Sagrada Familia is located in Antigua, a small city surrounded by volcanoes in the south of Guatemala. This is a center administered by a group of sisters that was founded in 2002. The children meet every month to receive subsidies, which consist mainly of food supplies or school supplies, at the beginning of each school year.
At Sagrada Familia, our coordinator is Sor Isabel Reynoso, who has been our coordinator since Sagrada Familia opened its doors in 2002. Sor Isabel’s runs the program with the help Ms. Ana Julia Vasquez, her assistant.
Sagrada Familia has a total of 46 children. This center is located just about 25 miles away from Guatemala City (a good hour and a half of driving under heavy traffic) and works in a similar way to Casa Central. Run by the same order of Sisters of Mercy, this center is also near a Catholic School, Sagrada Familia School, run by the same Sisters.
At the center, the Children Incorporated participant children are met regularly and provided with Children Incorporated support, which here consists of a provision of food, school supplies at the beginning of the school year, shoes and clothing, as well as health support for those that do not have any. All these support making sure every child attends a local public school in the area.
A Garment-making skill training and a food preparation program were implemented with support from Children Incorporated. These programs have been very successful, as many of the children do not have an opportunity to continue their studies once they finish high school, and their parents do not have the skills. Therefore, they normally work low-paying day jobs. With the skill training, we can make sure that a parent has the opportunity to earn a decent salary to support their family, and a child that may not attend university will have the same opportunity. They enlightened us with a cultural and musical program during our visit, in which some of the our sponsored children participated.
Children from Sagrada Familia attend different schools in Antigua. Besides meeting once a month with the children, they also take their time to prepare the letters and update the children’s information. They mainly benefit all the children with monthly food supplies that consist of rice, beans, oil, oatmeal, butter, sugar, eggs, cheese, and INCAPARINA (a popular and affordable high-protein hot cereal made of cottonseed, sorghum flours, maize, yeast, and other nutrients used especially in Latin America, to prevent protein-deficiency diseases).
They also have a program called “SAN” (Asistencia Alimentaria Provisional), in which they assist Low-income mothers whose children were born underweight by providing nutritious food to help them get to a normal and healthy weight according to their age and height. This program benefits children from 0 to 5 years old.
