The Big Volcano Challenge!!

24th January 2010 - The Volcano Challengers Summit!!!!

Amy's Story - I'm in bits.....We completed it and it nearly killed us... sooo hard I can't tell you...totally emotional experience, I cried 3 times during the weekend and about 8 times today...I'm a wreck!

The first night we set up camp on Pacaya and then we trekked right up to the top to see the lava in the dark... unbelievable experience... lava flowing like a river in front of us. Tears just streamed down my face...

The second day was the hardest day of my life... 8 or 9 hours of trekking up Acatenango with heavy backpacks... what a huge volcano! We all had moments of total and utter breakdown and everyone had moments of thinking they couldn't do it.

When we finally got to the summit the emotion was unbelievable. Got it all on camera- the DVD is going to be brilliant!

Hardly slept that night- it was minus something- all our water bottles turned to ice during the night.

On the third day we trekked over to Fuego... we got right up to the knife ridge- unbelievable drop offs either side and this huge active volcano in front of us...and guess what?....It erupted right in front of us!!!

We ran out of water too- had nothing left for the final 4 or 5 hours. Killer! Sian hurt her knee on the way back down and went down the last 3 hours of the volcano on her bum- what a legend. The guides carried her the last half hour. I was on my last last thread of energy pushing back the tears from my eyes... extreme emotion! It hurt....it really hurt!

Tuesday morning we all went to the primary school and had the most amazing thank you ceremony from the children.

We've all been crying all day- first the girls, then Taylor, John, Andy, Fitzy and Dave totally broke down over lunch too....emotional times!

EFTC are incredibly proud and grateful to all who took part.

The Guatemalan Ambassador Julie Chappell joined the group for a day, check out her blog here: http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/chappell/

Check out our website for more news and pictures....coming very soon http://www.eftc.org.uk/TheBigVolcanoChallenge.htm

You can still sponsor the group for this massive achievement, just go to  www.justgiving.com/thebigvolcanochallenge

September-October 2009

It has been a while since our last post so here goes...

To start with a couple of updates from our last Blog -

Cristian

Cristian is now out of hospital and back in the safe house with him mum and brothers and sisters.  He is getting stronger each day and should be back at school in January.

The little girl in the middle of the abuse case mentioned on our last post is still in the foundations safe house whilst legal proceedings continue.

Jose and Maria, the children that lost their mother in September are doing okay.  Their father is bringing them to school every day and they are receiving support from our psychologist.

In September......

The Foundation run a competition every year to find 'Miss Esperanza' and 'Nina Esperanza'.  This is all to do with Guatemala's Independence day which was 15th September, the winners of the titles are then a big part of the Independence Day Parade.  The winners this year were Irma Jose Andres from Segundo Basico and Marta Eugenia, Grajeda Ramos from prepa...well done girls!!!

A huge thank you to Keith Berry and all at St Alphege Seasalter Church; they have raised enough money between them to build 3 houses for 3 of our poorest families.  We are working alongside Construcasa  (http://www.construcasa.org/) who are a non-profit organisation and offer basic housing to families living in extreme poverty.  The beneficiary families are involved from the beginning and also participate in the actual construction of the house.

In October......

The Guatemala team and our 3rd year high school students have been discussing their options for next year.

One of our teachers, Byron has announced he is getting married....And Luis our 3rd grade teacher has had a healthy baby boy so double congratulations!!

All 25 of our sixth grade primary students have graduated and will move up to our High School from January 2010.

24 out of 25 of our High School students graduated, our only failure was due to poor attendance.

David amongst others visited the project this month.


David took Keith & Vince (St Alphege Seasalter Church) to meet the family's they have been helping, it was a lovely meeting of sponsors and beneficiaries.

Our psychologist Aracely alongside a volunteer Sarah Miller held a meeting for all parents that came to collect end of year results, where they gave a class on motivation.

Duncan Dyason from streetkids.org came to visit the project.  His charity donates money to help existing projects, he loved what we do and he has committed to help us..great news!!

Graduation Ceremonies for our Primary and High School students were this month.

Our High School was open the day before the graduation ceremony for anyone who wanted a free hair cut, lots of our families came and they all looked beautiful!

The Primary Graduation started at a church in Jocotenango and the official ceremony and giving of diplomas took place in Antigua, it was an incredibly emotional time for all involved.  A lot of these children have been with the foundation for a long time and many of them have heart wrenching stories.  Cristian was with us at Nino Obrero 6 years ago and has completed his entire primary education with us, a first for EFTC!

During the primary graduation the foundation took the opportunity to give Dona Yessenia (the mum of our safe house) a special award in recognition of what she has done for the foundation and for the children, a truely lovely lady.

The High School Graduation took place in the ruins of La Merced, a stunning venue.  The children were all very emotional as they have been together for a long time and they will now be going their separate ways.

The school year in Guatemala has now finished, however our schools stay open until mid December so the children can still come in, get something to eat and join in some extra curricular classes.

Monday 7th September

We have had some sad news this week, little Cristian from our safe house who was diagnosed with leukemia last year now has meningitis.  He is currently in intensive care in the hospital in Guatemala City, his mum is staying with him and someone from the foundation is going as regularly as possible.  He has shown his strength by fighting off the leukemia we are all praying he will be strong enough to fight this. 

The little girl in the middle of the suspected abuse case has been moved to our safehouse.  The judge has given the foundation temporary custody pending a trial and investigations.

Another 2 students lost their mum at the end of last week, she died suddenly from a brain related illness, we think cerebral anaemia.  The children are left with their father who although is quite elderly, is very caring and with the help of the foundation hopefully they will be okay.

These are tough times for the foundation over in Guatemala, there has been lots of sad news.

We hope to be able to bring you some good news later this week.

Lots going on this week....


Two brothers in our primary school sadly lost their mum last week.  We are doing everything we can to help the boys come to terms with it and we are also talking to the rest of the family to try and work out who will care for them now.  Our Guatemalan team went to visit the boys at home and found they weren't being cared for properly, they were filthy and very hungry.  We have offered the safe house as an option and we are currently speaking to the grandfather to try and find the best solution for the boys. 


Leidi, one of our scholarship students starts her work experience in the primary school office today - Good Luck Leidi!!


Patty, Sophie and Claudia all attended Gloria Esperanza's final seminar presentation.  Gloria is studying tourism and in the final year of the course, all the students must give a presentation in front of a representative from the ministry of education. 

Our psychologist in Guatemala has brought a case to our attention where there is suspected abuse.  We are opening a formal investigation and the child involved will hopefully be moved to our safehouse whilst the investigations take place.  The Guatemalan team have to take the child to make an official statement 'denuncia' and then the person accused will be removed from the house and held by officials until the case is heard.  As you can imagine this is incredibly traumatic for the child and for the whole family, we are doing our best to ensure everyone is looked after and given all the support and help that they need.


One of our students has a heart condition which was diagnosed a while ago.  The doctors recommended surgery however the mother was hesitant due to the risks involved.  He has a follow up appointment this week where they will hopefully decide on the best course of action.

EFTC's first blog post.....

Most of you will already know us but for those that don't, Education For The Children Foundation exists to help some of the poorest children in Guatemala off the streets and into the classroom providing a positive alternative to a life of begging.

We have a primary school and a secondary school and we also provide a scholarship programme for children who want to and are capeable of going on to further education.

Some news from last week;

One of our Scholarship Students was taken to hospital on Friday after having a severe nosebleed whilst at school. The doctors confirmed she would have to stay in for additional tests as they were worried. The students mum managed to get together the money to pay for the first rounds of tests but she couldn't possibly afford the additional tests the doctors were recommending.  The mum phoned the school in tears explaining that her daughter needed the tests urgently but she couldn't afford them as they were going to cost Q800.00 (approx. £60).  EFTC were able to authorise the money for the mum to get the tests completed. We will let you know the results.


We were donated some toilets!! and have managed to identify 4 families that we feel would benefit. We are currently getting quotes from 3 construction workers/plumbers to find out how much it will cost to install the toilets.


Rudy - one of our scholarship students who is currently studying to be a primary school teacher started his pre practicals today with us in San Felipe. He is helping out in second grade and will be with us for 3 weeks. Another scholarship student, Leidi is also starting her practicals with us next monday. She will be helping us out in the office with admin.

A students mum came into the school on Friday afternoon to say that it would be her daughters last day as they were moving (possibly temporarily) to Guatemala City. The mum has an older daughter that lives in the city with her father. Her father recently left the daughter to go and live with another woman and the daughter has been left in care of the aunt who doesn't look after her or care for her properly. A few weeks ago the older daughter had a severe accident that left her with several broken bones and unable to walk. As there is no one else to look after her, the mum has to go. We talked about bringing the older daughter down to Antigua but her father has objected and has stated she must stay in the city. Patty, the head of our primary school, has said that she will keep the space open until January for in case she is able to come back.

More news to follow soon...