Family Support Center (formerly La Guarderia/daycare)

The Family Support Center was created to serve single working mothers in Llanos del Pinal, a rural K'iche Maya community situated 20 minutes south of Quetzaltenango in the Guatemalan highlands. Meals, educational support, and extra-curricular activities are provided for the 36 children aged 2-18 who attend the Center at any given time. This institution allows for parents to continue working after school lets out. These extra hours of work enable families to earn enough money to continue sending their children to school.

The Center is staffed by seven full- and time-part employees, including one teacher. The staff cleans, cooks, and maintains the Center. The staff is thought of as family by the children because many children have difficult family lives.

The Family Support Center is supported by volunteers from the Pop Wuj Spanish School, and is regarded by the Foundation Todos Juntos as a priority because it is the only place where children can receive help on their homework, as their parents (or parent) tend to be illiterate and unable to academically assist the education of their children.

The epidemic of malnutrition which plagues Guatemalan children is combated here as well. The Center provides children with healthy meals and vitamins to aid in their natural development along with medicinal lotions to fight off skin diseases. All of the children receive regular check-ups from the staff and volunteers of the Pop Wuj Medical Clinic.

Along with services to the children, the Center provides counseling and social work services to the families who participate in the program. Familial disintegration, alcoholism, and depression are common problems in Llanos del Pinal and the Center offers hope to individuals suffering from such problems by offering them a broader community.

At the Family Support Center a Greenhouse Project was also started as part of our Environmental Program in 2007. Its goal is to provide safe food for the children at the Center and create a source of income for the Center by growing food products that can be sold in the market. The Greenhouse Project also allows the children to learn healthy agricultural and environmental skills and practices. We are planning to plant spinach, radishes, and cilantro in 2012.

The Family Support Center costs approximately $2,000 a month to run. The budget consists of salaries for the seven full- and part-time employees, food, dry goods, cooking fuel, cleaning supplies, utilities, and rent.




Thursday, February 16, 2012

Valentine's Day and Marti Gras!



Today was a special day for the children of the Guardería. We celebrated two special days- Valentine’s Day and Marti Gras! To celebrate Marti Gras (or Carnival), it is a necessity to make the traditional cascarones or eggshells. The children, with the help of the workers at the Guardería, hollowed out the eggs and decorated them with colorful tissue paper. Before sealing the egg with the tissue paper, the children filled the eggs with pika pika-very small, colorful bits of confetti. The volunteers arrived at the Guardería and, after a very warm greeting from the children, hid all of the cascarones in the yard next to the Guardería. 
After all of the eggs had been gathered, the volunteers were very surprised to see all of the children cracking the eggs over as many of their peers’ heads as possible (as is tradition in Guatemala). Of course, the children pulled the volunteers into the game as well.
After everyone was completely covered in colorful paper, the children and the volunteers settled into the classroom so that the children could present the Valentine’s Day cards that they had made for every student at the school. The volunteers happily left the Guardería covered in confetti and holding a handmade card.