Hospitalproject in Guatemala.

In Guatemala, are a lot of babies born with a Cleft lip. The reasons for this vary. Causes may be malnutrition, incest and mothers who become pregnant at a very young age. The average age for women to get pregnant in the Indian villages is between 12 and 15 years of age. Marriage between family members in these villages is also common.

Tessa is currently working everyday at Hermano Pedro Hospital’s paediatric ward in Antigua. In this ward you will find children with Cleft lips, children suffering from malnutrition and children with disabilities. Together with the Hermano Pedro Hospital, T.E.S.S. Unlimited is working to help even more babies. On a yearly basis, we expect to be able to support at least 100 babies.

The Guatemalan government covers 25% of all costs at the Hermano Pedro Hospital. For remaining funds, the hospital is dependent on donations and help from overseas.

Several times a year a group of American and European surgeons come to Antigua to perform free operations. However, because most babies spend on average 6 months to 1 year in hospital, the basic costs of housing, medicines milk and special needs amount to a maximum of $185,00 per child. T.E.S.S. Unlimited strives to support those people for whom financing accommodation and the operation is impossible due to their poverty. We also absolutely want the parents to feel motivated in contributing a small amount to the overall costs themselves, as matter of fact; it is their child and their responsibility.

With a contact person from the hospital we establish the in and outs of the families economic situation, we make an estimation of how much the family may be able to contribute themselves and from there, T.E.S.S. Unlimited takes care of the rest.

Every child that receives help from T.E.S.S. Unlimited will be photographed when it is first introduced to the charity and again after recovering from surgery and/or leaves the hospital.

 

Milkproject in Guatemala

In Guatemala half of all children under the age of 5 years suffer from malnutrition. One third of the children finish Basic School, and each year 290 to 100.000 women die from complications during pregnancy or child birth.

Guatemala has not yet succeded to overcome the inequality in healthcare, education and feeding the poor. T.E.S.S. Unlimited tries to help whenever possible, and established a “milk project” to help the children.

The children and babies who are dismissed from Hermano Pedro, where they were treated for malnutrition and/or cleft lips, automatically end up in our milk  project. We also help underweight children to gain the necessary weight to undergo surgery.

The  children return to Hermano Pedro once per month to be weighted and are given a full check-up. Pictures are taken and, when needed, extra clothing and medications are given to take home. In addition, each mother will get enough milk powder for the month to come. This way the children stay at their weight and ready for the next year.

T.E.S.S. Unlimited continues to follow these children till the age of about 3 years at which time they hopefully are big and strong. Our Foundation pays approximately $ 23,- per month to feed one child. Of course, this is not counting the additional expense for medication end extra help. At present we have 23 children in our milk project.

Would you like to help feed a child with milk? Please e-mail us at: tessa@tessunlimited.nl

The children below need a sponsor:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gift of a Smile project

This is the latest and biggest project created be T.E.S.S. Unlimited.

In Guatemala the cause of children with “cleft lips” is for a small percentage genetically pre-determined. The main reasons seem to be the lack of nutrition, environment, incest, or addiction.

There is a lot of work to be done before surgery is considered.  Firstly, a period of 3 months is needed to give the child proper food and care.  When the baby weighs a minimum of 5 kg, doctors are able to consider a surgical procedure.  After 6 months to one year, a second surgery takes place to close the pallet. In addition to the operation, there are extra costs involved, ie: medication, check-ups, transportation, laboratorium costs, etc.    The expenses, of course, vary in each child.

In order for T.E.S.S. Unlimited the help more children and even adults with surgeries on cleft lips and/or open pallets, we have set out to search for potential patients ourselves. Especially in Western Guatemala (the Altiplano) you find many children born with some degree of lip deformity. There are also still many younger people and adults with “cleft lips” and/or open cleft pallets. Unfortunately, nobody is aware that through a series of surgeries their lives could be drastically improved. Almost all parents think  that it is God’s will, and sadly hide their children from view.

T.E.S.S. Unlimited set out to search for these children and adult ourselves. We organize evaluation days in the areas they live, and assist them when needed with feeding (milk powder) to attain the weight of 5 kg. We also give out medication to bring the hemogloben to the proper level, after which we make contact with the doctor who will perform the surgery. After the operation we continue to follow up with the patients until they are completely ready to live a normal life.

T.E.S.S. Unlimited not only tries to be the “link” between doctors and patients, but it is important for us to continue to deliver aftercare.

Would you like to create a smile on the face of a child, a friend or an elderly person? This miracle is possible for a gift of $ 185,-. We will be pleased to keep you informed about his/her  new smile!

On behalf of the children, I thank you in advanced.

Schoolproject in Guatemala

There is just one Public Basic School in Santa Catarina Bobadilla, a small Goverment sponsored school. Its Principal is Jose Fernando and supported by the Foundation T.E.S.S. Unlimited.

Jose Fernando welcomes the initiative of T.E.S.S. Unlimited and thus allows us to attempt to strengthen and improve the quality of education where ever possible.

There are 288 students attending the school, of which most come from San Caspar, San Juan, and Santa Catarina, small neighbouring villages.

Through working closely  and cooperatively together, we are improving the quality and level of education in the school every year. For example, we built 2 extra classrooms and presently we are taking care of our newly grown fruits and vegetable gardens. As well. we are open to more organizational, infrastructural and household support where it is most needed.

THE SCHOOL LIBRARY:

Our goal is to stimulate language development. Through the connection of teaching (reading) skills, learning is made easier. This way, we hope to give students the opportunity to become better readers. To reach our goal we need many school books. We are working very hard to accumulate 1200 school books. so that students in our school are able to further develop their own language.

Because our library is only open during class breaks, we have put in place a book borrowing system. Thus giving studens the chance to not only better their language, but their discipline and sense of responsibility as well.

SEX EDUCATION:

T.E.S.S. Unlimited has put together an extra curriculum package on this subject. It is our hope to eventually introduce this package to other schools.

Our first priority is to notify the parents, because for many this subject is “taboe”  to even talk about because of cultural and religious reasons.

By way of an introduction week, T.E.S.S. Unlimited gathered  the initial relevant information.  How do the children feel about the subject, and what means, ie: the word “menstruation”? This was followed by numerous interesting questions: “do boys get menstruation”?  “Could you become pregnant by losing so much blood the first time”? “What is the purpose of a tampon”? “Does “the Pill” kill a baby”?     A very interesting experience for the children as well as for us!

Most Guatemalans believe that the number of children one has is already pre-determined, and that using contraceptions is against God’s will.  Because of their believe in their religion, there is really no other choice!

Through education T.E.S.S. Unlimited hopes to bring awareness thus help to minimize malnutrition in children, illness, and poverty! Eventhough it seems impossible, we are working hard to make a difference.

ENGLISH LESSONS:

The level if education in Guatemala is relatively low, and the knowledge of the English language not adequate. Through alternative and creative methods we work intensively on the students acquiring good understanding of the English language. It is our hope to improve students’ capabilities and to increase the chances to succeed for further education.

Indeed, the youth of today is our hope for the future!

COMPUTER LESSONS:

With the help of donations and volunteers we were able to build an additional classroom. This room is useful to perform various functions in the afternoon, and one of them is to teach computer skills

Through the donation of 12 computers,  T.E.S.S. Unlimited has started teaching the basic computer information followed by Word. For us it does not seem like a great deal, but for our students it really is a dream come true!

T.E.S.S. Unlimited is always looking for volunteers to help us in our school in Santa Catarina. The idea is to offer a complementary learning opportunity to the traditional lesson curriculum, usually in the morning.  In the afternoons we usually offer extra English lessons, as well as art and crafts, plays, sports, etc.

We try to learn about the students’ living circumstances and the various problems they may be dealing with. This way T.E.S.S. Unlimited is able to better assist students to cope with their situations and find solutions, not only economically but also from a human point of view. For this reason the activities are not limited to only passing on knowledge, but also to instill a more optimistic view of life. We believe that this will help convince the student that everybody is equal, despite cultural and social differences.

We support the Ramro Sathi orphanage in Kathmandu, Nepal

The Nepalese manager runs the day-to-day business of the orphanage while we ensure the children go to school, have clothes and all the materials they may need for school. The T.E.S.S. Unlimited foundation works together with experienced volunteers already working at the Ramro Sathi as well as helping volunteers who would like to work at the orphanage find a placement.