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.