Providing dignified and sanitary health care
Making it possible for women, children and families to achieve better health outcomes…
Improving Health in Panimaché Quinto Alto
The Panimaché Quinto Alto (PQA) community’s medical needs are currently assessed in a once-a-month visit in a large open community meeting space. There’s no privacy, exam rooms, or equipment other than what the medical team can carry to the site. The lack of privacy means many women don’t address current or ongoing medical needs, leading to poor health outcomes for both women and their children. For many, easily treatable diseases or infirmities aren’t addressed and become more serious over time. Traveling teams of medical professionals (doctors, dentists, specialists) cannot provide care in PQA due to the lack of appropriate workspace.
A new clinic provides better health outcomes — and expands care
At the request of PQA, we will build a clinic that provides privacy, exam space, equipment, and a permanent space for visiting medical teams to work and expand the community’s care opportunities. The clinic will also provide a comfortable and clean space for the local midwives to consult with their patients and deliver babies. An exam table, lighting, and basic medical equipment will radically enhance the comfort and safety of their work; that equipment and more are built into the project budget. An ambulance pad is also in our plan, allowing for emergency vehicles to safely and quickly load and unload patients. Also included is an ultrasound machine, which is critical to many diagnoses and assessments. This unit will be shared with neighboring communities as needed. A storage space will allow for ongoing access to vitamins, fortified rice, and other supplies to combat malnutrition in the community.
We will break ground as soon as we reach full funding for construction, completing the clinic in 23 weeks. Our goal is to complete funding and build and equip the clinic before October 15, 2024.
TOTAL BUDGET: $58,000
If you cannot afford a monthly scholarship, please consider recruiting a friend or family member to share in the joy of sponsorship! There is no way we can provide support to all children in Guatemala needing an education, but if you can help just one, just think of the possibilities!
FAQ
Construction, materials, and finish materials: $40,059*
- Foreman: $6,240
- Crew (paid): $4,800
- Leveling of ground: $400
- Construction materials: $23,334
- Materials delivery: $533
- Cement mixer rental: $240
- Windows: $1,533
- Doors: $1,201
- Sink and mirror: $445
- Shower: $933
- Toilet: $400
Medical equipment: $3,340*
- Exam tables (2): $360 each
- Tabletop baby scale: $80
- Hanging toddler scale: $168
- Adult digital scale: $240
- Glucometer (2): $76 each
- Stethoscopes (2): $312 each
- Stadiometers (2/adult): $232 each
- Stadiometers (child): $214
- Oximeter (2): $59 each
- Infrared thermometer (2): $67 each
- Surgical masks: $93
- Examination gloves: $75
- First aid kit (2): $70 each
- Stitch removal kit (2): $40 each
- Cleaning and hygiene supplies: $72
Specialized medical equipment: $11,333*
- Ultrasound machine
Furniture: $2,360*
- Staff desks and chairs: $640
- File cabinets for medical records: $667
- Medicine storage: $933
- Waiting area chairs: $120
*Estimated costs based pricing at the time of budget construction (December 2023)
When you click DONATE NOW, a series of fields will be displayed to collect your name and email address. There is a “Comment” space where you can note the intentions behind your donation, including any memorial/honorary designation or application to any specific item or area in our budget.
Included in our budget is professional labor; we have a trusted team of foremen and construction workers, creating jobs in Guatemala while providing us with the local expertise to complete our jobs at a high-quality level. Additional labor is non-paid and volunteered by the beneficiary community (PQA). This arrangement is mutually beneficial because it keeps our project costs more manageable and shows we value the community and their skills. It also instills ownership and pride for the recipients as they share the workload and responsibility. We recognize the partnership and work on completing goals together.
The clinic will be made of concrete block construction and have a full concrete roof, allowing for potential future expansion and a second level. Ample and suitable electricity will be installed and appropriate plumbing for the required sanitation needs. There will be two examination rooms, a reception and waiting area, a storage and supplies closet, and a sanitation room with toilet, sink, and shower. It will have plentiful windows for natural light, doors on both examination rooms for privacy, and a sturdy outer door with a lock for safeguarding the medicines and other supplies stored inside. (Please see the architectural drawing here.)
Once I have sponsored a student, can I find out what other specific needs the student or family has?
There is never the expectation that a sponsor would contribute toward other needs the student or family might have, but yes, if the student does not have a bed or stove or water filter, as an example, we can arrange for the sponsor to contribute toward something like that, if desired.
Cost varies based on grade and location, from $25+ per month
Diego Xirum Scholarship Fund
Diego has hand-selected young people that would take full advantage of opportunities to continue their education and become shining examples for their community. Diego has reiterated that the best way to lift an entire community is to inspire its young people to become educated and share opportunities to lift others in return. It is clearly a plan that he has executed in his own life and now he is, himself, advocating on behalf of his neighbors. We have a goal to provide sponsorship for students in Diego’s community in each student classification: primaria (1st-6th), básico (7th-9th), diversificado (10th-12th, during which a student specializes in a career path, such as nursing, accounting, teaching, secretarial, etc.), and university. The cost of monthly sponsorship will vary based on the grade level of the student, and, for the higher grades, how far away they live from the school that specializes in the discipline chosen. For students in Diego’s community, there is no support net. If they do not get sponsors, they will not attend school. Instead, they will likely get jobs to contribute to the family income and the cycle will continue. Diego’s motto is: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.“
Primaria –> $25 per month
Básico –> $50 per month
Diversificado –> $80 per month
University –> (varies, but roughly $200 per month depending on career path and transportation needs)
Supporting a Specific Child
Some people love the idea of sponsoring a specific student — having the connection to a person with a name and a face — someone to which you can personally relate. If you are matched with a specific student, you will be a padrino/madrina/patrocinador and will receive updates about your student and, from time to time, photos or letters/cards. If your sponsored student leaves school, leaves the Chichicastenango area, or fails to progress to the next grade at the end of the year, they will no longer be eligible to remain in our program. If that were to happen, you would be notified immediately and encouraged to transfer your support to a different student desiring the opportunity to study.
Supporting our General Education Fund
When a student comes to Diego asking for a sponsor or for the opportunity to study, we immediately begin an economic needs evaluation, ask the student and parent/guardian to fill out an application, produce an ID card and last report card (if applicable) and then, if everything checks out, we begin the search for an individual sponsor. Sometimes, especially with students at the higher levels whose monthly economic needs are higher, it is hard to find individuals that can commit to the cost.
However, we do not want to turn our backs on these students! When donors don’t care about being matched with an individual student, or can’t afford a full scholarship, we ask for support of our General Education Fund. We also have fundraisers specifically to rebuild our reserves of this fund! We use the General Education Fund not only to support student scholarships but also for libraries, technology in the schools, etc.
You can break the cycle of poverty!
To make a donation to our General Education Fund, please use this “Give Now” button. You will have the opportunity to leave a note as to how we should direct the funds, for example: student scholarships, libraries, technology support, etc. Thank you!
Here are some things are students are saying!
Student Feedback
Thank you for the support you have given us, we thank you with all our heart. We hope that God continues to bless you, also that He fills you with happiness, peace and love, we hope to have your great help for next year.
Thank you so much for my scholarship. My parents have very little economic means and can’t afford my education. Thank you for the opportunity you have given me. I will work hard to realize my dreams and be in a position to support the education of my children in the future.
I want to be a nurse in my future, specifically a nurse in the rural community. I will be able to use the K’iche’ language to communicate with my patients and make them feel more at ease. Right now, elders in my community are afraid to receive medical care because they do not understand what the doctor is saying.
With your support, I will be the first one in my family to graduate. I have no words to express my thanks, and I cannot currently repay your kindness. But, I will will very hard on my studies and will strive to make you and my family proud.
The “right” opportunity arose when I learned about a travel opportunity for adoptive families which would include volunteer work and cultural sightseeing. Being members of that team had a profound impact on me, Lillian and Andrew. Not only were we able to make a real connection to our son’s birthplace, but we met incredibly warm and generous people, all of whom we now consider to be a part of our “family.” In addition to the volunteer work I shared with the Team, I also was able to “give back” by performing as my alter ego, “Farfel the Clown” at a barbecue for children of The Backyard School. It will remain one the proudest and happiest memories of my life.