2023 is going to be an amazing year!
Our medical team is implementing an exciting series of programs to improve the health of the rural Maya of Guatemala in all stages of life. A special focus this year is helping mothers and babies survive childbirth and the first year of life. Our professional Mayan staff works hand in hand with visiting health care professionals to bring a high level of care directly to our network of 40 remote villages.
Our local team of teachers and teaching partners within the communities are working hard to keep these rural students from falling hopelessly behind their peers in the cities. Our amazing supporters provided funding to bring Little Free Libraries to 17 villages! Casa Colibrí's Literacy Director travels from village to village, refreshing and restocking the libraries with children's books. For the first time, books are available to all children all the time. As our young and excited team of Mayan education professionals take over the reins, they bring with them an innovative way of teaching. The sky is the limit in literacy and learning in their eyes! The remedial literacy program Readers To Leaders/Lectores a Líderes that they have designed and implemented is going strong and positively changing young lives. Now they have expanded into a related program, Mighty Minis, to tackle the problem of the cohort of very young students that didn't learn to read during the COVID years when schools were closed.
We couldn't be more excited about the leadership that is being shown by our Mayan team. They are learning both how to dream big as well as how to make those dreams become reality. YOUR donation will make you their partner in making plans and dreams for a brighter future become reality. TOGETHER we can help the Maya of northwest Guatemala improve their lives!
Other high impact programs that will be continuing in 2023...
Niños Sanos/Healthy Kids: Early childhood health and development, targeting children from birth to 5 along with their parents. In February, the Niños Sanos team helped 920 Guatemalan children with Vitamin A, anti-parasitic medicine, fluoride treatments, and pediatric care. Every child received a new toothbrush and toothpaste as well as a supply of children's chewable multivitamins. All babies received infant vitamin drops with iron. Pediatricians examined 167 babies, toddlers, and children. Medical staff counseled families on good nutrition and dental hygiene. This is program is making a real impact in young lives!
Midwife Trainings: We're excited to teach the newest international curriculum for traditional birth attendants in the developing world, Helping Babies Survive.
Clinic On Wheels: How do you get prenatal care for expectant mothers in the most remote mountain villages? You bring it right to them! Casa Colibrí brings prenatal care and vitamins to over 1,000 Maya women in their villages each year. In 2023, we are expanding the focus to help babies survive their first year of life.
Mission Trips: Dedicated volunteers bring professional care to the villages through mission trips focusing on pediatrics, dental care, eye missions, and through the cleft lip and palate team. These same volunteers also provide crucial professional mentoring for our Mayan team. New in 2023 is a effort to provide increased team mobility for volunteers to travel to the most remote and needy villages to provide care directly where people live.
Brand new for 2023 is Jovencitas Sanas, an educational program to teach young women about their bodies and their physical and emotional health.
YOU have made all of this possible!