José is 13 years old. His birthday is December 18th. He was supposed to be in 3rd grade in 2009 but unfortunately he did not register in time and he will have to wait until next year. Jose lives in a small town called Xeabaj Segundo de Chichicastenango. He lives with his mother Maria, 30 years old. Tomas is 9 years old. His birthday is December 5th. He was in first grade in 2008. He was supposed to start second grade in 2009 but did not register in time and he will have to wait until next year.
His father abandoned the family 6 months ago. They don't know where he is.
José has 3 brothers and 1 sister. They are:
Juan Carlos is 6 years old. He is not in school yet.
Sebastian is 4 years old.
Ana María is 2 years old.
Jose and his mother sell typical clothing in the streets of Chichicastenango and Panajachel. Some days they make $8-10 USD and some others nothing.
They own the house they live in.
They have 1 room and one kitchen.
It is make of mud brick, tin roof and dirt floor.
They do not have a water filter.
They do not have an Onil stove. The mother cooks on an open fire on the floor.
They have 2 beds made of wooden planks.
They do not have enough blankets.
They have one table and 3 wooden chairs.
They have a pila.
They have electricity connected and pay $6 USD per month.
They have water connected and pay $2 USD per month.
The money that they make is not enough to cover their expenses. Their main diet is beans, herbs, pasta and eggs. When they do not have enough money for that they only eat tortillas with salt.
Jose is very happy he will be going to school!
My friend, Lorie and her husband will be sponsoring Joses little brother to attend school!!!!!
Thank you Eric and Lorie!! :)
Patti Mort, with Mayan Families has found this little boy for us! This is fantastic news. Our family will be sponsoring him, we sent in money for his sponsorship, as well as money for emergency food for his family... here's a copy of the email that Patti wrote to me...
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While in Guatemala, one little boy touched my heart. I've often wondered what has happened to him.
While on facebook recently, Karen Pickett from Education & More had a photo that caught my eye on her online photo album.
To my surprise, it was the little boy that has been on my heart.
He was sitting on the side walk crying, because his family did not eat that day... or the day before.
He had to sell refridgerator magnets (that's what's in his basket)... he did not sell any that day, meaning they would go another day without eating.
We talked to him, and gave him money. He gave us a magnet, which has been hanging on our refrigerator ever since.
We are now looking for this little boy, so we can sponsor him to go to school.
Hopefully, he will be allowed to go to school. His family may not let him if he has to make a wage to help feed the family.
Please pray that our scouts will find this little boy.
I will keep you updated.
We still want to raise money to build a home for Oscar. Things have been very busy here, hopefully within the next couple of weeks I can buckle down to get those funds raised! :) I will keep you updated. :)
BTW, I think I've been in North Carolina too long.... I just re-read what I wrote above and think I added a little southern accent. LOL!
Tonight, I sent $50 for Marcos and his family for food... and also $50 for Oscar and his family for food.
Also - great news!
We have purchased a wooden table and chairs for Marcos and his family.
I will never forget, they had ONE plastic chair in their house.
Now, they will have a nice table and chairs to go on their new concrete floor!
So far, we have been able to provide the following for Marcos and his family:
- 2 beds and mattresses
- water filter
- onil stove
- cement floor
- wooden table and 4 wooden chairs
- food, holiday baskets, totes filled with goodies on several occassions
- 1 bed and mattress
- water filter
- onil stove
- food, holiday baskets, totes filled with goodies on several occassions
