Give A Child Life

Choose a Child to Help Today.

Today, the El Zaite Children’s Center reopened for 2012 school year. Forty one little boys and girls came through the colorful gates this morning-- some eager to see their classmates and teachers again, others nervous about this new environment. Most of the students coming here for the first time are far behind children in the U.S. of the same age. When they come to the Center, they know nothing. On the first day, several cry. Many have never seen a book before, don’t know how to hold a pencil and can’t understand instructions.

These little boys and girls will learn. Slowly but surely, they’ll gain the skills and knowledge to prepare them for the first grade and the years beyond.

For some of the poorest families in the world, today is filled with hope and promise. But they need your help.  By sponsoring a child, you can provide a desperately poor little boy or girl with nutritious food, medical care and an early childhood education— all for only $25 a month. You can give a child the chance for a real future.

Please, go to www.giveachildlife.org/sponsor and choose a child to help today.

No Child Has Missed a Day.

This holiday season, our program coordinator in El Zaite is far more concerned about children’s hunger than providing presents and a celebration. The floods several weeks ago destroyed many families’ small garden plots, making food insecurity a greater issue than ever.

While the preschool was in session, the 40 children received a nutritious meal each day. However, while the center is closed from mid-November until early January, many children go hungry.

On a recent trip, Debbie noticed how thin some of the children were. In response, we're giving the 15 neediest boys and girls a warm daily lunch rich in protein, vitamins and minerals while the Center is closed. Since we started on November 17^th, no child has missed a day.

Food baskets can help families through hard times. But feeding programs can target specific children and make a lifesaving difference. Enjoy your holiday feasts knowing that others are cared for, because of your compassion. 

Just Returned from El Salvador.

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to El Salvador. Here are a few updates:

1. The flooding did not leave hugely visible scars, but it did wipe out the crops, particularly the corn and beans. Many of the families at the Center have small plots a few miles away where they grow food to supplement what they can buy. This food was destroyed. Hunger will be a problem until they can grow new crops. Right now, they are worried about getting the funds to buy more seeds.

I became concerned after seeing some of the children. One girl in particular had lost a lot of weight. She had amoebic dysentery.  The flooding created additional water contamination because of the run-off. I asked Carlos to set up a five week program giving a healthy lunch with meat to the 12 sickest and hungriest children while the Center closed for the holidays.  

2. Water in general continues to be a serious concern. The government has started putting in a system in a nearby neighborhood; El Zaite is next on the list. But we can only believe it will happen once it starts. Carlos and I decided to buy 13 water filters sold by Cortaid, a nonprofit organization in El Salvador. We'll give 10 to the families with the children suffering most often from dysentery/diarrhea and put 3 in the Center: 1 in each classroom and 1 in the kitchen. When the children arrive at the Center in the morning, they'll dump the water they bring into the filters and in an hour or so, they'll have clean water to drink. This will help them get used to water filtration. We plan to track whether the children’s health improves.

3. The 900 books we distributed last spring made a huge difference. For the first time, all of the children graduating from the Center are entering kindergarten already reading. Parents described how the books "opened up their children's imaginations". I found the books in the families' homes, usually on low shelves where children could reach them easily. They clearly were much used. On this trip, I brought three huge suitcases filled with books for children starting at the Center in January.

4. The Center is doing an excellent job tracking the children's progress. While there, I picked up the post-development assessments done at the end of the year. I also collected post surveys from parents and older children who received books last spring.

Overall our program seems to be doing very well, and we identified other areas for expansion in the next year. More to news to come soon.

Warmly,

Debbie

 

Update from El Salvador.

We just received an update on the hurricanes hitting El Salvador from our program coordinator:

Today we have finished a survey of the people who have lost their crops, and the funds you sent will go to purchase emergency food and medicine for them. More than 65 families are in desperate need.
Each family will receive a bag of food, which costs $12.00, containing 5 pounds of beans, 5 pounds of rice, 5 pounds of sugar and 5 pounds of powdered milk. The remaining funds will pay for medical treatments.

I have received your contribution of $1,500, and we will try to deliver food to families on Thursday. We are waiting a little longer so that we will have minimum problems with the food distributions. I will send you photos of the delivery.

There is still an incredible amount of rain throughout the country. It rained for nine days without stopping. Classes are suspended until further notice under provisions of the Ministry of Education.

Carlos

As of Monday, 32 Salvadorians had been killed by the storm. Forecasts show that the rain will begin again tomorrow and should continue through the rest of the month. It’s hard to say when the children will return to school and the parents to work. But thanks to support from Give A Child Life, at least they will have a little something to eat and those suffering from dengue, bronchial infections and other illnesses will get the treatments they need.   

 

State of Emergency in El Salvador.

Hi Debbie, 

We haven't been about to work with the children for three days. It rains day and night. There is not access from San Salvador to Zaragoza. There are landslides, the electrical system is gone and roads have collapsed. The center may be flooded. We are waiting to see.

The government has declared a state of emergency in seven departments, including Zaragoza.

Our children's families have lost their crops of corn and beans and small animals. We have children with bronchitis, flu, fungus and the growth of dengue due to rains and low temperature.

Carlos

Children's Center, Program Manager

 

Brief Update.

Just a brief update to let you know that we're revising the website--expect some changes in the next few weeks. In El Salvador, the children are preparing for end of the year testing and the culmination of the reading program. I'll be heading down there in early November to take new book backpacks and see how things are going. In Kenya, we're starting an infant feeding program and almost doubling the number of children sent to child care. Needs are growing, as food prices skyrocket and work for mothers becomes harder and harder to find.

Finally, here's a quote from Victor Frankl, the Nazi prison camp survivor. In Man's Search for Meaning, he wrote: "The true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system." 

Have a good week.

Debbie

We Have Much for Which to be Grateful.

It has been relatively quiet this past week at Give A Child Life.....that's a good thing for communities that live on the flash point of disaster. In Kenya, children are heading back to school after the August summer break. In El Salvador, preschool classes continue; the summer literacy event is already a fond memory. Last week I showed a video about poor children in Afghanistan to a class of university students. They were touched. And I was reminded once again how many more people in the world live in desperate, heartbreaking poverty than in homes like our's. Here, despite the ups and downs of the Dow, our pantries are full; our shoes are sturdy, and our beds are comfortable.  We have much for which to be grateful. 

 

Will You Sponsor David or Anna?

David and Anna are twins. They have ten siblings total—eight brothers and two sisters—all living in a small shack in the El Zaite slum in El Salvador. Only six years old, David and Anna sleep on cardboard boxes flattened over the dirt floor. Their clothes are stained and torn hand me downs. They have no toys.

Both parents are street vendors who struggle desperately to make ends meet. Often there is not enough, and the only food David and Anna receive all day is the lunch they’re given at the El Zaite Center supported by Give A Child Life (GCL).

Despite the difficulties of their life, David and Anna are sweet, honest, and optimistic. David likes the color blue and dogs; Anna prefers pink and cats. They enjoy drawing and playing with clay in class. He wants to grow up to be a teacher; she hopes to be a nurse someday.

With a sponsor like you, David or Anna could have hope for better future. Go to www.giveachildlife.org/sponsor to find out more.

 

Bundles of Books for El Salvador!

Just got back from El Salvador, where we handed out almost 900 books to children at the El Zaite Center that GCL supports. It was a glorious day---passing out backpacks to children who had never owned books before. Before GCL arrived, even finding a book to read in the classroom was difficult. Over the past few years, I've scoured used book stores in San Salvador looking for children's books in Spanish. I managed to buy a few...but last Friday exceeded all my expectations. Bundles of Books, a nonprofit organization in the U.S., shipped 11 boxes of books, backpacks and school supplies to El Zaite. Every child received 5 or more books to take home and keep. It was a wonderfully heartwarming experience. Thank you, Bundles of Books!

Debbie 

 

Bundles of Books for the Children at El Zaite!

Children at the El Zaite Center are about to receive more books than they’ve ever seen—more than they’ve ever imagined. Thirteen boxes filled with almost 900 Spanish children’s books, encyclopedias and other reference books will arrive in El Salvador in the next few weeks.

Contributed by one of GCL’s partners, the nonprofit organization Bundles of Books, some of the titles include Too Many Tamales, Is Your Mama a Llama?, A Pocket Full of Kisses and Goodnight Moon.

The books will stay in the boxes until I arrive in a few weeks. Then we'll unpack them and hand each child a backpack with books and school supplies. You can look forward to the pictures.

Thanks so much, Bundles of Books!