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Who Are We? Mayan Families is a small non-profit group operating in the Highlands of Guatemala. We live and work in the Lake Atitlan region.
We operate a variety of programs as a comprehensive approach to give a hand up to needy Maya people and the communities in which they live. The work of Mayan Families is supported completely through donations, which are tax deductible in the U.S.
Learn more about us >>
Urgent News MAYAN FAMILIES NEEDS YOUR HELP – Dear Amigos of Mayan Families,
Many of you may be aware that Guatemala is facing a huge crisis. The President of Guatemala has called it "a calamity". The drought has caused severe food shortages and the cost of basic food items continues to rise daily. According to Unicef almost half of Guatemala’s children are chronically malnourished—it has the sixth worst record in the world. In parts of rural Guatemala, where the population is overwhelmingly people of Mayan descent, child malnutrition reaches 80%. A diet of little more than tortillas does permanent damage. This is the only diet that many families have right now. In Guatemala, which has some of the worst levels of chronic malnutrition, children have already started dying. In rural areas, thousands offamilies can no longer afford to eat. Malnutrition rates are rising among the veryyoung, and the elderly. We have many mothers who are not eating, just surviving on a few tortillas a day so that they can give the food to their children. Children who suffer from chronic malnutrition are not in immediate danger of starvation, but they will face stunted growth and a diminished mental capacity. The children don’t look underweight — they just look tiny. Some have light hair, others have patches of hair missing, some are even bloated. Families that before could afford to feed their children, are now struggling but the families that were already living without enough to eat are now facing daily hunger and the children are quickly becoming malnourished and sick. Daily, we have families coming to our door who have nothing to eat. The worst affected are single mothers whose wages were barely able to keepthe family together before this crisis. Now, they just do not have enough to feed their children even the very basics.
Through your help ,Mayan Families currently feeds over 110 children every day at our three pre-schools. These are children that have beenidentified as malnourished or are in danger of becoming malnourished. We have started a feeding program for the Elderly this week. Many of the elderly people do not have enough to eat and are becoming very malnourished and weak. We need your help to be able to continue to feed these people and the many more who need help. This is a crisis situation and while we believe in long term solutions..right now ...people who are hungry cannot wait for crops that will grow during a severe drought or chickens that will lay eggs. They need help today.The biggest need and challenge facing the indigenous people of Guatemala this year and in the coming year will be the struggle to have enough to eat.The United Nations children's fund, UNICEF, reports that Guatemala has the worst malnutrition problem in Latin America, even higher than the 35.2 percent average in Africa!
October 1st is Children's Day in Guatemala. We traditionally celebrated this with a pinata and cake. This year, in the hopes of giving children food, we are asking for a small donation of $10 or more to be able to provide a child with a bag of corn and several pounds of beans to take home. Beans are sometimes the only protein the children will receive. We need food for general distribution.....this is for families that are in desperate situations, many of these will be single mothers. A 100 lb bag of corn is $35US. This will supply a family of five with tortillas for two weeks. A 100lb bag of black beans is $90 US. A carton of 30 eggs is $5US. A basket of food with a cooked chicken is $35 US.
To help a family get through this crisis, please consider donating today. Any donation of any size, to help feed a child and their Family will be greatly, greatly appreciated.We don't want to turn people away that we know can be helped. With your generous donation, we can help those who are in terrible situations and give them hope. If you would like to nominate your sponsored student to receive your gift of food, we would be very happy to do that.
TO DONATE:
Please donate online and put it in the General Donation area, "Where most needed".
You may also choose to send your donation in the form of a check.
Please make it payable to Mayan Families and send to:
Mayan Families
P.O. Box 52
Claremont, N.C. 28610
We are asking you to join in our efforts to help the Guatemalan people by giving a tax-deductible donation. We hope that you will be able to help us with a donation of $25, $50 or more, this will feed a lot of children. However, any donation no matter howsmall is always welcomed and appreciated. We make every dollar count! We are asking that all contributions - personal, employee and corporate - be made as soon as possible.
You can make a difference right now, today!
Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES
Tel: 619-550-2608
ABOUT US:
Mayan Families is a small non-profit group working in the Highlands of Guatemala.
We are a registered 501(c) (3) Non Profit Charity. Your donation is tax deductible.
P.S. Please help spread the word by forwarding this e-mail to your community or posting it on your personal blog, web page and your social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Hi5, Ning and any others that are appropriate.
Please follow Mayan Families on
Blog: http://mayanfamilies-sharon.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mayanfamilies
Facebook http://tinyurl.com/ylhkl7p
Ning http://tinyurl.com/ygyvnrd
If you would like to give this gift in Honor of someone special, please send us an email to dwight@mayanfamilies.org giving us the details and we will put them on our
IN HONOR OF Blog.
Mayan Families is a non-profit, tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax-deductible.
Thank you once again for supporting Mayan Families!
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| Mayan Families 2010 Student Sponsorship News – Dear Amigos of Mayan Families,
The 2010 school year is fast approaching. The Students return to school to begin the new School Year in January, 2010.
Last year at this time we were trying to Sponsor or get Re-Sponsored over 800 Students. Your response was great, we did it and we opened up a third Pre-School which added more children to this wonderful Program. We now have over 1,100 eager Pre-School, Elementary, Junior High and High School Students that need your support to continue their critically important education.
To those of you who sponsored a child to go to school this year, we want to thank you very much!
You have made a huge difference in the life of your sponsored student, their families and communities!
You have given the family hope, given the children the tools they need to get ahead in life and helped them to achieve, through a proper education, a brighter future.
If you are currently sponsoring a child to go to school or would like to begin sponsoring a child, now is the time to renew or begin a sponsorship for the coming School year 2010.
If you are considering sponsoring a child, this would be a wonderful time to do it.
The Guatemalan people are struggling with a food crisis in their country, rising prices and high unemployment. Education is now even more important to help future generations deal with the tough issues that they will face.
There are many children eagerly wanting to go to school and are waiting for your help.
If you have sponsored a child this year but are unable to continue, please, let us
know as soon as possible, so that we can try and find another sponsor for that child.
We thank you for giving a child the gift of education in 2010.
In order to allow the greatest number of children the opportunity for an education we strive diligently to keep the school sponsorship fees reasonable and affordable.
At this time we are not raising the School Sponsorship fees except University.
If you would like to sponsor a student …Click on this link – to see the students available.
http://www.mayanfamilies.org/
SponsoraStudent
Many more students will be added in the coming weeks.
Pre-school sponsorship….if you are sponsoring a child for pre-school …
the time table is January to December. The pre-schools are closed for a few weeks for the holiday period. It is year round because the children need the nourishment of the feeding program. Their sponsorship fee is used to help cover the costs of the food, teachers and educational materials.
The sponsorship for Elementary, Junior High and High School provides your student with:
School fees, School shoes, Gym shoes, School supplies, a Backpack, School Uniforms when required, shorts and t-shirts for gym.
School Sponsorship fees:
Elementary children -Pre-School through 6th grade. $150 US.
Junior High School students. $350 US.
High School Students. $450 US
University Students $1,200.US
Your continued support is greatly appreciated!
TO DONATE:
If you are renewing your Sponsorship, please click on the link to
visit our website and donate online at
http://www.mayanfamilies.org
/DonateOnline
scroll down to the Student Sponsorship section, put in the amount and your
students number then click on Submit Form which will take you to our simple,
safe and secure online payment using PayPal.
If you want to Sponsor a Student for the first time or add another deserving
Student to your donation please click on this link – to see the students available.
http://www.mayanfamilies.org/
SponsoraStudent
You may also choose to send your Student Sponsorship donation in the form of a check.
Please make it payable to Mayan Families and send to:
Mayan Families
P.O. Box 52
Claremont, N.C. 28610
and please include a note with your students number on it.
We are asking you to join in our efforts to help the Guatemalan Children by
giving a tax-deductible donation.
We hope that you will be able to help us by Sponsoring a Student, however if you can not at this time, you might consider a donation of $25, $50 or more, any donation no matter how small is always welcomed and appreciated. We make every dollar count! You can make a difference right now, today!
Thank you for your support.
Best wishes,
Sharon Smart-Poage
MAYAN FAMILIES
Tel: 619-550-2608
www.mayanfamilies.org
ABOUT US:
Mayan Families is a small non-profit group working in the Highlands of
Guatemala. We are a registered 501(c)(3) Non Profit Charity.
Your donation is tax deductible.
P.S. Please help spread the word by forwarding this e-mail
to your community or posting it on your personal blog, web page
and your social
networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Hi5,
Ning and any others that
are appropriate.
Please follow Mayan Families on
Blog: http://mayanfamilies-sharon.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mayanfamilies
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
profile.php?id
=1603632323&ref=name
Ning:
http://mayanfamiliessocialnetwork
.ning.com/
If you would like to make your donation in Honor of someone special please
send us an email to dwight@mayanfamilies.org giving us the details and
we will put them on our IN HONOR OF Blog. If you have questions regarding
your student or sponsorship, please use this e-mail address as well.
Mayan Families is a non-profit, tax-exempt charitable organization under
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are
tax-deductible.
Thank you once again for supporting Mayan Families!
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Special Notes Preschool! – Unfortunately, in Guatemala single mother families are a common occurrence. As a result, these women are the only income earners for their family and often have to face the very difficult and unavoidable decision to leave children unattended, at home, while they earn money to support the family.
Most of these Indigenous mothers are uneducated and unable to acquire well paying jobs. As a result they do not earn sufficient money to support the family and definitely, not enough to cover day care. Most of them barely make enough to feed the family and if they are renting it is often a choice between paying the rent or food.
As a result of watching so many mothers struggle with this dilemma, we have opened one day care/pre -school in San Jorge La Laguna.
This center provides nutritious meals and a stimulating educational environment.
We have had a very successful outcome with this center. The children have all put on weight and are learning healthy habits, such as brushing teeth after each meal and washing hands.
The children have access to a wide variety of educational toys to stimulate manual dexterity and construction toys for 3D thinking.
In their home environment these children do not have access to these kinds of .toys or materials.
We know of many situations where children as young as 2yrs old have been locked in houses alone while their mothers, out of desperation, have to go to work.
This problem is occurring in Panajachel and we would like to expand our day care program to this town.
Mayan Families is going to open a daycare/pre-school for these children. We expect to have an attendance of 35-45 children daily this year.
The children will have the opportunity to develop skills that will help them succeed when they start school.
Many of the Mayan children speak only their Mayan language and do not have exposure to Spanish until they enter school. This causes the children to be at a disadvantage and 40% of the children have to repeat first grade due to lack of exposure to language and stimulation.
In addition to providing stimulation and teaching Spanish we envision running a nutritious feeding program at the same time.
The children would receive a healthy breakfast and lunch. For many of these children it will be their only meals of the day.
We will also provide vitamin tablets and hygiene training, such as brushing their teeth after each meal. Many Guatemalan children have serious dental decay.
This will protect the children, aid the family finances and give the children a head start for their future with their education and health.
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