Simply put, there is no such program that I have encountered in the past 20 years of being involved with the investigation and implementation of such programs. If only it was so simple. Governments and NGOs have thrown 3 trillion dollars at poverty, and it appears that we are not much better than … [READ MORE]
Tika Talks-The Responsibilities of a Dog
According to child psychologist, Boris Levinson of Yeshiva University, troubled, withdrawn children became more talkative and engaged when he had his therapy dog around with the kids. An interesting study done by psychologist, Sigal Zilch-Mano said that people’s stress levels went down when taking a test with their pets close by. Another study showed that […]
Family #4 Arrives!
Yesterday was another monumental day at Project Somos. Yesterday we welcomed our fourth family to the Village! For the last number of weeks, Lucy (our recently hired local employee) has been out in the “field” meeting with different community leaders and groups. She has been introduced to various women and their children, who are living […]
Hope
Where there is no vision, there is no hope.-George Washington Carver 1864-1943, American Scientist When the candidate families arrived for a first visit at the Somos Village, I reflected on what they might have hoped to find. Our social worker, Lucy, had previously informed them about the structural layout, the programs and some of the Somos […]
The Best Donors in the World
We are recently back from our annual Spring trek to Canada. We spent two weeks in Vancouver and a week in Calgary. While there, we had two board meetings, one public presentation, visited and spoke at five schools, had dozens of meetings, ate many amazing meals and drank far too many cups of coffee! Fortunately, […]
Tika Talks-Saying Goodbye to Gizmo
Gizmo has come and gone. I let him live with us for ten months. He showed up on the “finca” skinny, covered in mats and with broken twine tied around his neck and front paw, last June. We took him in and took care of him. He became part of our pack. Our pack is a […]
Becoming a Preschool Evangelist
Flexibility is key with this vision of ours. Growing organically is a guiding principle. When our first three families arrived with seven children under six (and with four of them in diapers), it quickly became clear that the majority of the mamas’ days were spent preparing food, cleaning clothes, comforting a crying child or children, […]
Southridge Volunteers
A heartfelt thank you to Southridge for a great week of volunteering! This was Southridge’s third time volunteering in Guatemala at Project Somos and once again, the school sent a great team of very hard working volunteers. While here, the team of twenty students and […]
A Week of Volunteering
It’s Friday morning and the Saints boys and their teachers are hard at work getting as much done as possible on their last day of work. This evening we will have pizza prepared in our outdoor wood-fired pizza oven, followed by a campfire and a talk about Maya culture. We are very grateful for […]
St George’s: First Work Day
Yesterday St Georges arrived, ready to work and serve! So after a delicious lunch of homemade soup and sandwiches, the boys were put to work. One of their projects is removing the stones from the Gathering Place, so we can redo them, this time secured with cement (the wind storms blew away the sand that […]