Universal Children's Day

Universal Children's Day was celebrated on October 19th and 20th this year.

Each of the girls dresses in a costume to represent a different country in a parade through the local community and in performances at the school. 

(The costumes were donated to the school and do not come out of the sponsorships.)

Music

Thank you to Katie Nyblom for purchasing a month's worth of music lessons for the Ninos!

Happy Feet

A Huge Thank You to Marcia Talbott for buying new shoes for all of the Ninos con Bendicion!

Chores

Novah watches as her father repairs his fishing net and then helps her mother wash clothes.

Julio

12 year old Julio is one of 8 children. He enjoys soccer and social studies. This year he will be entering 5th grade, but he needs the assistance of another sponsor.

Banessa

Banessa is 11 years old and will be starting Grade 5 on January 16. 

She needs another sponsor to help her continue with her studies. 

Ninos Con Bendicion Christmas Celebration

Last week our sponsored children in Guatemala had the opportunity to celebrate the Christmas holiday together! 


They took a 45 min walk/hike from San Antonio Aguas Calientes to Santiago Zamora, up over the hills.  Their destination was a private residence that is still in process, building an area for  folks to enjoy.  Right now there are 2 shallow pools, swings, a see-saw and the dirt area they used to play soccer.  More pools are being constructed and there is no bathroom, so we got a very reduced price!

Nancy bought lunch and a snack for everyone and put in their backpacks !


They left Lesbi's house at 10:30am, then left the pools at 3pm and headed back.

The kids then played soccer at a (private) synthetic field from 4:30 - 5:30pm which was another  big treat for them !

A few of the kids did not play soccer and instead, showered and helped prepare for dinner.  When the rest of the kids arrived, they showered and everyone got dinner together. There was loganiza (pork sausage) and adobado (marinated pork fillets), as well as soda, avocados for guacamole and a lentil salad.  


For dessert the kids later enjoyed marshmallows  and Lesbi rented some videos for the sleep over.  She also bought cereal and milk for the next morning.  


After dinner, they had a gift swap - each child chose the name of another child so everyone received a gift !   Nancy had given everyone money so they could also buy something meaningful.

The kids were up until after midnight and by 7am were asking for breakfast ! :-) 


By 10am they were all out of the house -



This was such a special day to them and we are so grateful to all of the donors who helped create this special memory for the children!

More Pictures to Come!

United Nations Parade

Philippines

Vietnam

On October 21 the children from the Obod-Obod Christian Learning Center celebrated United Nations Day. They learned about different cultures and then had a parade and program.

Libya

USA 

Japan and Hungary

Primaria Graduation

 Last week Carlos and Jeronimo graduated from Primaria! Lesbi and Tino were there to celebrate with two of the Ninos Con Bendicion.

Tino, Jeronimo, Carlos, Lesbi

Carlos and his parents

Practice and Perform - Ninos con Bendicion

Dance Practice

Teaching a Visitor to Play Marimba

Performing

Lessons in Sharing

This sister and brother are Ruella Joy and Mark. On days when lunch is served they choose not to finish all the food they receive so that they can take some home for their siblings. When they were asked about who would eat the food they were saving, Mark said that his younger siblings will be the one who will eat it, because they have no rice to cook at home. 

This was a decision Mark and Ruella Joy made together. No one had to tell them to do this.

Boys

In many communities around the world girls don't have the same access to quality education that boys do. They are held back by poverty and the pervasive belief that girls aren't worth educating. Studies have shown the benefits of educating females and Her Star Scholars developed with the idea of breaking down barriers and helping girls and women achieve that access to school.

Los Ninos Con Bendicion has recently become a project of Her Star Scholars and it has joined with an equal number of boys and girls. Our decision has been to continue the sponsorship of these boys because as indigenous Maya children they face both desperate poverty and racism. 

Her Star Scholars will continue to focus on the education of girls, but there are boys who face exceptional circumstances and when possible we will reach out to them as well.

Sponsorship in Guatemala

Fundraising

The children continue to put on group and private folk dance performances to cover marimba and dance lessons, computer lessons, English tutors and other associated costs.

We also have our 2012 calendars for sale ( http://www.supportlosninos.net).  Existing sponsors should have received your complimentary calendar by now.  If not, please let me know, as there was a special added gift enclosed from your child’s family!  

A girl in the background works on the computer while a visitor learns how to prepare food.

Sponsorships

We hope all of the children from our 2011 program will return this year, pending their final grades.  If we have enough sponsors, there are several children on the waiting list who would start in kindergarten or 1^st grade with the desire to complete their education as part of our program. 

We know the economy is not great and appreciate your sponsorship.  As such, we are keeping the costs for this school year the same as 2011:
Primaria $300/year ($25./month)
Basico $450/year ($38./month) 

For 2012 we hope to match each child with two sponsors. We have found that $300 is not enough to cover both school costs and the yearly ancillary expenses, and does not cover the cost of living increases. This double sponsorship will not only cover each child’s basic school fees, but will also help defray the costs of their daily hot meal, medical services when needed, extra clothing, school supplies, haircuts, internet access, dance expenses and the many miscellaneous daily living expenses that occur with 17+ children !

Please email as soon as possible to let me know if you plan to return as a sponsor, if you would like to be a new sponsor or know of someone or a group who would like to sponsor.  

30 people in your Church or Synagogue can each pay $10. per year and sponsor 1 child !  

The school year in Guatemala runs from January to October.  As the children should be pre-registered in November, we are asking for your sponsorship to be received by November 1st.

I need to confirm which children still have sponsorship and which ones need sponsorship to be able to continue their education.   We can accept sponsors until mid January (after that, it would be a generous and appreciated donation!), but I need to know as soon as possible to get an idea if we can keep all the existing children in the group, need to cut or can add more.   I will send payment options with your confirmation and in another email.   

Below is a list of the current children in the program, their birth dates and the grade they will enter in the 2012 school year:

	Linda Zuzely (Linda) 23 Aug 2004 2nd grade
Elder Daniel (Daniel) 29 Oct 2004 1st grade	Yasmin Raquel (Yasmin) 14 Sept 2002 3rd grade
Jose Jeronimo (Jeronimo) 12 Apr 1997 7th grade (1st "Basico")	Julio Cesar (Julio) 13 Oct 1999 5th grade
Edson Alexis (Alex) 24 Jan 2005 1st grade	Joe Juventino (Joe) 24 Dec 2004 2nd grade
Nirma Banessa (Banessa) 26 Oct 2000 5th grade	Kehily Judith (Keily) 28 Dec 2001 4th grade
Ana Rosilda (Rosilda) 19 Dec 1999 6th grade	Sergio Armando (Sergio) 31 Oct 1998 5th grade
Brenda Melissa (Melissa) 01 Oct 1997 9th grade (3rd "Basico")	Carlos Leonardo (Carlos) 5 April 1999 7th grade (1st "Basico")
Jaqueline Yasenia  (Jaqueline) 16 Sept 2002 3rd grade	Wendi Liseth (Wendi) 17 April 1998 8th grade (2nd "Basico")
Marvin Augusto (Marvin) 22 Dec 1999 5th grade	Beyda Fabiola (Fabiola) 27 Oct 1997 8th grade (2nd "Basico")

Notes from Guatemala

Play area behind Lesbi's Home

The most recent newsletter for Los Ninos Con Bendicion has been released. We'll share it with you here in smaller pieces. Remember that to receive regular newsletters from Her Star Scholars you can go to our website, herstarscholars.org, and sign up:

Los Ninos con Bendicion - by Nancy Hoffmann

We currently have 17 children ranging in age from 6-13 years old. Three of our children are in “Basico”, comparable to middle or junior high school in the U.S.  Two more children have now graduated "Primaria" and will start "Basico" in the upcoming 2012 school year.

As Basico is more costly than Primaria, our original idea was to offer the children the opportunity to have their Primaria or first 6 years of school paid for with sponsorship.  We did not anticipate the motivation of the children to continue their education.  The older children are already talking about going to university (which is subsidized in Guatemala).

This year we involved the children’s families in the program to a greater extent, as we have come to learn that the children’s success depends on support from their families. We have extended the types of support the children and families receive. We now meet quarterly with the parents to discuss the children's progress in school and whether there is anything going on at home that may affect their studies. For a child to continue in our program for the 2012 school year, the parents are required to participate in three out of the four quarterly meetings, as well as to touch base periodically with their child’s teacher(s).  In addition, the children need to have an average of 70 points or more in each class at the end of the school year.

The family also receives support. We have assumed the provision of ancillary services for the children (taking them for medical appointments and purchasing medicines, buying clothing and the many school supplies constantly requested), as well as purchasing thread for the mothers' weavings (which are for purchase upon request). We also donate extra items to the families and their other children when we have extra donations.  As in the past, Lesbi continues to cook and serve a hot meal for the children every day after school so at minimum, they receive a hot meal and some nutrition.

Her Star Scholars in Guatemala

Classes start in October for the children of Guatemala and this year Her Star Scholars will be sending 17 children between the ages of 6-13 to school. These young ones are participants in a program that sends them to school, provides them with a daily meal, helps them with their study habits and teaches them to embrace their heritage by teaching them traditional and Guatemalan folk dances and songs. These children speak Spanish, but at home they hear Kaqchikel and they can speak it to some degree.

Sponsoring a child for a year will cost $300 by check or money order or $310 through PayPal. This program does allow individuals or groups to support individual children, exchange emails or letters, and photos.

Extra donations will go to purchase items such as medicines, clothes, additional school supplies, fruits and vegetables, and to meet the many other needs of these children. Donations are needed year round.

You can see one of the dances performed by the children -  Celebration of Corn