Support of llaria Tista Oajaca

Introducing this update

This report follows a visit to llaria Tista Oajaca's family and uses a standard format to ensure that it provides an update on how llaria Tista Oajaca and her family are and outlines the work that Plan is doing with them and their whole community.

llaria Tista Oajaca told us that she enjoys playing with toys, playing with dolls and playing local games, and helps her family with household chores. Perhaps you would like to know more about these activities? Or perhaps about her life in the community? Below are some key facts, but please also write and send greetings to llaria Tista Oajaca and her family so they can send you a message, llaria Tista Oajaca is able to write her own letters to you.

llaria Tista Oajaca has been healthy over the last year. She is still physically disabled but still mobile, but is currently attending a rehabilitation program to help improve her quality of life.

llaria Tista Oajaca is attending the primary school. She's in the sixth grade. Her performance over the last year has been average. This is great considering her disability. Her favourite lessons at school are mathematics, social sciences and grammar. She travels by foot and it takes her less than 30 minutes to get there.

There have been no changes to who lives with llaria Tista Oajaca. We would like to explain that it is sometimes difficult to obtain accurate information from foster families. For instance, birth dates and the spelling of names are not given high importance in Guatemala, and there is often no birth certificate available to check. Therefore, some of the basic family information contained in this letter might now differ, depending on the family member who was interviewed and the time since it was previously collected. However, it does come from the most recent interview held with the foster family.

llaria Tista Oajaca's family use a private latrine for their toilet facilities. There is enough water during both rainy and dry seasons. It comes from a domestic connection officially installed. The water is safe to drink at all times. The nearest health worker is the traditional birth attendant who lives about forty five minutes away.

ILARIA Pictured in March 2005          This time with her Brother

The projects undertaken to benefit llaria Tista Oajaca's community include:

The Government does not provide primary or pre-schools with nearly enough school materials, and poor families cannot afford to buy them. Children's education suffers; sometimes, they do not even go to school because their parents do not want to admit they are unable to provide for their families. To give children the best chances for development and learning, Plan provided the family with school materials during the year.

Plan supported the community creche for the care, development and stimulation of infants with working mothers. Without this, they are usually left with a sister or relative who have a lot of domestic work to do during the day, and do not have time to play with them or sometimes even watch them carefully. Plan provides training for volunteers who work in creches.

Primary schooling is part of Plan's core programme. For children to receive a good, basic education they need a reasonable learning environment. Unfortunately, primary schools are often too small for the growing number of children and little Government budget is available for facilities. This was the case in the community, so Plan assisted with additional space in the primary school.

Plan helps the community - children and adults - to formulate longer-term development plans for the community's future development projects. If sufficient knowledge and skills remain in the Community after Plan leaves, it can better continue with its self-development in a sustainable way. During the year, Plan also provided training in project management skills to community leaders and volunteers.

Following the development plans produced by each community, the priorities for the area continued to be health and education and we hired additional specialists to support the communities in their work in these areas. We supported primary education in all the communities, focusing on quality and promoting an approach whereby children are actively involved in their learning and advance at their own pace. Through this approach, which has the approval and co-operation of the Ministry of Education, parents are also directly involved in the schools and links between the school and the community are strengthened. Working with the Ministry of Health, we supported communities in developing a community-managed health care service. Working closely with parents and teachers, we organised a wide range of community events to promote the understanding, adoption and protection of the rights of the child.

Plan is committed to promoting the rights of the child. Plan informs children, their parents, teachers and community leaders of children's rights to protection against abuse and violence, and in other aspects such as recreation and play. Through running community children's groups and selected national events, awareness is raised and child rights are advanced.

Plan supported the community centre for the care, education, development and stimulation of its young children. This gives children a better chance to start their primary schooling at the correct age, and reduces the risk of failure or having to repeat the school year. Plan provides training for teachers and volunteers.

In the traditional primary school system, children have to pass an annual exam to complete the school year and so graduate to the next. But many children help their parents in the fields at planting and harvest, or go with the family when it seeks seasonal work elsewhere. They may miss weeks of school and so fail to pass the year or even drop out. Plan is introducing an alternative methodology in the community's primary school based on modular work, with high parent and student involvement in the running of the school. This should have an impact on school attendance and completion rates, and on the social and personal development of the children.

Even with only a little land, there are still opportunities for families to produce more and better food. Plan helped the community with practical training and demonstration plots for families to learn about new crops and better cultivation techniques (particularly for vegetables and fruit trees); the rearing and care of small farm animals and poultry, and the cultivation of medicinal plants. Small-scale irrigation and crop storage schemes and techniques, and organic alternatives to chemical fertilisers and pesticides are included. Families have more to eat and a better diet.

The two photographs illustrate the "Mother & Child Health Care Program ".

" Immunization and weighing of children is part of the primary health care program. "

We hope you have enjoyed reading this report. We will continue to work with the community to improve the life of llaria Tista Oajaca and all the other children in the area, for them to be able to realize their potential.

Through your link with llaria Tista Oajaca you share in the work of the whole community. Your contributions help to fund community projects that families are doing with Plan to benefit their children. We thank you for your continued commitment.