Child Aid - Building Brighter Futures

With the New Year well upon us, we want to pause and thank you for everything you helped us achieve in 2010.  Last year, we served more children than ever before. In Guatemala, 7,414 kids from 26 communities participated in Child Aid literacy programs and, in Mexico, we treated and/or tested more than 2,600 impoverished children for hearing loss. 

Children in a remote classroom near Santa Lucía Utatlán, Guatemala, show off the new books they received through Child Aid’s Mobile Book Box program. These are the first usable books their classroom has had.

Thanks to generous donations from several US book publishers, we shipped more Spanish-language children’s books to Guatemala in 2010 than in any year in Child Aid’s history – 83,000 in all. Remote libraries and schools in over 50 towns and villages have already received books, and we plan to distribute the remaining materials throughout the first half of 2011. Through Child Aid’s Reading for Life literacy program, we ensure they are used regularly by children in their homes and as part of Child Aid reading programs.

Many of our supporters chipped in last year when they heard the the story about Xojolá, the remote indigenous community where teachers asked us to bring Reading for Life to their village.  By the end of 2010 we raised $18,000 for the community and began work on the library immediately.  We delivered hundreds of children’s books and will soon start literacy training for a new librarian and 21 local teachers. Our work in Xojolá is going extremely well. Check back soon for updates.

These are only a few of our accomplishments from last year. We couldn’t have done this without your support.