Wednesday, May 7, 2014

NEWSLETTER #4-May 2014 ORPHANS HOME NEARING COMPLETION & PATZICIA SCHOOL ALTRUISM


 Page 2

Enlarged online Newsletter #3 MARCH 2014: WOW...GREAT SUCCESS & YouTube video #22-2014 PROJECT REPORT for Jan. and Feb.

This is the website version of the email newsletter that was also printed for those for whom we have no email address and to recent contributors.
Click here to see printed version

Here is the large group of grandchildren, now with one more, being taken care of by grandparents, Maria Suram and 73 year old Julian Max, seen below in their very small dirt floored home.  Julian works hard as a day worker in agriculture to feed and cloth his large family--but needed additional bedrooms--so the Guatemalan Foundation  stepped in to help this heroic couple.
Julian's simple home is on property he owns, a portion of which he has legally put in the name of the three  we see below who lost their mother & father last year.
They are 9 year old ELDER ALEXANDER, 8 year old ASTRID CARINA, and 4 year old ELVER ELEJANDRO.  The home we are building for them is on their own property we see below.
Retired Professor Federico Veliz, our representative in the area got the project going putting a couple of workers excavating the preparing the new home site we see above.
Soon the sand, and gravel for the foundation began arriving, with some of the children looking on.
Since the 1976 earthquake that killed 25,000 in Guatemala, even humble homes are now built (when possible) with strong rock based foundations....so the rock arrives too.
All pitch in to help move the rock to the home site.  Other materials soon arrive too:  construction steel, that will bind everything securely together, and tin roofing material.
This construction steel runs throughout the foundation, and is then tied into columns that will be encased with cement forming a strong infrastructure  that will hold up the roof and prevent it from coming down as happened in the earthquake killing so many.
This infrastructure will also form a strong base onto which that this family can even build a second floor one day.  In space between the cement/steel columns is filled in with cement blocks. The spaces between cement/steel columns is in many places filled with adobe bricks. 

 Previous to the earthquake most Indian homes, especially in the Central Highlands, like Patzicia, had walls only of adobe that when the earthquake hit were instantly turned into dust, with the roofs crashing down killing the sleeping families as you see below.
Sometimes a doorway, or a wood support column for a front edge of the roof saved  some, but 25,000 were killed with this ancient style of construction.
The home we are constructing for the children will have two small bedrooms and a living area that will include a small kitchen.

As a Foundation
 WE CAN'T DO EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE THAT IS NEEDY,  BUT ARE DOING A LOT WITH THE FUNDS THAT ARE AVAILABLE.  In this case helping a beautiful bunch of children move towards a much better life.  We have provided about $2,600 for this project so far, and need approximately $2,000 more, so PLEASE HELP ALL YOU CAN.

Once the home is built we will focus on making sure all these children get a good education.  

TRAGEDY IN SANTA CRUZ VERAPAZ

On March 16th there was a terrible accident when a vehicle hit a family of three on the highway.  Federico was called into action immediately.  The father, Ricardo Call, his wife, Laura, and a 2 year old child were rushed to the Regional Hospital in Coban, where the mother passed on two hours later.  The child has remained in the hospital in serious condition.
 The father, Ricardo Caal, only had minor injuries and is seen below in his home devastated by his loss.  The Foundation helped with $105 to acquire the pine coffin, and transport the body back home for burial.

THE VALPARAISO SCHOOL PROJECTS

As reported in the recent YouTube Video #22-2014 (scroll down to access it), we have ongoing projects at the school, seen below.  It sprouted and grew from the small beginning when Julie Andersen, at 10 years old in 1969, began teaching a little group of barefoot Indian children.  It has grown to over 500 elementary and junior high school students.  We are presently working on three projects:
1.  New Sanitary facilities with flush toilets, a first in this area.
2.  Electric installation in the Julie Memorial Classroom, several others
 & the hallway.
3.  A secure storage room for the kitchen and the nutrition program.
We need approximately $2,500 more to complete these projects.

Please help all you can as often as possible in our rejuvenated work in this area which many experts consider the most needy in the country.

WE CAN EACH MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE......

..........among this beautiful, humble and needy people so that they will awaken, prosper and be capable of turning around and helping their own people.

Don't hesitate, but help now to make possible completing these wonderful projects, and then we'll move on to others that are waiting for us.

You can donate quickly by hitting the DONATE  button at the head of each page, or send your donations to:
The GUATEMALAN FOUNDATION
P.O. Box 1296
American Fork, UTAH  84003

SEE OUR PROJECTS FROM JANUARY & FEBRUARY ON THE FOLLOWING
 YouTube Video