Guatemala - Fundacion Castillo de amor para la ninez (first project Toybox supported in Guatemala)

 The week before Easter was Holy week holiday in Guatemala and a number of children from Fundacion Castillo spent time with their families. We were picked up from our hotel and went to meet the children returning from their Holy week break. We met some of the parents who Fundacion Castillo are working with in the hope that these children will be fully reintegrated with their families. There was one girl, Aora (12) who I first met 4 years ago when she was selling sweets on an extremely busy crossroads when Fundacion Castillo were working with her family (mother and 4 siblings) at the time. The reason she was with the families whose children were being picked up was that her brother, Josua (9), was returning after Holy week to go back to the home he is in with Fundacion Castillo. Aora recognised Alastair, which was a surprise after 4 years. It was good to see her looking well and she immediately gave Debbie lots of hugs when she realised who she was.

Aola 3 years ago selling sweets among traffic at crossroads

The sad part of meeting Aora was that her mother said to Debbie ‘you can take her and have her as your daughter if you want’. Said in jest or otherwise this went pretty deep for us as Aora heard this and her expression was of extreme disappointment. Challenges frequently face us and here was one …. We knew that we could not take Aora …. We know that there are good people at Fundacion Castillo who are very caring and keep a watchful eye on, and are working in such situations. Josua, Aora’s brother, is with Fundacion Castillo so there is regular contact with the family. We have to walk away knowing that there are local people working with these children who know best and that it is these people Toybox seeks to support, trusting God that she will remain safe.

Fundacion Castillo has a 3 years target for re-integration of children with families. This is not prescriptive as what is right for the child comes first. It means that re-integration into family life with all that is involved in working with families for this to happen is a priority for Fundacion Castillo. We all understand that good family life is the best life for children, so working to achieve that is vitally important.

Fundacion Castillo helps a group of 20-30 year old adults with severe learning difficulties called La Fuerza los Fragiles (The Strength of the Weak). At first we wondered what this had to do with street children. We then realised that some of the skills used at this project were being transferred to Fundacion Castillo to help children there, especially those who are struggling with their school work. La Fuerza de los Fragiles were also making badges for children that Fundacion Castillo are working with preventatively. In fact the life of one young man with Downs Syndrome had completely changed because he was ‘helping children’ by threading strings into the badges. Whilst he was painfully slow he had found a purpose in his life which is significant for him, and as a result was now engaging in other positive activities at the project he attends, which he was previously refusing to do so. The children in the St Luis school who received these badges were given an explaination as to who had made the badges. The children listened quietly and took in just how their badges were made as they received them, and were also very attentive as they took part in the Leadership Training, which Fundacion Castillo was teaching them. The children clearly appreciated who had made their badges. Children’s capacity for empathy and understanding, despite their circumstances, is amazing. We saw the impact of this link between La Fuerza de los fragiles and Fundacion Castillo and quickly understood that this is an interesting partnership with mutual benefit to both parties which we were so pleased to see demonstrated.

St Luis

St Luis

Iglesia - Church in St Luis

We visited St Luis, a small suburb on the edge of Guatemala city where families migrating from the countryside had squatted initially. The government had to resolve this situation by buying the land from its owners and making it legally available to these people. St Luis is an extremely poor community of many thousands of people that has a ‘forgotten’ feeling to the place where research shows that a place like this is highly likely to give rise to street children. Fundacion Castillo works with two schools in St Luis and supports 2 Churches. We visited one Church which is now working with a group of former street working children, who Fundacion Castillo identified in Guatemala city, and their families. Fundacion Castillo supports this Church with this work.

We visited the terminal in Guatemala city. The Terminal is a combination of buses, taxis, market stall holders and an extremely poor community living around it. Fundacion Castillo work preventatively in

Terminal

this community where they know street children come from and are at risk. The community around the Terminal, which has a capacity for hundreds of buses, is built from salvaged materials, mainly tin and wood. This community is at high risk from fires.  Early that morning, before we arrived in the afternoon, a fire had broken out whilst most people were sleeping. 60 family’s homes were totally burnt out which had affected more than 350 to 400 children. 6 people were killed by the fire as they slept. It was a grim sight when we arrived with people picking over burnt out rubbish to salvage what they could and people not knowing how they would overcome this. There was no Government help, no insurance and much cash burnt as they were market traders and do not use banks. Some people only had the clothes they were wearing left. There

Terminal

was one family that Fundacion Castillo works with that was affected by the fire. The lady had a Tortilla making stall which just about had enough room for her and her 5 children to sleep in. Fundacion Castillo are helping her find alternative accommodation and will supply basic furniture and some clothes for the children. This was a desperate situation.

The reason we went to the Terminal was to have several activities with different groups of children preventatively. This we did and were happily greeted by the children who enthusiastically took part in the fun-filled activities; singing, life skills and some Biblical teaching. These activities, which took place in narrow alleys between the tin and wooden homes, felt very oppressive, but that atmosphere soon departed as the children became involved in the fun and games.

Elvis - 3rd generation of street living family - NO MORE

Fundacion Castillo has temporary accommodation for children who are in dangerous high risk situations, which we visited and met some children that Alastair knew from previous visits. Fundacion Castillo remains committed to seeing families reintegrated….. an amazing project.

Cristina

Alastair & Debbie