourishment. Perpetual itching from scabies, lice, or fleas is often the norm, as is doing household chores and going to school with an empty stomach. Just imagining a morning like that is more heartbreaking than one can imagine.
However, some of these children have found a reprieve from this physical and emotional trauma, thanks to this Mayan Families program. Twelve-year-old Rolando of San Jorge La Laguna is one such child.
Rolando’s mother died and his father, unable and unwilling to care for him, abandoned Rolando leaving him to seek refuge with his aunt, Maria, and his eight cousins.
Maria described Rolando to be very sickly and in a state of severe malnutrition when he came under her care. Additionally, Rolando suffers from severe learning disabilities and is still unable to talk, keeping us from fully understanding how severe his disabilities are. Furthermore, Rolando has several medical conditions that need frequent attention.
Like many of the families we work with, Maria and her husband struggle to afford food, clothes and school supplies. They lost three children of their own due to various illnesses as they were unable to afford medical care for them and now struggle to support Rolando and the rest of their children.
For Maria and her family, taking in Rolando meant making even tougher decisions about finances. As Rolando’s physical and mental state revealed to be beyond the care of Maria, she reached out to Mayan Families to help her care for this child and we quickly found a place for him in our program.
While Maria and her husband do everything they can to support the family, they still rely heavily on our Kids in Critical Need Feeding Center in San Jorge to ensure Rolando is getting the essential nutrition he needs every day.
Help us continue to provide nutrient rich meals to children like Rolando so that they might one day create a stable life for themselves and escape the cycle of poverty. Please share this post and continue to spread the word so we can save our center!
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