Two houses were built with help of T.E.S.S. Unlimited and Construcasa
In January and February 2010 we were able to give 2 families in Allotenango a future by building a house for them. The first family is Ana’s family. Her little brother was in our Milk project, but unfortunately passed away in February 2009. The second house was built for Francisco’s family. Both families are closely connected with T.E.S.S. Unlimited. The (Dutch) organization Construcasa built the houses within two weeks each. These homes are not only the future for these families, but for many generations after them. These people have a real roof over their heads, no dirt floors anymore; for the first time they can take a shower and have a real toilet that flushes! They don’t have to worry anymore about wet beds when it rains or worry that the cold mistral will blow away their home.
C L E F T P A L A T E
Many children, who are born with a schisis (harelip) also often, have a cleft palate. Because of the cleft palate it is very hard to breath and this causes difficulty with drinking and is very tiring. Sucking and swallowing is very difficult and breast feeding is almost impossible. The baby chokes easily and milk goes the wrong way and disappears through the nose. Choking can cause complications and pneumonia can occur. Besides this, the development of the child can slow down; the difficulty with breathing and feeding requires a great deal of effort by the baby. Eating of solid foods is very difficult. Also these children have problems hearing and have speech and language delays. That is why it is so important that the children get both their lip operation as well as their cleft palate operation. Unfortunately the hospitals and international organizations, who are working in Guatemala, pay little or no attention to this problem. Often the parents don’t know that their child can be operated on for the cleft palate one year after the lip operation. Therefore T.E.S.S. Unlimited wants to find all the children, who need these operations; we want to guide the parents until after the children have had both operations and then they can go on with their life.
Below are some of the children, who had their cleft palate operation this year. The cost of a cleft palate operation is only $ 95,-!
Would you like to donate for an operation? Please email to tessa@tessunlimited.nl
Ander, 2,5 years old. Had his cleft palate operation on Wednesday, March 3, 2010!
Ismael, 2,5 years old. He had his cleft palate operation on Wednesday, March 10, 2010!
Pedrito, Pastores
April 2007: the birth of Pedro and his twin brother. After 5 months they came into this world, way too early and each had a weight of just 1 kilo. His brother passed away, but Pedrito went on and won the battle. Each day father and mother took the bus from Pastores to the hospital in Guatemala City. They hoped to bring him home one day. The journey took 4 hours, but nothing held them back to fight for Pedrito’s life.
After 3 months of will power he finally was allowed to go home, without knowing what was going on. Every day, little by little they came closer to the harsh reality. Day and night the mother took care of her child and the father did everything to pay for the medications and food. But the bigger Pedrito became, the clearer it was that he had a physical and mental handicap. Also his sister and brother were there for him and sometimes it was hard for them to be a kid again.
Both the mother and father were born and raised in this little hamlet on the top of a hill and want this also for their own family. They live in a village where safety comes first and where the kids can go to school for free.
The mother told us once, that for months, 3 times a week, she went to “Trabajo Sociales” for physiotherapy for Pedrito. The bus trip took hours and it cost her blood, sweat and tears to go there, but there was help and it was their only hope.
Both parents were working day and night to improve Pedrito’s life, but the other children were left on their own and this changed the whole atmosphere in the house. They missed their parents and they all felt loneliness and sadness.
During our second visit to the family the father was busy working on his “botas” (handmade boots), the mother walked with Pedrito on her back and the other children helped wherever they could. Pedrito has the will power to learn to walk, but it will take months of practice and patience. It is a pleasure to look at him; his enthusiasm and his smile make us melt. He is intelligent and interested and for him life is a feast. They do everything to stimulate his senses; they made drawings on the wall and ceiling. It is admirable how this family pulls together and this all for just a smile from their “nene”, Pedrito.
There is only one thing lacking – like with so many people – and that is money. Father works for one of the “tiendas”, stores, that sell handmade boots; Pastores is known for its boots. Mother works full time with Pedrito. It is not obvious to feed 5 mouths on only 140 Euros per month; it is rather a sad story.
This family’s perseverance, energy and optimism are speaking to us. They feed Pedrito milk and porridge with some extra fruit and vegetables, because he cannot chew. This way they hope that Pedrito will get stronger in his bones and teeth and that one day he can use his legs and teeth. They will never give up.
We, as T.E.S.S. Unlimited, made a decision. Pedrito will get help from Calle Feliz. From now on Pedrito will get physiotherapy at home, 5 days a week for one year. The mother can stay with her family and give them all the love and care that they need. No more long bus trips to the hospital and more rest for her. If everything is going according plan, Pedrito could make his first steps by the end of this year!
T.E.S.S. Unlimited will also take him in the Milk project and provide him with a wheelchair.
Pedrito, we believe in you!!
Veronique Van Loock, 30 years old, Belgium.
A new face in our management team. She came to Guatemala in 2008 as a volunteer, left for Peru and returned in January 2010. Her ideas and feelings reached us and she joined T.E.S.S. Unlimited. She will be responsible for the volunteers as volunteer coordinator and help the foundation wherever this is needed.
Joanne Wessels, 30 years old, Holland.
Joanne has worked for several organizations, like “Construcasa” and “Partner for Surgery” (an American organization). She has lived in Guatemala for a few years now. Since February 2010 Joanne is a freelancer, who takes care of logistics for several medical teams that come to Guatemala. As a volunteer, she and Tessa will start-up this new project of looking for patients with a schisis.
Gelga Bersabe Vivar Ramirez, 19 years old, Guatemala
A happy family with 5 daughters, a worried mother, a hard working father and a handicapped grandfather; a family, where love and care comes first. The mother can’t work, because of the grandfather and there is no money to send their eldest daughter to university.
T.E.S.S. Unlimited has hired her as a teacher in the school and with the money that she earns, she has the opportunity to study. In the meantime, Gelga has started Ingenieur Ensystemas, a six year study.
New classrooms: The new classrooms, built by T.E.S.S. Unlimited, are finished. The ground floor classroom is used by nineteen 3-year olds, who can play here and move freely. The upper classroom will be used as a computer room with 12 new computers, which were donated to us. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon nine groups of students from group 6, 7 and 8 receive computer lessons from Gelga. Very soon we will be the only school, that has Internet and we will teach them how to surf the net and send emails. A thank you to Elisabeth, who will pay for the cost of Internet every year.
Fruit day: Kids in school have problems keeping their concentration. The reason is that often they do not have breakfast because of lack of money or negligence. That’s why we have started a “fruit day”. Monday’s and Thursday’s before the lessons start, they get a piece of fruit.
