March 2010

Hogar San Francisco Xavier, orphanage and school in Guatemala by Margareta Eidensten

Founded in 2000, the orphanage is located in Mixco, Guatemala. It is the home for seventy boys between 5 and 18 years, who would otherwise be living in the streets. The children’s backgrounds include sexual, emotional and physical abuse as well as neglect. Some have been sent by the Guatemalan judicial system to Hogar due to the conditions at their homes and with their families, others have families that are unable to support them and have been sent by their relatives to the orphanage. There are also 100 day students from poor neighborhoods who attend the school (kindergarten to sixth grade).

The home is directed and managed by four brothers of the congregation Divina Providencia and a small staff who give the children love and hope while teaching them ethics and education. Adoptions are not allowed. Children who have relatives often go home on weekends and over the summer.

Classes run from 07.30 until 1 p.m. The students take mathematics, reading, computers, writing, social studies, English, physical education. Those who need extra tutoring will receive it in the afternoon. This has resulted in an improvement of their grades (statistics can be obtained upon request).

It is a well organized school with a clear vision to integrate the children into society based on high spiritual and moral values, with respect towards equality, tolerance, ethnical diversity, self-suffi ciency, respect for human rights, mutual comprehension and focus on education.

Currently, the Hogar supports itself from charitable donations. Their monthly budget is USD 10,000. They have one main sponsor and several smaller ones. However, the management of the orphanage is constantly making efforts to become more independent and not to rely only on charity. They have initiated projects to teach the children the value of work and to increase their self-esteem.

A non-profit organization, Ties to the World, helped create a post card and drawing program with the orphanage. Focusing on the orphanage daily life, Holy Week, and Christmas, the students create drawings and post cards. They put them up for sale in a chain of bakeries in Guatemala City. They also started an organic vegetable garden. Ties to the World pays the salary of three teachers and two tutors. However, the orphanage needs are greater. They need all the support they can get, especially to supplement their basic foods needs, which are met today partially from leftover donations from the San Lucas market.