Spent the first part of the morning with the fun task of changing US money into Quetzals ( Guatemalan dollars) At a lot of the banks you can only change 200 dollars a week therefore you have to walk all over looking for different bank. Finally got enough money changed and headed off to Mayan Families to pay my bills.
We had planned on going to San Jorge in the morning However there are parades all this week and some of the students would be in the parades.
I had a couple of hours to kills so I went around visiting the staff,,,that is when a saw a brouchure on a desk talking about a very nutritous plant that grows really easily and is indigenous to this area. The plant is called Chaya.
Mayan Families connected me to the CATCO which is the organization trying to reintroduce this plant to the area. I met with this group which is also interested in organic gardening. Curtis the CEO took me on a tour of his facility. It was so interesting I forgot to take pictures AAARGH!!
Curtis gave me 12 plants which I will take over tomorrow to the families with vegetable gardens. The plant leaves can not be eaten raw and the leaves must be prepared in anything but an aluminium pot or they are not safe. Catco has come up with a cookbook and really want to work with Aldea Maya…WHAT AN AWESOME CONNECTON!!!!!!!
Next we headed off to San Jorge to visit our 4 sponsor students. Our first stop was very sad. My sponsor student Sindi Lorena has had a hard life.
Her mother was an alcoholic…which is very rare. She rarely worked around the house…since Sindi Lorena was the only girl she had to do all the cooking, washing of clothes by hand ( there are seven in the family) and cleaning. She was only seven. She was in grade 1 for 3 years as she had No time to study. Then her mom started to do better. The family made ice cream and the mom sold it at the hospital. Ubfortunately the mom was murdered. Sindi is back to doing everything. After a while the Sindi’s grandmother came to live with them…things were looking up.
Next the dad got a girlfriend and she moved in whith her young child. She did not treat the children very well. The grandmother owned the house and she booted them out.
Sindi Lorena and Ingrids bedroom
They moved into the dads moms home. This is the home we visited. The dad and the girlfriend and her son sleep in a nice bed…..Sindi Lorena and her little sister Ingrid sleep in the room that use to be the outhouse!!!!!. They filled the hole with dirt, but it is sinking every day. The 2 girls sleep on a hard board over the hole with no covers. And the zinc roof is full of holes as are the walls.
I am so angry!!!! The dad sleep in a cement room with a tile floor, window etc. and there is room in this room for the bed I bought Sindi and her sister. Well I let the step mom know I was not impressed and they better bring her bed down PDQ. I let them know I would buy some metal sheeting for the leaking roof if Sindi got her bed.
The next home was much better. It was the home of Alba. Alba is in first year Basico and has a mom that loves her very much. The dad died several years ago and the family is tight for money but the home is clean and well looked after.
The inner filters no longer work on this filter..we will be relacing them through our Christmas card sales
Our next stop is the home of Maria Isabel. She is our student in grade 11. She is a lovely young lady.She wants to study business administration. Maria Isabel and her mom do beadwork to help the family income. This family was doing excellent until a month ago. The dad does construction work and had developed a hurneated disk in his spine. We are going to see if MF medical program can help him.
To get more information regarding the top hospitals online order viagra in India visit : . Impotence can be extremely stressful for men, as an cialis for cheap alternative treatment guide. It promotes blood circulation online viagra mastercard and reinvigorates all of the physical activities. Any of these if dysfunctional could disrupt the system making the construction impracticable to inhabit or operate. Discover More levitra sale
Next we took the long hike to the top of San Jorge. This village is clinging to the side of a steep mountain and the climb to the top was arduous. I really felt like I needed oxygen. Frank lives in his lovely cement home that Aldea Maya helped pay for a year ago. The family had a microloan to pay for part of this purchase.
The family is slowly making improvements to their home like bringing in water. By Christmas they should have electricity…presently they are borrowing electricity from their neighbours.
It was great to see Frank using the water filter.
Later at night in my hotel room in Panajachel Maria and her daughter Gladys visited. Maria has so far made half of the sanitary pads I ordered.
After counting the packages I gave Gladys a pack of cards and showed them how to play concentration…it was great fun!!!
