Help Us Keep 500 Guatemalan Children Healthy!

Greetings from Guatemala,

This June 2023, we started our wellness program with one more interning psychologist, now El Patojismo counts on five psychologists working together for our two schools; They are very proud to tell you they now hold 90 psychological therapies per month. Besides the therapies, they organize workshops for both schools that address subjects like depression, anxiety, suicide, eating disorders, cupping, consent, and healthy boundaries. Many of our students are in need of assistance with mental health and sexual health issues. During these workshops, they can identify students who need personalized attention; they then schedule private sessions with them.

Jenny, El Patojismo Psychologist advising senior students.

Mercedes from Luna Tu Copa, teaching El Patojismo students and teachers how to use a menstrual cup while they sew their fabric pads.

During the last three months, we have focused on providing our secondary school with all the requirements people need to access safe bathing facilities and safe and effective means of managing their menstrual hygiene. We started this with three menstrual education workshops where we partnered with organizations that provide sexual education in Guatemala. They addressed topics like the female reproductive system and how to manage menstruation without discomfort or fear. We also received a donation from a Guatemalan business that manufactures menstrual cups with high-quality products. They gifted us with one cup for every menstruant person at El Patojismo, we also learned how to sew our menstrual pads made from suitable quality fabrics. We are proud to say we now have a center that promotes and facilitates access to menstrual and reproductive rights. We keep providing sexual health education in the classrooms almost every day; our psychologists also provide information regarding these topics since some students may not feel comfortable talking about their doubts in front of their friends in the classrooms.

High school students receiving their menstrual cups.

El Patojismo little ones enjoying one of the two nutritious meals they receive every day.

Our doctor keeps treating our students in need twice per week and with the help of a nutritionist they are working together to decrease the number of students with malnutrition. It is a big challenge since after the pandemic, the number of children suffering from malnutrition increased drastically in rural communities in Guatemala. But thanks to your donations and the dedicated and big-hearted team we count on, we are working on this problem the best way we can.

In collaboration with the health center of our district, we are providing, twice per year, antiparasitic medicine to all our students and staff to prevent the onset of parasitic infections in the project. Every day everyone at El Patojismo is doing their best to keep our students safe, healthy, and looking forward to a better future. A future that, thanks to your constant support, has many more opportunities.

With your help, we have been able to maintain our program and thanks to this thousands of lives in Guatemala are being impacted in a dignifying way.