Catherine, Rena, Julie, Pam and I made it here safely (with the exception of Catherine's luggage which did not make it here on her direct flight from Newark but we hope arrives from Houston tonight). Kelly arrives here this evening and we will go to the airport to meet her. Catherine is busy taking pictures and we are at the Westin visiting with Kathy, David and Maddy who just said goodbye to Baby Dulce.
Check back in later for pictures and the wrap up of the day! We get up bright and early tomorrow to head to Panajachel. We are having so much fun getting to know each other and it is as if we have known each other forever already!
Sarah
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Pam's sponsored child Claudia
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This is Claudia the little girl who has captured the heart of my family. I am bringing down lots of goodies for Claudia and her little brother Dany. We have also bought food for her family for the month with the help of my mom and ordered the Tamale basket for them for Christmas with the help of my friend Terry. I also hope to buy her shoes as they are in great demand in Guatemala. My friend Margaret is also helping me to hopefully buy some chickens and feed for Claudia's family.
Claudia also lives in San Jorge La Laguna. I am so excited that I am leaving for Guatemala in the morning and will be meeting her soon. This trip is going to be so great - I plan on meeting some wonderful ladies from this awesome island group and so many children that we hope to help with the efforts of all of our friends and families.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Sarah's Sponsored Child - Dayli
Meet Dayli... she is 6 years old and lives in San Jorge La Laguna, where we will be visiting on Monday.
What an honor to be able to meet this sweet, beautiful child. If you click her name, you will be taken to the Mayan Families Blog where you can see her receiving her traditional clothes in September as well as her family receiving a pila. It is an honor to be able to help her and her family.
Her younger sister, Fristy, is not yet old enough to go to school, so I am taking some gifts for both girls as well as some items for her brothers and parents. While our group is there, we plan to purchase a month's worth of food for each family... can you believe it is only about $40 per month? Her family will also be receiving a Christmas Tamale Basket.
I have been so blessed to receive such generous donations of items and money to take with me to Guatemala. I just know that this trip will be the first of many and I feel blessed to be able to help make a difference in this child and her family's life.
What an honor to be able to meet this sweet, beautiful child. If you click her name, you will be taken to the Mayan Families Blog where you can see her receiving her traditional clothes in September as well as her family receiving a pila. It is an honor to be able to help her and her family.
Her younger sister, Fristy, is not yet old enough to go to school, so I am taking some gifts for both girls as well as some items for her brothers and parents. While our group is there, we plan to purchase a month's worth of food for each family... can you believe it is only about $40 per month? Her family will also be receiving a Christmas Tamale Basket.
I have been so blessed to receive such generous donations of items and money to take with me to Guatemala. I just know that this trip will be the first of many and I feel blessed to be able to help make a difference in this child and her family's life.
More sponsored students
These are the two beautiful children my family has sponsored, Luis Alfonso and Miriam Josefina.You can click on thier names which will take you to Mayan Families School Sponsorship Blog with more information about these students.
For information about other students who need sponsorship, please go to:
http://mayanfamiliesstudentsponsorship.blogspot.com/
Many of my family members and friends have contributed so we can buy their families food, new clothing and shoes, school supplies and pay for their schooling for another year. They still have so many basic needs, and I wish we could do more for them.I am so looking forward to meeting them and their families on our trip and learn more about their lives.
Thanks again so much to everyone who has helped to make this trip possible.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
My Sponsored Child
My sponsored child is Lesby and she is 6 years old. My friend Catherine e-mailed me about her and as soon as I saw her I fell in love. I am taking gifts for her purchsed by myself and my family, buying shoes with money donated by my brother and purchasing a tamale basket for Christmas for her family with money donated by my friend Susie. I am so excited to meet Lesby.
FAITH, LOVE & HOPE
I am bursting with excitement and anticipation to go to GT next week! I have been overwhelmed with the very generous abundance of donations... far more than I ever expected.. a strong reminder of the GOOD in people. I have been especially blessed with the JOY of sharing my passion for the children of GT with my current school family at St. Joseph Regional in New Jersey. The children of this school have embraced the cause in GT and have raised an enormous amount of money for the school in San Jorge. The money will go towards a stove for the school that will provide heat and meals for the students for many years to come. I am honored to represent St. Joe's and proudly will deliver a photo of the St. Joe's students to hopefully hang in the San Jorge School. I will return with a photo of the Students in GT to hang in the halls of our school as well. A brotherhood has been established and I am honored to witness the compassion, concern and love that knows no borders.
In addition to our other efforts on this mission; I am looking forward with great anticipation to meeting my sponsored child, Juan Armando. Here is a photo of Juan ~ EL GUAPO!!
Juan Armando is 5 years old and lives with his parents and three siblings. No one in his family has attended school nor can read or write. Juan is the youngest of the family and will be the very first to attend school. The family lives in a one room shack with dirt floors...They have one bed for all of them... several are forced to sleep on the floor on straw mats. They keep their few items of clothing in a cardboard box. They are fortunate to have an onil stove, and Juan's mother often goes to the mountains to find herbs used to make soup for the children.
I am eager to meet Juan and his Mother... I have great respect for this woman who survives everyday and continues to feed and clothe her family... and am very happy to be able to help send Juan to school. While I know the families in GT will be grateful for the donations we are bringing ~ I pray they somehow are aware of the amazing gifts they are giving us in return... a perspective on life that is priceless.
In addition to our efforts with MAYAN FAMILIES, Kelly and I and several other GAFI members are involved in fundraising for a very special orphanage called LOVE THE CHILD. This very special place is currently home to 42 children...many with mental and physical handicaps. I am thrilled to meet the amazing couple that have dedicated their lives to this home...and am happy to present funds raised for them raised by St. Joe's school. I look forward to holding the children, seeing their smiles and getting to know them by name. More efforts to help the orphanage will be established after meeting with the Osborne family and these beautiful children.
With FAITH, LOVE & HOPE we go forward!
Catherine
In addition to our other efforts on this mission; I am looking forward with great anticipation to meeting my sponsored child, Juan Armando. Here is a photo of Juan ~ EL GUAPO!!
Juan Armando is 5 years old and lives with his parents and three siblings. No one in his family has attended school nor can read or write. Juan is the youngest of the family and will be the very first to attend school. The family lives in a one room shack with dirt floors...They have one bed for all of them... several are forced to sleep on the floor on straw mats. They keep their few items of clothing in a cardboard box. They are fortunate to have an onil stove, and Juan's mother often goes to the mountains to find herbs used to make soup for the children.
I am eager to meet Juan and his Mother... I have great respect for this woman who survives everyday and continues to feed and clothe her family... and am very happy to be able to help send Juan to school. While I know the families in GT will be grateful for the donations we are bringing ~ I pray they somehow are aware of the amazing gifts they are giving us in return... a perspective on life that is priceless.
In addition to our efforts with MAYAN FAMILIES, Kelly and I and several other GAFI members are involved in fundraising for a very special orphanage called LOVE THE CHILD. This very special place is currently home to 42 children...many with mental and physical handicaps. I am thrilled to meet the amazing couple that have dedicated their lives to this home...and am happy to present funds raised for them raised by St. Joe's school. I look forward to holding the children, seeing their smiles and getting to know them by name. More efforts to help the orphanage will be established after meeting with the Osborne family and these beautiful children.
With FAITH, LOVE & HOPE we go forward!
Catherine
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Christmas Tamale Baskets for Mayan Families
My friends, I am passing this along to any of you that might be interested in giving a little holiday cheer to Mayan Families... only $30 to feed a family of up to 12 people. I am so excited that my sponsored child, Dayli's, family will be able to receive this tamale basket this Christmas.
This year we again would like to offer you the opportunity to sponsor one or more Guatemalan families with a CHRISTMAS TAMALE FOOD BASKET We have many families, mostly single, abandoned & widowed mothers, who simply cannot afford to provide the traditional Christmas celebration meal for their family.
A tamale is a traditional indigenous food consisting of steam-cooked corn meal dough with or without a filling. Tamales can be filled with meats and sliced chilies or any preparation according to taste. The tamale is generally wrapped in a corn husk or plantain leaves before cooking, and during Christmas holidays, tamales of rice flour are a special treat for Guatemalans. The preparation time of this type of tamale is long, due to the amount of time required to cook down and thicken the rice flour base.
One food basket costs US$30 and will provide a Christmas Tamale celebration meal for a hungry and needy family of 12 or more.
The food for the Christmas basket will include:
A bottle of oil and 15 lbs of rice to make the tamales
a loaf of bread with which they eat the tamales at midnight
5lbs of meat
1lb of coffee
a block of drinking chocolate (a traditional drink taken at midnight)
raisins for the tamales, grapes, tomatoes, apples and sugar
leaves to wrap the tamales, cloves, pepper, sesame and pumpkin seeds.
These are the requirements to make the midnight Christmas meal of Tamale.
The plastic basket that holds all the food will also have many uses in the home such stacking and washing dishes, holding food or going to the market.
We started this project last year because it was brought to my attention that two children that we sponsor to go to school had been very miserable. These two children from San Jorge had no food in the house on Christmas Eve, they were crying because they would not have the traditional Christmas tamales to eat at midnight along with the drinking chocolate. At midnight they went from house to house hoping someone would give them a tamale. It made me wonder how many other families could also not afford to celebrate Christmas, once we started looking into it, we realized there were a lot of families who would not be able to afford to buy the ingredients for their Christmas meal.
So this year once again we are hoping to give out as many baskets as we can.
Last year we were fortunate enough to buy, make up and distribute 215 baskets. We are happy to say that we already have 60 baskets sponsored for this year. However, we would like nothing more than to send out more baskets than in 2006.
If you would like to sponsor one or more baskets for Christmas 2007, please choose the amount and click the 'Donate' button here. This will take you to our on-line payment service which will process your credit or debit card quickly and securely. If you wish to dedicate your donation to someone, please email us on instructions@mayanfamilies.net, include your online transaction number and let us know the details of your donation. Alternatively, if you would like to send a check, please download and print this form. Once completed, please include this form with your check made payable to Mayan Families and mail to:
MAYAN FAMILIES - 2609 Hartford St. San Diego, CA. U.S.A. 92110-2315.
Already donated a basket or two?
If so, I thank you sincerely for your donation and if you would like, I would be very grateful if you decide to forward this email to any of your friends and family who may also be interested in providing a needy family in Guatemala with a great Christmas Gift.
Thank you so much for all your support. Everyone here at Mayan Families is grateful and proud to put your donation to effective use with our Christmas Tamale Basket program
Best wishes,
Sharon and the Team at Mayan Families
This year we again would like to offer you the opportunity to sponsor one or more Guatemalan families with a CHRISTMAS TAMALE FOOD BASKET We have many families, mostly single, abandoned & widowed mothers, who simply cannot afford to provide the traditional Christmas celebration meal for their family.
A tamale is a traditional indigenous food consisting of steam-cooked corn meal dough with or without a filling. Tamales can be filled with meats and sliced chilies or any preparation according to taste. The tamale is generally wrapped in a corn husk or plantain leaves before cooking, and during Christmas holidays, tamales of rice flour are a special treat for Guatemalans. The preparation time of this type of tamale is long, due to the amount of time required to cook down and thicken the rice flour base.
One food basket costs US$30 and will provide a Christmas Tamale celebration meal for a hungry and needy family of 12 or more.
The food for the Christmas basket will include:
A bottle of oil and 15 lbs of rice to make the tamales
a loaf of bread with which they eat the tamales at midnight
5lbs of meat
1lb of coffee
a block of drinking chocolate (a traditional drink taken at midnight)
raisins for the tamales, grapes, tomatoes, apples and sugar
leaves to wrap the tamales, cloves, pepper, sesame and pumpkin seeds.
These are the requirements to make the midnight Christmas meal of Tamale.
The plastic basket that holds all the food will also have many uses in the home such stacking and washing dishes, holding food or going to the market.
We started this project last year because it was brought to my attention that two children that we sponsor to go to school had been very miserable. These two children from San Jorge had no food in the house on Christmas Eve, they were crying because they would not have the traditional Christmas tamales to eat at midnight along with the drinking chocolate. At midnight they went from house to house hoping someone would give them a tamale. It made me wonder how many other families could also not afford to celebrate Christmas, once we started looking into it, we realized there were a lot of families who would not be able to afford to buy the ingredients for their Christmas meal.
So this year once again we are hoping to give out as many baskets as we can.
Last year we were fortunate enough to buy, make up and distribute 215 baskets. We are happy to say that we already have 60 baskets sponsored for this year. However, we would like nothing more than to send out more baskets than in 2006.
If you would like to sponsor one or more baskets for Christmas 2007, please choose the amount and click the 'Donate' button here. This will take you to our on-line payment service which will process your credit or debit card quickly and securely. If you wish to dedicate your donation to someone, please email us on instructions@mayanfamilies.net, include your online transaction number and let us know the details of your donation. Alternatively, if you would like to send a check, please download and print this form. Once completed, please include this form with your check made payable to Mayan Families and mail to:
MAYAN FAMILIES - 2609 Hartford St. San Diego, CA. U.S.A. 92110-2315.
Already donated a basket or two?
If so, I thank you sincerely for your donation and if you would like, I would be very grateful if you decide to forward this email to any of your friends and family who may also be interested in providing a needy family in Guatemala with a great Christmas Gift.
Thank you so much for all your support. Everyone here at Mayan Families is grateful and proud to put your donation to effective use with our Christmas Tamale Basket program
Best wishes,
Sharon and the Team at Mayan Families
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