Child Aid - Building Brighter Futures

Another article about the rampant poverty and malnutrition in Guatemala ran in a top publication, this time in The Atlantic (read it here). The article reports that in some areas of the country “malnutrition levels top 90 percent, among the highest rates in the world.”

The author explains that, along with high food costs and zero infrastructure, the lack of education is a major cause of poverty in Guatemala. “Less than 40 percent of indigenous women in Guatemala are literate, compared with an overall rate of 85 percent for Latin America. Worst hit by the chronic hunger are the country’s Mayans and other indigenous peoples…”

So how do you help? We couldn’t agree more with President Obama’s statement at the same G8 summit, which the author quoted at the top of the article: “We believe that the purpose of aid must be to create the conditions where it’s no longer needed, to help people become self-sufficient, provide for their families and lift their standards of living.”

We believe the best way to create the conditions where aid is no longer needed—to help people become self sufficient —is through education. You can help us do that!

In a heartwrenching article (here), The Economist reports that, “according to Unicef, almost half of Guatemala’s children are chronically malnourished—the sixth-worst performance in the world.” The article goes on to say that, “In parts of rural Guatemala, where the population is overwhelmingly of Mayan descent, the incidence of child malnutrition reaches 80%.” That’s twice what it is in Haiti! Getting more food to these families is undoubtedly critical. But, as the article makes clear, so is education. It is the one vehicle that provides a lasting impact on poverty, providing opportunities that otherwise will not exist. Your support is absolutely critical to Child Aid’s mission to bring community-based educational programs to Guatemala’s rural poor.

Most teachers in rural Guatemala have received no teacher training (they generally just have the equivalent of a high school degree), so most have never learned how to manage a classroom of 40 or more grade school students. Especially when teachers lack a strong personality, classrooms can resemble Union Station in New York City! Combine this with a lack of books and materials in classrooms, and it’s hardly surprising children find it so difficult to learn to read.

During our teacher training workshops, we always try to include tips and practices of classroom management. Not only do these help us in keeping teachers tuned in, they’ve given teachers ways to implement rules in their own classrooms. One practice that I was recently introduced to for getting students’ attention and getting them to focus is Superbrain Yoga!

In Superbrain Yoga, the idea is to try to get more oxygen to the brain by doing a simple exercise: deep knee bends combined with crossing the arms and holding and massaging the earlobes. It supposedly helps the practitioner activate both sides of their brain for learning, basically supercharging the brain.

Superbrain Yoga admittedly seems to be a wacky way to start a workshop, but who knows? Maybe it works! There is some research out there that indicates that this simple exercise can enable people to be more attentive and active in their learning. Maybe it’s just hocus-pocus. At the very least it is a fun way to start the morning and get people laughing and engaged in the workshops.

Speaking of special events, it’s not too late for you to organize one for the summer!! Really, what could be more fun than having a garage sale for your favorite charity? (Maybe a bowl-a-thon.) How about a fundraising dinner? Or a Barbeque for Books? If you do decide to do something like this, we can create a little web page for you like this or this.

And be sure to check out our events page from time to time (it’s under the Donate button, top right). Have a great summer! 

If you live in the Portland, Ore area, join us on a beautiful bike ride to support Child Aid’s rural librarian training program. The ride will take place on Sunday, September 20, in the idyllic countryside around Forest Grove, just west of Portland. We’ll ride through vineyards, forests and rolling hills, all for the sake of great cause: community libraries in Guatemala and helping children learn to read. There are three rides so peddlers of all levels and ages can participate: an 11 mile ride, a 30 mile ride and the 55 mile challenge ride. Read more about the ride and register online here. We hope to see you there!! 

Hogar “Tío Juan” (loosely, Uncle Juan’s Place) provides a welcome home to young Guatemalan boys and girls with no home of their own. During its 30 plus years, over 8,000 children have called Hogar “Tío Juan” their home. The home provides food, shelter and an excellent education.

Formerly homeless, these boy sare now in good hands and getting the education they deserve

The normal school day in Guatemala is from 7:30am until noon. The 400 residents at Tío Juan, however, attend classes from 8am to 5pm every day, including Saturday.  With this amount of classroom time, students work through two grades per year!  While this schedule provides the students with an excellent education, it also presents a problem.  Books in Guatemala are hard enough to come by, but even more so when your students are literally doing “double time”. 

Earlier this year Child Aid received a generous donation of books, including a good selection of math text books. We were able to make a generous donation of about 1,000 math books to Hogar Tío Juan.  Every year, K - 9, received a set of 40 text books along with accompanying workbooks.  They were thrilled to get some new books as the ones they’d been using were battered.  Like the children, I think the books have found a good home at Tío Juan. 

Child Aid works in depth with 14 communities in Guatemala, but we also assist dozens of other communities and organizations on varying levels, whether we’re providing teacher trainings or donating books. This book delivery to Hogar Tío Juan is just one example of how you, our donors, are helping us make a real impact on people’s lives. 

Child Aid’s first reading program was based in the library located in El Tejar, a few miles up the mountains from Antigua. The program, Adventures in Reading (Aventuras en Lectura)was designed to help school age kids engage in reading during their school year break. Since then Child Aid has continued to run Adventures in Reading during the school year break and has provided training to hundreds of rural librarians, helping them help children develop reading skills they’ll keep for life.

Children listen to a story during Adventures in Reading

The librarian trainings and Adventures in Reading program both promote reading as well. The library in El Tejar is a perfect example.  The librarians here visit three schools each week where they read books with students in 11 different classes. The nearly 400 children in these classes are currently reading a book by Ann Cameron called Colibri, a story about a Mayan child kidnapped from her parents in Guatemala City and her long journey back to her family. The children read a few chapters each week as a class. After the reading session, the librarians lead the students through activities that help the students develop better critical thinking skills and comprehension skills,  and encourage them to use their imagination.

The program has sparked in the students a great interest in reading. Teachers say the kids refer to the stories throughout the week in class. The students are also reading books on their own, partly because of the reading program, but also because the library now has open stacks and a lending program. This means the children can peruse the books and can borrow the ones they like and read them at home.

This is a stark contrast to many communities in Guatemala where books simply do not exist, where students don’t have the opportunity to develop comprehension skills for reading, or learn to enjoy books for pleasure. Through the efforts of Child Aid we are making a difference in many of these communities by providing materials, training, and support and helping children develop better reading skills and stay in school.

Norma Guzman, regional program coordinator, shows off the recently donated books that are heading to rural libraries

Antigua, Guatemala - Reference books like encyclopedias, atlases and other reference materials are extremely rare in rural Guatemala.  If a library does have a set of encyclopedias it is often outdated or incomplete. Child Aid recently received a generous donation from Bilingual Educational Services, Inc of 30 sets of Time Life encyclopedias focusing on different areas of science and geography.  Each set contains 52 volumes and will be a wonderful addition to libraries that have practically no reference materials whatsoever.  The donation also included a set of 6 mystery books or “scary books”, which seem to be a favorite of the children here.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been working in a library and a student comes in asking for a scary book, and goes away empty handed.  I am thrilled to be able to offer them not only one, but a series of six books to quench their thirst for this genre!

Children in Cabracan holding up recently arrived books

The Peace Corps has a strong presence in Guatemala and often works in remote areas that Child Aid does not have easy access to, primarily because we lack the resources, staff and time to get out to these extremely isolated areas. The aldeas (villages) out here have very few books, and the children face incredible difficulties in learning to read because of this. Recently, however, Peace Corps volunteers made the arduous journey from the mountainous village of Cabracan, where they’re working, and down to our warehouse in Chimaltenango to pick up a donation of over 1,000 books. They are using these books to make six sets of cajas viajeras, or traveling libraries. These books will reach villages that are inaccessible by roads, offering most of the children in them access to story books for the very first time.

girls working hard at CEDIN in El Tejar, Guatemala

Music, art, recreation, story hour and ample personal attention all help to create an environment for growth and development in a child’s life. These constructive outlets and activities are important for all children, but can be especially beneficial for children from extremely poor families, families which lack the time and resources to provide these outlets at home.

The Center for Holistic Education and Development (CEDIN), is a Child Aid partner in Guatemala and a very special Montessori-type preschool. Children who attend CEDIN come from a diverse background, but nearly all of them come from families that are so poor they cannot afford the costs associated with sending their children to school. Thanks in part to Child Aid donors, the children at CEDIN receive scholarships and can attend the school and learn to read at an early age. 

CEDIN has small classes with no more than 30 children per two teachers, meaning every child gets lots of personal attention. The teachers stay with the kids for their entire time at CEDIN so the teachers get to know the children very well. The children have the freedom to explore the world around them through songs, books, stories and games, and get to develop new skills that are important for their future growth through playing with games, acting out dramas, engaging with music and learning to draw and paint.

CEDIN looks like a fun place, and it is. But the personal stories that come with the child are not always fun. For example, Ivan is five years old and has faced incredible hardships at home. When Ivan came to CEDIN he was every bit the young rebel, letting out his inner frustrations by disrupting class, and at times even yelling at or threatening the other students and teachers. But because of CEDIN’s high teacher-student ratio and the methods of teaching, Ivan got a lot of positive attention. He was exposed to many constructive activities that enabled him to channel his emotions. He even had access to a psychologist, who has been able to coach the teachers on how to help Ivan channel his destructive behavior into constructive actions.

After a year and half in CEDIN, all the teachers and the psychologist conclude that Ivan is better adjusted. He has fun and gets along with his classmates. He no longer argues with the teachers, and he eagerly participates in new activities. While Ivan’s home life remains difficult, he has found a refuge and a place of growth and development in CEDIN, and this will help him succeed in school in the years to come. Without CEDIN, Ivan would never learn to read, wouldn’t be in school and would likely have no chance at a future beyond one of extreme poverty.