A nun, a woman and her children standing inside a basic shack

Update with the Sisters in Guatemala

Through the end of December and into January we have continued to have regular updates with the Sisters at the schools programmes around the world. At the end of last month it was Guatemala girls school in Zona 13 and then in January we met up with the Sisters at the boys school in Guatemala, Zona 6.

The focus at this time of year is meeting new children in need and making plans to welcome as many as possible into our care.

On 14th December, Sr Magdalena at the girls school Zona 13 updated us on their community visits and plans for the new term in January 2024.

55% of the population live in poverty in Guatemala and with corruption and high levels of inequality it means that there are few ways out of poverty for the most vulnerable families. Families can rarely afford for their children to go to school. This lack of education denies the children any hope of a better future and underlines the urgency of the Sisters’ work.

A group of girls and their parents
Guatemala - New starters - 2024 - Zona 13

Meeting new children in need

To reach these children in greatest need the Sisters travelled extensively in November and December. During their community work they saw increasing hunger and desperation within these families, particularly in the rural mountainous regions and for many of the young girls this was resulting, not just in malnutrition but in early marriage and child rearing (some as young as 13) marking an end to childhood and the beginning of a future of poverty.

In the midst of their community work in December, the sisters were approached by a local hydro electric company aware of a particularly deprived and inaccessible community of families located in the heavily forested hills of Cahabon in Alta Verapaz.

With the offer from the company to reach this remote area by helicopter, Sister Magdalena, Zona 13 and Sister Maria, Zona 6 visited in December and met hundreds of deprived youngsters living in extreme difficulty, cut off from education and the hope of a better life. With such a poor start in life, these children could not hope to reach the basic level of skills necessary for a secondary education but they needed and deserved our help and so 11 girls and 10 boys were offered a place at our schools for 2024. With additional transport help from the hydroelectric company these youngsters joined our schools on 8th January.

group of girls at a graduation ceremony

Building a dignified existence for themselves

From all their community outreach a total of 250 new girls have joined the girls school this January, an increase from last year thanks to the kindness and generosity of our donors.

These girls will now benefit from additional lessons to help them make up lost learning and all the basic every day essentials they need to thrive at school. This will include their own comfortable bed to sleep in at night, regular nutritious food, medical care, educational supplies and quality accredited teaching.

Thanks to you, these girls finally have a safe environment where they can enjoy a proper childhood. They can join the senior girls at the school, build their confidence and learn the vital skills they need to graduate from school, able to make a better, more productive life for themselves and their families.

A boy being weighed on a scale with a nuns assistance

Welcoming new boys

At the boys school, Zona 6, on 11th January we caught up with Sr Celia, Sr Amelia, Sr Marcela and Sr Dora.

Sr Amelia reported that a staggering 300 new boys were being welcomed that day. These are boys that the Sisters have met during the course of their community visits in late December. 10 of these boys are the group that they met on their community visits with the girls school sisters in Alta Verapaz.

The Sisters took time to share with us the process for the new arrivals at school. As the boys are welcomed into school they are registered by the Sisters, receive a basic medical examination from doctors and are assigned into their new family groups.

Sisters at the boys school Zona 6, sharing the impact of their work and how they welcome the new children
A group of boys in school uniform posing for a picture outside

So many new experiences

The experience of starting at school is hugely emotional for the children.

Many of the boys are overawed to see the food that is available to them for the first time and so thrilled with the first supplies they receive such as colouring pens, board games and balls for sports.

Later next week they will receive all the equipment and materials they need for their time at school including a rucksack for school, two sets of uniform, sports kit, health and hygiene supplies like toothbrushes etc, shoes for school and sports, books, notebooks, textbooks and reference books for their studies.

A boy receiving a notebook from a nun in a classroom setting

Vital vocational training

The Sisters explained that the new boys will have a busy school timetable filled with academic subjects. The priority for the newest youngsters is additional lessons to help them catch up with the learning lost. Some of the boys come from regions which have a high proportion of local dialects and so this requires the Sisters to provide extra language tuition for the children who struggle with the national language, Spanish and must learn it in order to progress.

Vocational subjects are crucial for the children and designed to give them the best chance at finding good work once they finish school. The Sisters explained that the children use their new vocational skills almost as soon as they learn them to help themselves and their families even during their holidays from school.

Thanks to you, these youngsters will have the chance of a better future. They will learn all the skills they need to become independent, able to find work, support themselves and in turn to extend support to their poor families.

Sr Marcela shares how keen the boys are to use their new vocational skills

Update from Sister Melinda in Brazil

group of girls in brazil
New girls arriving for school, Brazil, January 2024

"These girls are not just financially poor but intellectually poor" - Sr. Melinda, Brazil

Also this month Sister Melinda from the girls’ school in Brasilia, Brazil updated us on developments at the girls school and the progress of the children.

Their December community work had gone further into the interior of the country than ever before. They had seen great poverty, many families of African descent living on the edge of survival with little access to education for their children. They saw families in a pitiful state and their young girls vulnerable in every regard.  They met hundreds of girls and welcomed 225 into their care last week.

Of the 225 girls now in their care, 170 age 11-12 will join the Sisters of Mary schools in grade 7 (first year) and 55 aged 13 will join grade 8 (second year).  All these new students are well below the level needed for their grade. The country’s education system has failed to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic and education levels are poor and the girls arriving now need considerable help and support to catch up to the basic level needed to pass their exams.

At the school the children have started to receive the care they need to settle into school and recover from their early lives. The Sisters nurture these girls carefully, providing the necessary psychological support needed to help them thrive in their time at school.

Sr. Melinda, Brasilia.