Education ~ Environment ~ Employment ~ Empowerment
Supporting Successful Guatemalan-Run Programs to Eradicate the Root Causes of Poverty.
Programs with Accountability and Participation, NOT Handouts to:
Keep Families Together In Guatemala
End Malnutrition With Agricultural Training
Prevent Deforestation and Water Degradation
Create Access to Education & Job Training
Provide Counseling & Healthcare Access to Children and Adults
Protect Indigenous Lands
Eliminate the Downward Paths that lead to Child Abandonment and Desperate Migration
Supporting local programs that provide opportunities for children and families to create futures with dignity and respect while also supporting Indigenous languages, sustainable practices, and culture.
GAF is proud to partner these amazing Guatemalans in their locally supported programs to eliminate the need for orphanages, family separation, deforestation, and desperate unsafe migration.
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Medical and nutrition support for native Guatemalans
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Community Center Building Construction Complete!
We are now fundraising for student sponsorship and a clean treated water supply! Much needed support for skills training, employment and cultural business effirts to keep indigenous culture while creating work in their own village. This is even more critical due to COVID and the lack of services, tourism and jobs in this region.
Next Phase at the Community Center - Clean Water!
Supporting clean water projects in rural indigenous Guatemala
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Urgent Help is Needed for Children & Families in Guatemala City and Rural Solola Region due to COVID19.
Lack of Volunteers, Lack of Donations, lack of Supplies. As a result, all Programs including school support, family counseling, malnutrition prevention in rural San Jose Sololá, and child protection services in Guatemala City are all desperately in need. Their income generating local fundraisers cannot operate, and their many volunteers locally, and through our Social and Nature Supporting Tourism trips have dropped significantly. In addition, 4 babies required hospitalization, one with pneumonia, adding to unexpected bills. Please watch our little video showing the Fatima Home and their San Jose families and programs, and if you are able to help out with any donation it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you and be well. |
Education is at the Core of GAF supported programs.
As part of the malnutrition prevention and school drop-out prevention programs, families that keep children in full time school can receive school & food supplies. The "Educational, Health, and Child Protection Rural Outreach Programs" result in children and families building self sufficient futures with their own investment and dignity.
Networks of volunteers and friends of the program are bringing supplies out to the Villages.
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Medicall supplies and care are often not available, and rarely affordable in this rural area even during good times. But thanks to the new community center much needed help is coming and financial donations for medical support are welcome.
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NEW - Interview with the Founder
Creating Change! Not perpetuating existing problems!
Construction even during COVID has been amazing for the Rachoch Ak'al B'alam (Home of the Baby Jaguar) Community Center with medical clinic, library, school support program, visitor housing and protective care . SOLOLA PROJECTS
From a dream.. to groundbreaking.. to constructed.. THANK YOU
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In 2019, thanks to a doTERRA Healing Hands Matching Fundraiser we raised enough money to pour the concrete foundation for the Center! On behalf of the children and families who's futures will be changed, because of you....We thank doTERRA and all of you who donated for your generosity!
Our current focus is to support a clean water supply and education programs at the "Association to Eradicate Poverty" Outreach Programs in the indigenous region of Solola. This will support the Medical Clinic, Library and School support, counseling and training for children, adults and families. The building is done.. can you help us support all these programs?
DONATE HERE |
What, where, why Guatemala Aid Fund?
If you are like us at the 100% Volunteer GAF Organization, we feel that we have been blessed with a life that includes a home, access to school, clean water and opportunities for work and a self supporting future. We have seen firsthand in Guatemala that most if not all of these things are out of reach for much of the indigenous and general population in Guatemala. Being the 4th poorest country in the world, with severe malnutrition of greater than 50 percent of the indigenous children and minimal opportunities for education and employment, Guatemalans are fleeing their country. Most do NOT want to leave their families, and the land they love, but they do not have free high school, or meal support or food stamps, and many cannot provide adequately for themselves or their families. They want an education, they want jobs, they want to stay.
We at GAF have chosen to support the Hogar de Ninos Fatima City Location, as well as their Association to Eradicate Poverty rural location programs that provide for child protection, education, job training, family counseling and environmental protection programs. Their emergency child care not only provides a children's home for abused and abandoned children until they can be reunified with family or adopted, they are committed to supporting long term education for children in their care, and in rural schools. They invest in not only the child's basic needs, but also include psychological and medical support, extended family support and parental training courses.
The rural Solola Community Center project includes a medical clinic, library, school support, plans for an organic farm, eco-cabins for sustainable income sources, as well as a plan to purchase and preserve land including two indigenous religious ceremonial sites, and native wildlife and forest habitat.
We look at your donations as investments in futures for Guatemalans, as well as protection of their land, culture and people.... an incredible part of this world we live in.
Just like a scholarship you are passing your great fortune on to others that need funding to help secure a future in their own country. See the multi-phase project here Solola Community Center Medical Clinic School Project.
Thank you for considering these Guatemalan Run programs for your Charitable Giving!
We at GAF have chosen to support the Hogar de Ninos Fatima City Location, as well as their Association to Eradicate Poverty rural location programs that provide for child protection, education, job training, family counseling and environmental protection programs. Their emergency child care not only provides a children's home for abused and abandoned children until they can be reunified with family or adopted, they are committed to supporting long term education for children in their care, and in rural schools. They invest in not only the child's basic needs, but also include psychological and medical support, extended family support and parental training courses.
The rural Solola Community Center project includes a medical clinic, library, school support, plans for an organic farm, eco-cabins for sustainable income sources, as well as a plan to purchase and preserve land including two indigenous religious ceremonial sites, and native wildlife and forest habitat.
We look at your donations as investments in futures for Guatemalans, as well as protection of their land, culture and people.... an incredible part of this world we live in.
Just like a scholarship you are passing your great fortune on to others that need funding to help secure a future in their own country. See the multi-phase project here Solola Community Center Medical Clinic School Project.
Thank you for considering these Guatemalan Run programs for your Charitable Giving!
Guatemalans creating futures in their own communities.
Based on the success of the Fatima Children's Family Style Protective Care Home in Guatemala City, GAF Supports their education, nutrition, job training and child protection programs expansion to the rural indigenous Region of Solola through the Association to Eradicate Poverty. Recurring donations are the most helpful.
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Rural Community Center Phase I
- 100% Exterior Construction Complete - Interior construction needed for community salon, library, protective housing - child protective care, school programs - can you help us finish it and provide a treated water supply? This project is exactly aligned w/ GAF Goals
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This is a community focused project, developed and managed by Guatemalans with an achievable goal to provide Education, Jobs, Aid that is earned and environmental and cultural preservation in the Rural Indigenous area of SOLOLA in Guatemala. Multi-faceted project goals include preservation of indigenous land and religious sites, organic farming, eco-cabins and environmental protection.
We hope you can also join us in our overriding Goal to Raise the $275,000 US dollars to purchase and protect the large native forest and ceremonial land around the Center in rural Solola.
We hope you can also join us in our overriding Goal to Raise the $275,000 US dollars to purchase and protect the large native forest and ceremonial land around the Center in rural Solola.
In the words of the Directors.... getting at the root causes of poverty so families can stay together safely and build productive lives."
About Fatimas: "Whatever the reason for the infants, children and youth finding themselves without a home, food, education and care, it is clear that they all need consistent loving care, psychological support and life skill training in an environment they can consider home. They all need a continuum of safe care without the fear and consequences of being moved from place to place, or released without proper life skills and support and self worth.
Privately run family style homes for child protection services , such as ours, Hogar de Niños Fátima, in Guatemala City have proven highly successful in helping children in the worst of situations form a future. When adequately supported and staffed with loving trained professionals we can provide the full range of supports to not only keep abandoned, abused and at risk children alive, but to give them an opportunity for self sufficiency and future opportunities, and with the most important component of all.. knowing that they will always have an address and a place where they are loved and cared for.
We are in the process of raising funds to build a NEW Community Center, in rural Guatemala to provide safety, education, health care, school support to local children and assistance to abused and abandoned children, and women with children that are victims of violence."
"In keeping with our proven model for the development of mental health, life skills, and a strong education with deep ties to the local Community, including language, traditions, and respect for the environment, we are excited to move forward with the multi-phased SOLOLA Project"
We hope you can join us!
READ the full story here
About Fatimas: "Whatever the reason for the infants, children and youth finding themselves without a home, food, education and care, it is clear that they all need consistent loving care, psychological support and life skill training in an environment they can consider home. They all need a continuum of safe care without the fear and consequences of being moved from place to place, or released without proper life skills and support and self worth.
Privately run family style homes for child protection services , such as ours, Hogar de Niños Fátima, in Guatemala City have proven highly successful in helping children in the worst of situations form a future. When adequately supported and staffed with loving trained professionals we can provide the full range of supports to not only keep abandoned, abused and at risk children alive, but to give them an opportunity for self sufficiency and future opportunities, and with the most important component of all.. knowing that they will always have an address and a place where they are loved and cared for.
We are in the process of raising funds to build a NEW Community Center, in rural Guatemala to provide safety, education, health care, school support to local children and assistance to abused and abandoned children, and women with children that are victims of violence."
"In keeping with our proven model for the development of mental health, life skills, and a strong education with deep ties to the local Community, including language, traditions, and respect for the environment, we are excited to move forward with the multi-phased SOLOLA Project"
We hope you can join us!
READ the full story here
2018 Story to Share.........A Tale of Two Sisters
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2022 Thank you Cindy Lorenzo!
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| Tale_of_two_sisters....love.pdf |
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Missed our Tamale Making Class?
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Visit our Etsy Shop!
See Guatemalan Textiles, Artisan Made Jewelry, Co-op products and more |
Have the biggest impact -
Make your donation $36 monthly!
The programs create independence so more can come on board as others rise up.
Have the biggest impact -
Make your donation $36 monthly!
The programs create independence so more can come on board as others rise up.
Your generous donations will fund:
- Loving Care: Hiring the amazing trained caregivers that teach, bath, feed, hold and love the wonderful kids!
Each full time caregiver salary is $5,000/YR. Many more are needed! - Education = Opportunity: Attending school is not obtainable for many children in Guatemala, and certainly out of reach for abandoned children, especially High School which typically requires a high tuition payment. GAF is dedicated to supporting not only early childhood care, but also long term school support. With a little more than $1/day we can contribute to school supplies, tuition, and a meal. School is approximately $200 a year per child.
- Counseling & Family Support: As it should be, the programs we support aim to keep families together, and to find homes for kids in their care. With this comes their commitment to ongoing family support and counseling for caretakers and children. Their reach is far out to the community, resulting in support back in. They have support from Guatemalan businesses, healthcare providers, countless volunteers and families, and other community based programs in sharing fashion. They are PART of the community, not a stand alone entity.
- Job training and internships for youth and adults. Teachers. Construction Workers. Early Child Development Teachers. Psychologists.
- Nutritional support for malnourished children and families
- Forest Preservation - support is going to a forest management plan, native habitat protection, water quality management plan, purchase and protection of land
- Sustainable agriculture - support goes to education and resources to promote organic and sustainable agriculture. Much of Guatemala's natural land has been destroyed for crops for export utilizing chemicals and earth damaging practices.
Educate a Child with your unused items on Ebay sales!
You know that really nice jewelry you just never wear? Or that great designer sweater with the tags still on it that never fit right but you cant just give up? Turn it into education for a child in Guatemala! Sell it on our Ebay charitable site - just choose Guatemala Aid Fund as the EBAY Charity you wish to Donate to. Tax deductible! 100% will go to support the kids!
You know that really nice jewelry you just never wear? Or that great designer sweater with the tags still on it that never fit right but you cant just give up? Turn it into education for a child in Guatemala! Sell it on our Ebay charitable site - just choose Guatemala Aid Fund as the EBAY Charity you wish to Donate to. Tax deductible! 100% will go to support the kids!
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Engaging the Next Generation
Our Teen to Teen Programs for awarenes & service ideas! Link: Children and Teens GAF Focuses on engaging kids around the world to be inspired to do community service. Any kind... in their neighborhood, at their school, or with organizations they care about! When they start early it becomes a way of life. Parent - "After attending this fun interactive event, with its party like atmosphere my child was so inspired (on their own) to look for ways to do acts of service, Thank You!"
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Bienvenido! Welcome! - OUR MISSION
Guatemala Aid Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to investing in programs that help children, families, and communities that wish to improve their lives and futures with cooperative programs focused on education, nutrition, sustainability, work training, love and respect. We focus on sustainable education and health programs that generate opportunities for kids to grow up educated, in good health with support and opportunities for future employment and self-sufficiency. We also support adult parenting, skill training, job support and family counseling programs. Our 100% volunteer-run organization was founded in 2001 by Bethany Eisenberg Zeeb, an adoptive mom of two Guatemalan born children who wanted to stop exchanging expensive Christmas gifts and instead collect supplies to help Hermano Pedro Orphanage/Hospital in Antigua, Guatemala. Today, we are focusing on Guatemalan Run programs that focus on long term education, malnutrition prevention, parent counseling, native land preservation and clean water access. Our partner programs include Hogar de Ninos Fatima (Fatima Childrens Home) and the Association to Eradicate Poverty family Unification and Support programs in Guatemala and Sololá, and the rural educational support, medical and nutritional support and future farming and ecotourism projects. We also support Corazones Felices, a program that helps families stay together, with educational support for children and nutritional support for families. Our work is funded entirely through tax-deductible donations. Funds go to housing, food, clothing, medical expenses and psychological assistance, education and sustainable environmental initiatives, community economic development initiatives, environmental protection special projects and teacher and caregiver salaries. Salaries are the hardest items to receive funding for and desperately needed as they are the foundation of completing all this great work, in their own communities, and having jobs to uplift their families and their selves. Education is a very high priority for GAF fundraising as our goal is to enable orphan status children, and the extremely poor opportunities for a consistent education, something that is often completely out of reach for Guatemalan children. We are dedicated to supporting Guatemalan-run programs that promote use of the Guatemalan job force and local commerce, environmentally conscious projects and advancement of programs that will continue to expand the education and living situation for abandoned children, needy families and communities with hope for better opportunities in their own country. Our current focus is supporting jobs, education and the protection of native lands and ancient, active spiritual sites in the indigenous region of Sololá. Current projects include start-up of a small medical clinic, creating continuous education for children who otherwise did not have access to school beyond age 8. Additional plans are to build a entreprenuerial center for women to begin their own businesses based on traditional skills and practices such as agriculture and their incredible weaving. Counseling and training for children, adults and families is at the core. Helping native Guatemalans build lives in their own country DONATE HERE
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News from Fatimas! Parent counseling continues by Phone!
"teaching caregivers..and parents.... supporting healthy family systems We are so excited with the results of the sustainable parent training program at Fatima. Parents and caregivers of receive parenting education and counseling. Focus is to build healthy family systems and keep families together. News from Feliz Corazones One of our amazing partners - Feliz Corazones ('Happy Hearts'), a family outreach program in Guatemala, is starting a new initiative that we're very excited about! They are making some beautiful pillow covers.. wait until you see! Stay tuned for sale. |
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On behalf of all the children, families, schools and villages in Guatemala that
benefit from your kindness and generosity,
Thank You!
Support our programs
Sign up for our newsletter
Like us on Facebook
On behalf of all the children, families, schools and villages in Guatemala that
benefit from your kindness and generosity,
Thank You!
