Recent News

Gasoline Prices Impact Local Farmers Ability to Grow Food

Rising gasoline prices are causing significant inflation in Guatemala which will have a devastating effect on farming efforts in the eastern region which has already been experiencing famine. The cost of fertilizer has risen more than 150%, making it unobtainable to most local farmers, and crops simply do not grow without it. Many farmers are planting only a small portion of their land in order to use what resources they have to fertilize the smaller plots. The decrease in food supply will drive food prices higher as local growers are barely able to feed their families on what they can grow, and surpluses available for sale will be scarce.  Wide spread starvation will likely result.

In an effort to avoid a return to malnutrition for the sponsored family population, Outreach for World Hope is implementing an emergency agriculture assistance program which will provide 200 pounds of fertilizer to each farming family currently enrolled in the Virtual Village program. Additional fertilizer will be made available at a subsidized price.  Please keep this situation in your prayers.

Fruit Trees Thriving in Drought Conditions

We are happy to report that the 300 fruit trees provided to 150 families in the Plan De La Arada community are thriving and producing fruit despite the ongoing drought. Two years ago an OWH team donated 2 trees per family in hopes that the trees would eventually add much needed calories and vitamins to their diets. The mango, avocado, and orange trees require no irrigation or fertilizer and are already providing fruit. It is expected that within one year these trees will be producing a surplus that the families can sell in order to purchase other needed supplies. The trees have an added benefit in that they contribute to the reforestation of the region.

OWH leaders have decided to expand this program and will be providing three fruit trees to each family within the Virtual Village population. If you are a sponsor and would like to provide additional fruit trees for your family, trees can be ordered at the cost of 3 trees for $10.00.   

OWH Provides Refuge and Housing for Family of Six Displaced Due to Domestic Violence.

A few weeks ago. Elsa, our Guatemalan Director, received a knock on her door at around 8:00 p.m. There on her doorstep was the mother and five children of Lloyd and Cleo Tindall’s sponsored child, Vitalina. The three year old Vitalina was in her mother’s arms and was bleeding from the head having sustained a machete wound which was inflicted by her drunken father who was attempting to strike the mother.  The family was immediately taken to a hospital while police attempted to locate the father.

The primitive hut that the family had occupied in a mountain village belonged to the father’s mother and the family could not return there. The Jocotan inpatient nutrition center, with whom OWH has a partnership, agreed to house the family for two weeks provided that OWH covered the cost of food. The family received much needed re-nourishment as well as counseling and encouragement from the staff.  While police tracked down the father and issued a restraining order pending trial, OWH staff worked quickly to secure a new home for the family in a safe rented space within the city of Jocotan.  Visiting OWH volunteers furnished the home with a bed, many household items, and a large supply of food. The family has now moved into the new home and feels safe and blessed. They have wonderful neighbors with whom the children can play. The mother plans to find a housekeeping job while the oldest daughter cares for the children. This family views the help they received from OWH as a sign of God’s love for them and we thank Him for the opportunity He has given us to help them. Please keep them in your prayers.

 Rita makes an amazing Recovery

OWH leaders recently visited the Chiquimula Public Hospital intensive care unit to see Rita, a child placed there after having been found in the end stages of starvation. The goal was to profile the child for sponsorship, however upon arriving at the ICU they were told the mother had absconded with the child without the approval of the doctors. Doctors advised that she would not live more than a couple of days without long term inpatient nutritional rehabilitation. OWH staff spent 3 days searching the mountains for this child and finally located her based on a tip from a local pastor. The child was in grave condition.

OWH staff placed Rita in the best private hospital in the region, but were told that her recovery would be costly and that her chance of survival was roughly ten percent. The hospitalization costs were authorized and her re-nourishment began. Rita was unable to stand on her own and required a caretaker round the clock which the hospital could not provide. Her mother had gone home to care for her siblings. OWH hired a local women who became her guardian angel during her recovery, providing her with encouragement and affection and even taking her for wheel chair rides around the hospital.  Rita has recovered and the photos above show her improvement over the course of just two months!

OWH Provides Repair of Botched Cleft Palate Surgery

Cleft palate is a birth defect that affects many children in eastern Guatemala and is condition for which none can afford surgery. A small clinic provides surgery for free in the region we serve, however it is staffed by students and the quality of care is questionable. A family recently came to us for help with a baby who had had surgery at the free clinic and had developed a tumor as a result. The child was severely malnourished due to her inability to suck. OWH provided infant formula and bottles with special nipples in order to re-nourish the child to a point at which the professional facility five hours away would deem her safe for a repair operation.  When the time came, OWH provided transportation, meals and housing for the parents, and the resources to cover medical costs and follow up. The surgery was a great success. Please share in our joy over this accomplishment and the many other cases needing specialized medical care that you have enabled us to provide for through your generous donations.  

OWH Ag Team Initiates Microloan Program for Local Growers

Douglas and Martha Maxwell, of the OWH leadership team, have initiated a microloan program by which local growers can invest in their future success by borrowing money at 1% interest in order to purchase fertilizer and other farming supplies. Microloan programs have had success in developing countries world wide and are valuable as they teach families business skills and build self esteem.     

Dr. Douglas Maxwell, Professor Emeritus, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Dr. Luis Mejia, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Agronomy, San Carlos University, Guatemala have identified a black bean variety called Arifi, which produces 20% more yield than the traditional black bean variety. They are in the process of reproducing this seed and will make it available to farmers beginning in September as a focus for future micro loan project participants.  A virus resistant tomato hybrid, Llanero, developed in Guatemala by Maxwell and Mejia, has been tested by a few local farmers and has had great success. One farmer made a profit of $200 in one growing season, an enormous amount for this region. Our thanks go out to Drs. Maxwell and Mejia for their leadership of our agricultural programs.

OWH secures donation of Ultrasound Unit for Chiquimula Public Hospital

OWH leaders have obtained a modern ultrasound unit for the Chiquimula Public Hospital, which will replace the antiquated and ineffective equipment they currently use. Mothers and babies frequently die during labor and delivery due to undiagnosed complications. Many other illnesses take lives that could be saved through early diagnosis. OWH has secured the donation of the new equipment through a partnership with Global Ultrasound Equipment Donation Foundation.  Two of the hospital’s doctors have traveled to Guatemala City to receive training in advanced ultrasound technology and we expect delivery of the unit in the fall of 2009.

OWH Helps Open Dental Clinic to Provide Free Services to Poor

In continued partnership with the government sponsored outpatient medical care facility, OWH has made a financial contribution which has enabled the clinic to modify its facility in order to open a dental clinic which provides desperately needed services to the poor for free. The clinic provides basic services such as extractions and restorations and will ease needless suffering and help prevent dangerous and unsanitary self administered procedures. 

OWH Volunteer Team Expanded Overcrowded School

Thanks to a generous donation from New Life Christian Center, this summer’s volunteer short term mission team expanded the overcrowded school in Plan De La Arada, where many of the students were attending classes in the hallways and kitchen. The 20 person team included many young members in their teens and twenties who were blessed as they worked side by side with community members to make a tangible positive impact on the future of the children by making education more accessible and effective. 

Thank You

We at Outreach for World Hope wish to thank you, our sponsors and financial partners, for your support, encouragement and prayers. None of what we do would be possible without your generosity and true love and concern for the poor. We hope you have been blessed by the opportunity to be a part of all that OWH has accomplished in Guatemala. May God bless you.