Elderly Support in Latin America

Whilst the elder generation continue to benefit from the plans we implemented years ago with the medicinal plants and fruit trees we would like to speak this month about their grand-children. It has been an excellent few months in Guatemala with final exams done and dusted and the results showing vast improvements in many areas. The children learn a very varied curriculum including three languages (Kaqchiquel, Spanish and English), math, sciences and dance giving them an all round primary education. During the year our ten local teachers (many of whom were once students in the project) taught over 200 children. Our sustainable plans we have implemented over the years also helped many children continue their studies due to the added income. This is an area we would like to continue building on in the future – it’s in the community’s hands!

Our Appeal this year, in conjunction with Giving Tuesday on 27^th November, aims to raise funds towards our local teachers’ salaries and materials for 2019. On average each teacher will educate between 25-30 children per class and will often teach more than one class so the more teachers we can bring on board for 2019, the more children we can give a vital education to whether this is primary, secondary or college.

Our local Phoenix teachers are the backbone of the projects. Their daily dedication to hundreds of indigenous children in Guatemala cannot be commended enough. They are the future of the projects as well as their communities and we must guarantee this future with funding, both through donations in the short term and through sustainable income plans over the medium to long term.

In Guatemala for example, Ana was one of our first students when started our school in Itzapa, Guatemala back in 2002 and has been teaching in the school for the past few years. Her grandparents have benefited from our programs for years, since the start.

Over the next two months we hope to raise a large proportion of the $100,000 we plan to spend during 2019 on local teachers and materials so please do dig deep this Giving Tuesday on 27^th November if you can and donate to this page or even crowd fund with friends, family and co-workers in your office or school and aim for one teacher’s salary for the whole year!

Examples:
$3,725 can cover 1 teacher for 25-30 children for one year
$1,860 can cover1 teacher for 25-30 children for six months
$930 can cover 1 teacher for 25-30 children for three months
$310 can cover 1 teacher for 25-30 children for one month

$180 can cover 1 child for one year
$90 can cover 1 child for six months
$45 can cover 1 child for three months
$15 can cover 1 child for one month

On behalf of all the communities where we work, thank you so much in advance for anything you, friends and family can donate for the communities and their future!

Whilst we are supposed to be in the wet season, climate change has been rearing its ugly head once again with a sustained dry spell wreaking havoc with the crops. This will have a serious knock-on effect in 2019 when the households run out of food and prices rise, leaving the families to decide between education or food – the latter being the only choice. This has now gone on for years and highlights the importance of our free primary school education and also our Sustainable Income Plans for the families, including alternative businesses and agricultural techniques, which help towards their further education costs. We will be monitoring the situation over the coming months.

The best way to maintain regular food for the elderly generation is to remove the barriers that hinder this; these being additional costs the families face with education for their children. No-one should have to chose between education or food so by supplying the former in our Phoenix school, the latter should take care of itself, which also includes the elderly.

As mentionned previously, the sustainable plans we introduced with medicinal plants and fruit trees for the elderly are still "bearing fruit" and take away another barrier: the cost of everyday non-essential medicines.

This year’s Phoenix Appeal aims to raise funds towards our local teachers’ salaries and materials for 2019. On average each teacher can educate between 25-30 children per class and will often teach more than one class so the more teachers we can bring on board for 2019, the more children we can give a vital education to, whether this is primary, secondary or college. Please donate to this page to help us reach our goals for 2019. Alternatively you can crowd fund with friends, family and co-workers in your office or school and aim for one teacher’s salary for the whole year!

GlobalGiving will be offering a donation bonus day on 12^th and 13^th September, a fabulous start for this year’s Appeal!

Also, a date for your diary for 2019: The Seven Continent Charity Challenge #5 will be the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu in Perú from 27-31^st May – please contact us if you are interested on dom@thephoenixprojects.org . There are limited spaces so please let us know as soon as you can!

Have a fantastic September and we’ll be in touch later in the year with another update! Cheers

Links:

• Inca Trail and Machu Picchu Charity Challenge 2019