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, May 31, 2012

Mother’s Day, Tree Day, and Malnutrition



May 10th was our Mother's Day celebration 
at the Family Support Center (formerly la Guardería). As always, the children put together a program of performances, including dances, songs, poetry, and games for the mothers to participate in and win prizes. We had a group of almost 20 Spanish students in attendance to take part in the festivities. Gifts of health and household items were handed out to the mothers in addition to crafts the children had made for them. Everyone shared an early dinner before heading back. 

May 17th we celebrated Arbor Day with the kids by planting four trees. First we discussed why planting trees is important, how to keep trees healthy, and some of the biological functions of trees. Then we went out to plant the trees behind the Family Support Center – two eucalyptuses and two cypresses. The kids had a lot of fun getting their hands dirty digging the hole for the tree and covering up the roots. Afterward they played outside until it was time to go back.

This past week Carmen met with the women who work at the Family Support Center to discuss a problem that faces several of the children who attend: malnutrition. We discussed how the Center provides a hardy, balanced meal and small snack for the children each day, but for some children this is the only meal they are getting. Additionally, there is a perplexing disconnect between the abundance of vegetables grown in the community and the food that actually appears on the family’s dinner plates. Often times it wasn’t an economic issue but rather a behavioral one. Next week, along with handing out scholarships, we will be meeting with mothers of the community and the Family Support Center to discuss the issue of malnutrition and the importance of preparing balanced, nutritious meals.