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Josué with his family's chickens, which he helps care for.
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New developments in San Miguel Milpas Altas | Josué Moisés and his older brother Jorge Luis love to chat with visitors to their home. First topic of conversation: they like to study. Second topic: they like to help their mother with chores, which include a daily task of feeding the family chickens. What they like most of all: to eat chicken, and when they do, they give thanks for the blessing. At the same time, they give thanks for the support of Common Hope, because when they received school supplies from Common Hope, they were able to use the money they saved to buy little chicks.
Alma Marroquín, San Miguel Milpas Altas coordinator, learned all this at a recent home visit with the family of Josué Moises and Jorge Luis. She says this is just one example of the many children she and other social workers have had the pleasure of visiting in recent weeks. This is all part of the continued work of getting to know the community, new to us in 2011 -- its needs and goals. In addition to relationship building with families, there have been several new developments in terms of our collaboration with community groups and the school.
Community collaboration
Work is underway to make improvements to the public health center building. The goal is to create an office space for Common Hope staff members Alma Marroquin and Sofi Diaz. These arrangements are part of a plan created with COCODES, a group of community leaders that encourage participation of local citizens. Alma and Sofi will move in as soon as the work is completed.
Education promotion
Several of our education promoter staff recently came to the community to share tips and strategies for working with first grade children. Pati Gomez, coordinator of our education promoters, and Ligia Pol, education promoter in San Rafafel, met with members of the school and the community. They have had some great success with their strategies to reach and motivate children on the importance of reading, and the teachers in San Miguel Milpas Altas were grateful to learn from them. Doña Aurora Chacón, president of the COCODES of Health in San Miguel Milpas Altas, also attended the training, with the objective of observing and learning to work with the children.
Quarterly grades for preschool and primary students were recently shared by the school. These will help us to get a better sense of the particular challenges and goals for the community. From the initial review, Alma says that one of the challenges will be to create a stronger tradition and expectation of completing homework and finding ways to reinforce its importance to both students and parents. This will be something to work on in the coming months, as relationship building and collaboration continues.
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Myles and Haley with Pablo, one of our construction staff members.
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Newlyweds volunteer in Guatemala for honeymoon. | |
Miles Steinhauser and Haley Kastler didn't want just any ordinary honeymoon. So after getting married this June, they headed to Guatemala to volunteer for six weeks. The pair says they both have a heart for service, and a honeymoon at a resort was just not for them. Says Haley, "We wanted to give back to others in any way that we could and we hoped to have our eyes opened, but there is no way we could have anticipated how our decision to volunteer would affect us as individuals and as a young couple."
Myles says he will never forget the time he spent getting to know the Guatemalan men he worked with on construction at Common Hope. Even with limited Spanish, he managed to communicate with them and learn about their lifestyles and daily struggles. From them, he gained a new appreciation for the opportunities there are to work and hold jobs in the U.S. Many of the men he spoke with struggled to find work and were so thankful for any employment opportunity.
Haley says that they learned so many things during their six weeks in Guatemala. "Our experience has become part of who we are and how we live out our lives," she says. "Upon our return, we were overwhelmed with thankfulness for the things we took for granted," says Haley, "[and] we learned that happiness and joy are not the result of earthly possessions."
When asked how they chose Common Hope, Haley says that they did some research on various volunteer opportunities in Guatemala and read through every bit of information on the Common Hope website. "We knew it was for us," says Haley. "The work and values of Common Hope matched our own values and beliefs."
Many thanks to Miles and Haley for your generosity, and for sharing your story with us!
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Maria Anabella, age 8, needs a sponsor. | |
Maria, age 8, just celebrated her birthday on September 5. She is studying in first grade this year in San Rafael, where she lives with her parents and five siblings. Lesbia says that Maria Anabella has really blossomed going to the Wednesday afterschool group, which helps children adjust to the school environment. She used to be very withdrawn and would not talk to people, but now she is smiling and laughing and expressing herself all the time.
If you can sponsor Maria Anabella and help ensure she can stay in school, please contact Jessie Szopinski via email, call (651) 917-0917, or sponsor her online today.
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| Translators needed to get letters to Guatemala in time for the holiday | |
Our sponsorship team is looking for volunteers to translate sponsorship mail both in the US office and online. The Christmas season is quickly approaching and we need help to make sure all of the letters can be delivered on time. If you are interested in translating, please contact Kate Heider at (651) 287-0717. Thank you in advance for your help!
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| Thank you for your contributions to health care last month! | |
In last month's eNews, we put out a call for donations to our Health Care Program to fulfill a $20,000 matching grant. More than $1,100 in donations to health care came in since then, bringing our total to $13,800 raised. Thank you to all who responded to this request!
We have $6,200 yet to raise by the end of 2011 to release the matching funds for our health care program. You can contribute to this cause on our website, by sending in a check, or by calling our office at (651) 917-0917. Write a note on the check or online form that you want your gift to go toward health care.
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Buy your tickets now for the Chicago Noche de Colores benefit on Oct 20
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The Chicago Noche de Colores benefit for Common Hope will take place on Thursday, October 20, 2011 at the Union League Club in downtown Chicago. To learn more and purchase your tickets, visit the event page here.
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More news: Notes from the Field
| Check out the latest photos and stories on our blog, Notes from the field. This month's stories include one about The Magic Bag, a game introduced by our education promoters in San Rafael and a special reading hour put on by team members of Target-Guatemala.
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 Openings for 2011 and 2012 teams | |
Interested in planning a vacation with a vision yet this year? We have openings for 2011 Vision Teams:
- Nov 12 - 19*
- Nov 19 - 26
- Nov 26 - Dec 3
* Graduation trip; Space for individuals
Our 2012 calendar is also up on our website. Talk to your friends, family, and co-workers, and start planning your trip of a lifetime. |
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