Big Festive Fry will support school development in Guatemala
This year “THE 5th BIG FESTIVE FRY” will help raise money towards the £50,000 necessary to develop the schools in Vado Ancho and Las Escaleras in Guatemala, bringing hope and God’s love to these communities in a practical way.
Last year Charlene’s Project’s “BIG FESTIVE FRY” was used to develop our third school in Kilwara, Uganda. Janice, Dickie and Rebecca Barr from Dollingstown will be visiting Kilwara in Uganda in January to see the progress there and to distribute all the items from the container that is currently on route to Uganda.
Join us at St Saviours in Dollingstown on Saturday 19 December between 7.30 am and noon.
Help us celebrate Christmas through your support and together we can continue to see dreams become reality.
Background
As we flew over the mountainous volcanic terrain into La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City at the end of July 2015 my mind flashed back to January 12, 2010 when a massive earthquake struck Haiti and over 230,000 people lost their lives and up to 1.5 million were displaced.
At that time Charlene had started fundraising for Hidden Treasure in Uganda and typical of her she asked us to research whether she could also fundraise to help rebuild a school in Haiti. The response understandably from those we contacted was that crisis relief rather than school rebuilds was the priority.
When we revisited Charlene’s 2010 dream this past Christmas and explored Haiti and Central America for community partnership in a similar fashion to our ongoing Uganda projects we were led to “Total Village Transformation” coordinated in Guatemala by World Help. And so our descent into La Aurora International on our journey to Guatemala to meet the communities in the two mountainous villages we were exploring ongoing partnership with. It was the beginning of a new adventure for Charlene’s Project and one we hoped would create long term relationships with local people in a needy area.
Working with Guatemalan partner Hope of Life we travelled to the villages of Vado Ancho and Las Escaleras in sturdy 4X4s, over the rocky mountainous roads to meet the two communities living in simple dwellings on the mountainside. We received wonderful welcomes from the local people and were able to share gifts and food packs supplied by Hope of Life. The rains hadn’t come and food was scarce, the people were so thankful for not only what we had brought but our presence in their communities. We had toys, teddies and footballs for the children and we shared the story of how God had brought us to their villages. Through our interpreter we told them of God’s love for them.
What a privilege. We had sent ahead funds for the completion of two water projects and we had the great honour of dedicating those two completed projects that now bring clean water and better health to those two little village communities.
We visited the schools in the villages and met the lovely teachers working in dilapidated classrooms that were in urgent need of repair and extension. It was so very clear that as we continue the ongoing work in Hidden Treasure, Kahara, Kilwara and the Acholi Quarter in Uganda, God was calling us in Charlene’s Project to continue to help these two remote communities in the mountains of Guatemala.
You can read more about the Guatemala visit on the Charlene’s Project website here.