The Daughters of Charity arrived in Guatemala on May 12, 1862. From the moment of their arrival they were involved in the missions of the hospitals, fulfilling the functions proper to their vocation and to the needs of the field.

In 1867, the Province of CENTRO AMERICA was founded and the hospitals of the country officially asked the Sisters to take care of the patients. In addition to this, a children's shelter was opened in Antigua Guatemala. Twelve homeless girls were taken in and the Sisters had to make great sacrifices to carry out this work. A small school was then opened, which developed with a boarding school and, thanks to the quality of the teaching, children from poor families were able to benefit from this place of welcome.

After a study carried out by the sisters in the field, the Daughters of Charity found that the attention given to the underprivileged had diminished considerably. Unfortunately, due to a lack of elders, boarding schools, secondary schools have been closed and only pre-school education up to basic education remains the norm. The boys' school has been moved to the girls' building, thus forming one school due to lack of resources.

Guatemala's population is 41% indigenous and has a high illiteracy rate. More than 70% of the working population is in the informal labour sector, which subsists on less than the minimum wage of $410.

As a result of a reflection to counter this lack of attention to the most needy, the Daughters of Charity have created the dining room "Sister Angelica", with the objective of welcoming at lunch time needy families, street children and the elderly. The dining room began on July 1, 2007.

In 2018, the Fuego Volcano erupted, killing hundreds of people and leaving thousands homeless.

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The Daughters of Charity went to help the affected families. After a time of discernment, it was decided to work on a re-housing project for 34 families.

Needs

In Guatemala, the lack of housing is increasing dramatically every year. In 2015, the number of homeless people in Guatemala was 1,598,970.

The main cause of the lack of housing for the families benefiting from this project is the eruption of the Fuego volcano in 2018. The community of Los Loos was completely buried, leaving at least 2,000 people homeless. For many of these families, the fact that they have lost everything, including their loved ones, and the lack of employment or poorly paid jobs make access to housing difficult. They make do with remote and often dangerous places where families often lack electricity and clean water. Children are at risk of dropping out of school because of their geographical instability.

The 34 families have two representatives on the advisory board of "Solidarity for Guatemala", the organization that manages the construction of the houses. The families have collaborated and worked alongside the advisory council almost from the beginning, providing labour and participating in the design of the houses in every way possible.

Objective :

Improve the quality of life of 34 families affected by the Fuego volcano through :

• the construction of decent housing and the creation of training programs to help families become independent
• access to health and education for families
• the strengthening of community solidarity around a common project

It is the Advisory Council "Solidarity for Guatemala" formed by 5 organizations that will coordinate the project with the help of: Conference of Religious of Guatemala (CONFREGUA), Brothers and Friends of Guatemala (HAGUA), Volunteers of La Antigua, Parish of St. Francis of Assisi of Mixco and Vincentian Family of Guatemala (FAVIGUA) and the Daughters of Charity. The person responsible for the project is Sister Francely Perez, Daughter of Charity. All the members of the Advisory Council are volunteers and for the moment only two tutors and an engineer receive a salary in addition to the workers, who are hired mainly from the beneficiary families.

We hope that by moving to their new neighbourhood, families will be able to organize themselves as a community to create a virtuous circle and become self-sufficient. To this end, the training workshops will be an excellent opportunity for professional development once the houses have been built.

"True charity is not about crying or simply giving, but about acting against injustice."

Abbé Pierre

A huge THANK YOU for your donations!