Educate 300 Guatemalan Children

Carlos Antonio Carias Monroy

This family is originally native from Jalapa, they decided to come to Antigua in order to improve their life quality. Unfortunately, once they were already settled, they realized this was not what they were aiming for; the father became an alcoholic and mistreated both physically and verbally his whole family. As a consequence to this situation, they split and the mother decided to go back to Jalapa.

A little after the mother went back and started working, she got a rare disease that leads her to death. All of this was so sudden that nobody realized she was so sick and by the time she got to the hospital could only spend two more days there before she passed away.

All of this caused problems with the family one more time. Relatives from Jalapa were trying the father would bring them to Antigua in order to provide economical support, but he had already raised a whole new family with a different woman and wants to know nothing about his older children who were brought to Jocotenango in order to start a debate and delegate custody. The children are taken to the childhood and youth court located in Chimaltenango.

Two of the kids Nelson and Jennifer are given to an uncle (mother’s brother) while Jorge Mario and Carlos Antonio are given to their grandma (mother’s mother) But after a while, grandma got all of them because the uncle couldn’t support them.

Three of the children start to study at the Scheel Center, One of the programs of Asociación Nuestros Ahijados de Guatemala. During the past summer, they had the last debate were Nelson and Jenifer were separated from their siblings and taken back to Jalapa and grandma got to keep just two of them. Currently just Carlos who is now 11 years old is currently in fifth grade continues to study at the Scheel Center.

Carlos is very happy because he has found at the Scheel Center not only psychological and academic help but has also gotten clothing and shoes, all of this because he dreams to become a professional lawyer in order to help his family and other children that may have the same problem he and his siblings went through. Even when he says he doesn’t lack of love and his grandma constantly shows this to him, he misses his siblings. He is also very conscious and grateful for the help he gets because he knows how much this represents to his grandma.

Henio Wilfredo Pérez

Departamento de Guías.