We are kicking off our 2015 Fundraising Campaign with the goal of raising $25,000 to repair 25 of our artisans homes to help our artisans and their children live in healthier, safer homes.
Most of our artisans live in very simple one or two room homes. Some do not have electricity, many have dirt floors or leaking roofs, others need a new wood burning stove for their kitchen. With a little help from our donors and supporters we will be able to help these families.
Please help us help the women and their families with your donation! If you would like to get a group together to go to Guatemala then contact us about setting up a mission trip to help repair their homes.
We love it when we have lots of little ones for Vacation Bible School! The little children are so precious and we have so much fun with them in VBS!
You really should go on one of our Mission Trips to Guatemala as we show God’s love and teach them about His son, Jesus Christ. The little children love it when we come to their village for VBS and are always so excited and eager to learn. Of course the love the games, the snacks and craft time too!!
Our next mission trip is coming up fast! Grab a friend and join us before the team fills up!
So what are you going to do in Guatemala on the trip?
Present VBS for 4 afternoons to the children of one of our artisan groups and their friends in the community.
Visit our other artisan groups and see how they earn a fair trade wage from Education And More
Sightseeing time — in Antigua and in the villages in the Lake Atitlan area
Learn how to make tortillas by hand
Shopping time in local Mayan markets
Hear the Mayan languages of T’zutujil, K’iche’ and Kakchiquel and maybe learn a little
This year’s mission trip for VBS is June 6-14, 2015. Don’t wait until it too late and the team is filled — sign up today and help us share God’s love to His precious little children in Guatemala. More information on our website.
Maria was very grateful for all the work that our mission team did on her home a couple of weeks ago because she has lived in a one room adobe house that had a dirt floor and a leaking tin roof. The walls of her home are nearly all black because of the soot / creosote from the cooking fires. For years she just used a small campfire in the middle of the room to cook meals and finally was able to purchase a small wood burning stove but did not vent it to the outdoors so with both of these types of fires all the smoke stayed in the room.
She now has a beautiful new wood burning stove that will take all the smoke out of the room and will use less wood for the cooking fire. We are grateful to Carlos and Joe, our local friends, for helping us with our construction projects and the replacement of the stoves. We couldn’t do it without them and their team!
Maria’s new roof means that no rain coming into the home and with a new cement floor the whole family will be warmer and drier during the rainy season! No more mud floors! The electrical wiring in the home was dangerous so Carlos decided it was best to completely replace it and now Maria will have a much safer home.
One of the team members gave a Prayer Shawl to Maria as a parting gift along with a prayer. The shawls were given by Grace Lutheran Church in Tomahawk Wisconsin. Thanks so much to the women of the church that crocheted and knitted all the Prayer Shawls!
Maria’s little daughter summed up all the changes to her home when she came and took my hand and said ‘I love my new home!” What a precious moment!!
Our thanks to the donors, the mission team, Carlos, Joe, the local workers, the families that helped and the Board Members of E&M that had the vision to start a program like this!
Our program ‘Healthy Homes Healthy Families’ will begin this summer to repair homes of our artisans. We are raising funds to do all the projects that the families need to have a healthier home for their children. Read more about our projects at our website and then decide if you can help us.
Even a little helps a lot!
Corrugated roofing material for one family – $18 for each 10 foot section
New wood burning kitchen stove for a family – $200
Cement and materials for a new floor for a family – $250
Wood to repair roof before covering with new roofing material – $130 for one home
Education And More has initiated a program to help our artisan families improve their homes and thereby improve the health of their families. We have helped and worked with our artisan partners for many years and even with the earnings from their handcraft businesses it is still not sufficient to fulfill the needs of the families. The needs are great and they daily confront: insufficient food, unhealthy and unsafe cooking stoves, homes needing repair, insufficient income.
We have identified many homes that need help to repair or replace the corrugated tin roofs. The roofs are rusted and have holes in them which lets the rain in during the rainy season and since many of these homes have dirt floors the family then lives in a cold, wet, muddy home. These conditions are extremely unhealthy for the children and adults alike. It is very cool at night because the people we serve live in the highlands at an altitude of 4000 feet and more.
The typical kitchen stove of our artisan groups is a concrete block stove similar to a barbecue grill which uses a tremendous amount of wood. Many of the stovepipes are blocked with creosote or simply not working and the smoke then fills the kitchen area which is extremely hazardous for the women who are in the kitchens cooking. Some of the women have nothing but a campfire pit in the middle of their one room home and it is a hazard for the young children as they play in the house and the little ones learning to walk. Replacing or repairing the stoves improves the respiratory health of all the family and the risk of the little children falling into the fires are eliminated. We will replace the stoves with an energy efficient stove that uses 60% or more less wood resulting in less deforestation which is prevalent in Guatemala.
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Read how you can help us in our work to help the families at our website or join us on a mission trip and help repair the homes.
Come join us this fall to help children in Guatemala! We will be working at a small school in the rural highlands. Watch the video for more photos of this beautiful country and the warm and friendly people!
Education and More 