ActivitiesWorking through local charities, the Number One Goal of The GOD'S CHILD Project in Guatemala is to help the poor break their bitter chains of poverty through education and formation... |
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The project does this by providing that
which the poor can't afford on their own -- simple things like
pencils, paper, admission fees, uniforms and, beyond that,
medical care, clothing, bus fare, food, love, structure, and
shelter or a foster family when such is needed. When the
children get good grades, there's always a little extra pocket
money too.
Important to the success of The GOD'S CHILD Project's efforts in Guatemala is its heavy reliance on The Bismarck Educational Method, which provides a built-in incentive for the poor and their families to succeed and to earn what they receive, while at the same time guaranteeing that each child's basic needs are met. Believing that it's best to teach a person to fish for a lifetime rather than simply give them a fish for a day, The GOD'S CHILD Project founds, develops, and works through skilled, supervised Guatemalan nonprofit charities such as La Asociación Nuestros Ahijados to accomplish its goals. |
| La Asociacion Nuestros
Ahijados (ANA) , for example, was founded by GOD'S CHILD
Project founder Patrick Atkinson in 1991. Located at the
base of the notorious San Felipe slums on the edge of Antigua,
Guatemala, it is housed in a widely acclaimed community
development center that the program built called "The
Dreamer Center".
La Asociacion Nuestros Ahijados cares for and educates needy children, women, and families in Guatemala. In 1999, it cared for and educated 725 boys and girls in 87 schools all across the country of Guatemala, among these special education students, children of the returning refugees, and the children of homeless migrant sugar workers along the Pacific coast. In 2000, La Asociacion Nuestros Ahijados program increased the number of children under its care to over 1,100, including 54 new children so poor they shocked even veteran volunteers, who visit homes of all applicants to assess actual needs. In addition to those who were accepted, an additional 400 desperately poor children qualified for acceptance into the project but couldn't be accepted for lack of funds. We can rest assured that there will be more children in the future... if this year is like last, "emergency" children will show up and more will be accepted. Some will knock at founder Patrick Atkinson's door, while others will be sent by the local courts, victims of severe abuse, abandonment, or who have been orphaned when a sole parent died and the remaining family was left with nothing. |
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Volunteering isn't all work. There are weekend trips to famous Mayan ruins like Tikal, living with a local host family, visiting museums in historic towns like Antigua, Guatemala, a former capital city, and sampling life in a different culture. |
| And there's time off-- for
a good lunch and a welcome break from work. This Serviceteam,
building a new home for a family in the slums of San Felipe,
stopped at midday for bag lunches prepared by Matilda Rupp,
a repeat volunteer who returns to Guatemala to volunteer with
the program year after year after year. "Guatemala is a beautiful country; Antigua a beautiful, historic city. And it's warm," says Matilda, a volunteer from Minnesota who donates her time to both The GOD'S CHILD Project and the Asociación Nuestros Ahijados, the latter which is located outside of Antigua, Guatemala. "Volunteering means helping others. It's means feeling good about what you're doing. It means using your talent to improve lives of the less fortunate. That's what The GOD'S CHILD Project is all about -- and it can use everyone's talents." |
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When something special comes to Antigua, children in The GOD'S CHILD Project-sponsored program La Asociación Nuestros Ahijados usually know about it. Like Johnny Toronto, the juggler. |
| Johnny, an internationally
recognized juggler, had been brought to town to perform at
various fund-raising benefits. Fortunately, his stay in Antigua
overlapped the monthly meeting of La Asociación Nuestros
Ahijados students in San Felipe. Arrangements were made for
Johnny to perform for the kids. He juggled balls, dumbbells and flaming wands, on and off his unicycle. And the kids loved it. |
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| The
monthly meeting |
They love their monthly meetings even when there is no special entertainment. Because the third Thursday of each month of the school year is payday. That's when upwards of 725 boys and girls come to San Felipe from all over Guatemala to pick up the checks which allow them to go to school. Without those checks, raised through donations made to The GOD'S CHILD Project from the U. S., Canada and other parts of the world, these children could not afford school. They could not acquire the skills, through education, to earn their way out of poverty. |
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The System |
More than just getting a check, these children anticipate the size of their monthly checks. Those who get top grades on report cards earn extra money -- money they can spend for things beyond clothes, food, books, pencils and paper. |
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More |
There's more to monthly meetings. Each of three sessions, which run from early morning until late afternoon, open with a prayer. Then comes a greeting from Patrick Atkinson, The founder and executive director of both The GOD'S CHILD Project and La Asociación Nuestros Ahijados; introduction of volunteers and staff, who are key to keeping the program operating efficiently and economically, and introductions of students with birthdays of the next month. |
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And |
Following are talks on things like health, sanitation and cleanliness, announcements of educational programs for adults and special events which may be coming up. But the high point is each student's check, made out in his or her name. That not only pays for school, it also teaches trust, responsibility, money management, independence, dignity and self-worth. |
