This Past Week for June 8 thru June 14

Hi there,
We have had another busy week. We have had lots of good things happening.

We held a clinic for pap smears for approx. 240 women. We arranged for the wonderful people of WINGS from Antigua to come to Panajachel. We held a half day clinic in San Jorge where they gave pap smears to 52 women. Then the rest of the time was in Panajachel with women coming from several different villages. One woman was found to have a prolapsed uterus and we are arranging an operation for her. Another woman was found to have a lesion that needed taking care of urgently and Wings arranged treatment for her. For many women it was the first time that they have ever had a pap smear.

We distributed a lot of clothes and shoes this week. Most people were having terrible problems getting their clothes dry and they were very happy to have new clothes for their babies and children. People came with shoes that were already rotting from the wet weather.

Stoves were very happily received by the following students and their families :
#254 Gladis, #447 Juana and #448 Manuel, #768 Yessica, #264 Jorge and #269 Edgar, #509 Carmen. Seven stoves were delivered to other families that are not sponsored but were in great need of help.

Infant Feeding Project. Seven babies and young infants received formula this week.

Food was very gratefully received by the following families:
#142 Sandra /143 Antonio, #275 Lisandro/#276 Gerardo, #518 Yoselin/#524Lucia, #762 Pedro/#763Luisa/#764 Rony, #765 Evelyn and #766 Suly.

Traditional Traje was given to several young girls and women who cannot afford to buy new clothing.
#535 Rebecca, #536 Cecilia, #538 Petronilla and their mother, #315 Irma, #222 Astrid,
#763 Luisa, #765 Evelyn, #766 Suly and their little sister. Gloria who works with Mayan Families also donated an traditional outfit to a woman who comes often here and only has one outfit.

Construction : Materials were delivered to Tierra Linda to continue work on the Community /Learning center.

A “new” pediatric wheel chair was given to a young girl. A pair of crutches was given to a young man who had an accident.

Medical Aid: Was provided to many, many people. After the heavy rains and cold weather there were many children with respiratory problems.

Grant : We are thrilled to say that we were awarded a $10,000 US grant to be able to run a nutritious feeding program at the San Jorge Community/Learning Center for the Early Learning Program!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carla Cooey and her friends from the Westminster Presbyterian Church left on Monday after a great visit. They were able to visit their sponsored students, her group sponsored 7 more children to go to school. Five of them are new to our program. They are a family of 6 young orphans. Their father died last year , the mother died two weeks ago, they are now being raised by elderly grandparents. Carla’s group took them to their heart, sponsored them to go to school, provided them with food and bought them new traditional clothing. They also brought lots of donations for Mayan Families to distribute.

Karen and Brett Tower and their children were here visiting their sponsored family. The family was so thrilled to meet them after all the help that they have received from Karen and Brett. Karen, Brett and their family rode off in the back of a pick up with their sponsored family and had to climb a very long hike to get to their home. The Tower family also brought down a ton of donations for us to distribute. These were very much appreciated.

Thank you for all your support. It means so much to us,
Sharon