So what the heck is Casa Guatemala and why am I blogging about my time there?
Casa Guatemala began its journey in 1977 under the name of Casa Canada. It was founded by a Canadian couple who wanted to provide a refuge for orphaned or abandoned children during the country's long civil war. It was initially a safe home based in Guatemala City. In 1987, the project, now called Casa Guatemala, bought a plot of land in the relatively peaceful Izabal department. The land was slowly cleared and houses, docks, a school, and a clinic were set up, laying the foundations for the "Children's Village" as we know it today.
Originally, many of the children were put up for international adoption, and many children were adopted to other countries, especially Denmark and the United States. As the laws changed in Guatemala, preventing international adoptions, the project reinvented itself and became a boarding school for children from poor, rural areas of Guatemala. The project welcomes all students in its free education program, but the vast majority of the students are from the Q'eqchi' Maya ethnic group.
Many of the students have either no or very limited access to education in their villages. Roughly half of the students live on-site at Casa Guatemala, with the rest going home each day.
Casa Guatemala offers, in addition to its educational program, a free medical clinic for children and families as well as an emphasis on nutrition to combat the rampant malnutrition many children face. Guatemala suffers from the highest rates of malnutrition in the western hemisphere. Serving nutritious, fortifying meals to all of our students as well as the twice-daily snack time, which typically consists of fruit, Casa Guatemala ensures all of its students grow up healthy in mind and body.
