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FOOD DISTRIBUTION
Volunteers help us every friday morning distributin all kind of fruits and vegatables to our mother´s club (more than 200 mothers)
Homless Shelter Santa Madre
We also help our Homeless Shelter giving out dinner but also we help in its physical areas like painting, cleaning, etc.
Spend Time with our Kids
We spend a lot of time with our kids, teaching them, playing with them but specially giving them LOVE
About Me
- GOD´S CHILD PROJ. INDIVIDUAL VOL. EXPERIENCE 2009
- La Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez, Guatemala
- Breaking the bitter chains of poverty through education and formation
As a final community service project prior to our graduation, nine school mates and I signed up as volunteers at Casa Jackson, one of the several projects that are in the hands of Asociación Nuestros Ahijados. The experience we have gained by lending out a hand to the children at the home has been invaluable. Getting the chance to carry these kids in your arms is simply something you don´t get to do every day.It is so satisfying at the end of the evening when you know that having dedicated just a little bit of your time to the children really makes the difference in their lives. We would love doing more visits per week, but the fact that we live in the city makes it difficult. For this reason, we have thought of other ways to help out the home, one of them being a project of advertising we are currently working on. We really want to gather as many volunteers as we can and this week we will begin posting up some simple but nice ads in the cafés, restaurants and other frequented places in Antigua. Hopefully we will recruit more people that will be capable of enjoying the beautiful experience of having an impact on the future generations that will lead our country.
ReplyDeleteLast summer I went to Antigua, Guatemala for four weeks. I knew I wanted to do volunteer work but I was not sure where or what I would be doing. I found out about La Asociación Nuestros Ahijados through a local volunteer search organization (Proyecto Mosaico Guatemala). I was told to take a bus to the project and I had no idea what to expect. I was greeted by the friendly security guards at the gate and easily found my way to Angel Catalán (Volunteer Coordinator). After his warm welcome, I knew this was going to be the right place for me! He gave me a tour of the project; he even let me choose if I wanted the tour to be in English or Spanish! Every person or student that we passed on the tour offered welcoming smiles and even some hugs from the little ones. I felt at home right away. Angel asked me what my preference was for the volunteer work and I told him that I wanted to work directly with the children. This was no problem at all. Just a few days later they had already made up a schedule for me. I was going to tutor the children in the school. Each day of the school week I tutored a few students in writing. The children ranged from first grade to sixth grade. Angel told me that the students I would be tutoring needed a little closer and personal attention but that I would have no problems. The children were great to work with! They were so eager at the beginning of each session that we had together. I will be going to college to be a teacher so I was very excited that I got to make the lesson plan each day. We worked on cursive writing exercises mostly but as I saw progression in the students' lessons, I had them do more creative writing exercises. Each afternoon the children played outside in the gym and on the playground. I had so much fun running around with them. The little ones were so full of energy that sometimes I couldn't even keep up with them. I never got sick of hearing "vuelta! vuelta!" and seeing little arms reaching up to be carried, though. On Friday mornings, the project distributed fruits and vegetables to the local mothers. A few times I actually got to ride in the truck with some of the project's workers to an orchard to pick the pears! It was really great seeing how all the volunteers and workers came together to make sure that we distributed the very last piece of fruit. It was such a rewarding experience. On one occasion I went with a few other volunteers to the local malnutrition center (www.casajackson.org) that was being re-done for use in a few months. We painted the walls and did what we could to help. I also went with two of the social workers to a few homes nearby this malnutrition center. It was a way to meet the real people of the town. I would definitely go back to volunteer at La Asociación Nuestros Ahijados in a heartbeat! I never felt out of place and was always greeted with a genuine smile. Traveling to Guatemala is one thing, but to immerse yourself in volunteer work and really get to know the people of Guatemala is something else. My volunteer experience last summer opened my eyes and I still talk with some of the other volunteers and workers. The project is doing such an empowering thing!
ReplyDelete-Susan Krakoff, California
I spent June 2008 with La Asoc. Nuestros Ahijados and I had an incredible experience. From the start, everyone in the program was warm, friendly, and welcoming. As an American college student with no prior international experience, I felt surprisingly at home with ANA. Angel and the rest of the staff were very accommodating, giving me plenty of flexibility in selecting the specific projects I would work on. I got to do so many things: help out in the social work office and even tag along on some home visits, work on the renovation of the future malnutrition center, assist in the school kitchen, serve dinner in the homeless shelter, conduct initial patient intake in the medical clinic, teach health to middle-school students, and assist with the first national human rights conference – held right in the Dreamer Center! Along the way, I was well fed with tasty Chiky chocolate cookies. I had such a great experience that I’m currently planning my return trip for the upcoming summer. ANA’s work is important and impressive; I’m thankful to have been given the chance to be part of it.
ReplyDelete-Jessi Setless, New Jersey