Help 500 Guatemalan Children Receive an Education

WE SEND YOU GREETINGS FROM GUATEMALA, WE HOPE YOU ARE SAFE AND WELL.

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL FRIENDS WHO GAVE US SUCH WONDERFUL SUPPORT OVER THE HOLIDAY SEASON, WE ARE TRULY GRATEFUL.

After a short break for the holidays our team is back and working every day to ensure our students are safe, fed and continuing their education.

We are very excited to report that we have begun construction of the new secondary school campus. With funding from Canada, the United States and Guatemala we were able to get our permits and begin the process. We have four of our graduate students working as apprentices with the Architect-Constructor. This process is very important to the philosophy of our school, we must not only educate young Guatemalans, but we have to help them secure a more promising future, and the best way to do this is to ensure they have employment, 72% of our families do not have permanent employment.

El Patojismo Construction Apprentices

Gabriel is another example of how we are supporting our young graduates to create a better future for themselves and their families. Gabriel is a very talented senior student. In his own words he expressed his experience as a student in Los Patojos: “My favorite part of the school is that students are given the opportunity to function in areas where they demonstrate talent by supporting them during the learning process of those activities.” Gabriel has shown incredible aptitude for technological studies. He not only excels at his own accomplishments, but is helping the whole program by repairing older computers, teaching younger students lessons on programming and coding. This year he is creating a computer club for those students that wish to enhance their technological abilities. A visiting professor from a Canadian university stated that Gabriel’s level of understanding is at or above first year university.

The support of so many friends through GlobalGiving is vital to our program, without our donors and friends, none of these accomplishments would have been possible. We are truly thankful. We hope we can count on your continued support.

Juan Pablo, Melissa and the team at Los Patojos, Dreams & Ideas in Action

We hope all our national and international friends are safe and healthy. This has been a very difficult time for everyone and we sincerely hope 2021 will be a better year for all.

Despite the difficulties, we have not stopped serving our community. Since many of our families were without jobs, we instituted a program to assist those in extreme need with food packets. This is an ongoing program, but now that some are back at work, we have less families in dire circumstances. We delivered 1,942 food packets to 12,623 people!

EXCITING NEWS!!

We have begun work on our new land for the Secondary School campus. Together with the architect, some of our youth participated in building an outdoor bathroom facility so we can begin to have sports activities. We can now bring our friends and potential donors to activities on the land for fundraising purposes

Through our continuing work on line with our senior students, 22 of them qualified and are ready to graduate Grade 11, which is the end of high school in Guatemala. It was not easy for them the last few months, we are very proud of their perseverance.

Ester is a shining example of our program’s success. Ester was sent home from her public school 5 years ago for misconduct, they would not allow her to return. She was suffering from personal instability due to violence at home. She came to the Los Patojos school and with help from our team, found her leadership skills and blossomed into a very dedicated and skilled senior student. She was selected by Guatemala to attend a workshop in Costa Rica on the Voices of Girls in Central America where she

learned to never give up. She became a soccer coach for the younger children and is training at a women’s academy in the department where Jocotenango is located, as well as assisting the primary teachers with their young students during the mornings. In her own words, Los Patojos has helped her to understand we all have different abilities, when we discover them and pursue them we win, negative thoughts no longer matter. Her goal is to study sports psychology - we will help her in any way we can.

All of these accomplishments, operating the primary and secondary school, offering music classes, dance classes, advanced computer lessons, English classes and sports activities would not be possible without the tremendous support we receive nationally and internationally. Please help us to continue to give these 400 kids a chance at a better future.

Los Patojos, Dreams & Ideas in Action Guatemala