The Mil Milagros program addresses three pressing needs facing Mayan children and families in Guatemala:

1. The provision of nutritious meals each school day;
2. Basic health and hygiene care which includes treatment of body and hair lice, tooth brushing, fluoride treatment, and hand washing (most the children we serve do not have running water in their homes); and
3. Educational materials to augment the very sparse supply of materials available to the children and teachers.

We currently partner with four different schools in the Guatemalan Highland's state of Solola to provide these services:

Chutinamit

In Chutinamit, Mil Milagros partners with the parent board, has recruited and trained 12 mothers to prepare nutritious lunches and snacks each day; and has provided financial resources for the fathers to build a simple kitchen where meals are prepared, and to plumb the school with running water. This year, Mil Milagros provided funding for the construction of four showers at the school which will also serve the entire 15 family community. In 2008, all 37 children who attended the two-room school participated in the program. The results were stunning: not one child dropped out (normally many do each year), and every child was promoted to the next grade. The families are extremely satisfied with the program. Typical of the feedback received: “My child is excited to go to school because they feed him.”

The school’s director/1-3 grade teacher reports that the children are more energetic, focused, and learning more. He also noted: “Nearly every child began the school year with head lice, and as a result of the Mil Milagros hygiene program, ended the school year without it.”

Proyecto Semilla

At Proyecto Semilla, Mil Milagros has trained and provides the funding for the salary of one single mother – Dona Luisa – to prepare the meals. We have been forced to use this model, because in the tourist town of Panajachel where Proyecto Semilla is located, it is extremely difficult to recruit parents as volunteers as most are single and working. Proyecto Semilla serves 150 children, ages five to 16, most of whom are working due to the dire financial needs of their families. The children attend one of two four-hour sessions per day. During each session, each child is provided with a nutritious snack and hot meal. Implementation and reinforcement of the hygiene program is the responsibility of the school social worker and the teachers.

Santa Lucia Utatlan, Chichimuch

We are also partnering with two schools in the rural community of Santa Lucia Utatlan, Chichimuch, with 150 students, is a public pre-k to grade six school, led by a charismatic and highly capable community leader. We consider the Chichimuch community a model in terms of their engagement with Mil Milagros: 70 mothers are volunteering to prepare the nutritious snacks and hot meals each day, and have organized themselves into 14 teams of five, each with a team leader. Mil Milagros provides each of the leaders with three-three hour nutrition and cooking classes and these leaders in turn use a “train the trainer” model to train other mothers in the community. Each of the 150 children bring their own cups and plates to school, as they do in Chutinamit, along with corn tortillas, a staple of the Mayan diet. To facilitate community ownership, parents provide firewood to fuel the two wood-burning stoves upon which the daily meals are prepared. Although the program was just launched in early February, we are already seeing results: 12 children who had dropped out in 2008 have returned to school because of the meals. Parent testimony is overwhelmingly positive, and includes statements such as: “My child comes home from school happy every day because he has been fed.”

El Mesias

Mil Milagros’ fourth current partner is El Mesias, a private Christian school. Co-founded in 2000 by a dynamic community Christian leader, the school is connected (both by affiliation and physical facility) to the Central American Morada de Dios church. The church was established by Baptist missionaries over 100 years ago and its elders play a key role in supporting the school, which is governed by a 6-member board of parents from the church. The school currently has 210 children enrolled, from pre-k through grade nine, a significant number of whom are on scholarship. Its mission is to provide excellent academic preparation while forming true men and women of God capable of being successful.

Beyond the nutritious meals, hygiene services and educational materials, a core function that Mil Milagros has begun to play – and is working to expand – has been to link children in all schools to health services to which they otherwise would not have access. This included visits by two pediatricians in 2009, dental check ups for the children at Proyecto Semilla and vision screenings for some of the children.