As a new student to Kids Alive’s Source of Hope School, 10-year-old Susana’s schooling experience is very different from her …
read more »
While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children’s education considerably, it has also impacted teachers who have had to adapt to …
read more »
Last year was unprecedented. Even as we bid adieu to 2020, we look to the year ahead with hope and …
read more »
Christmas is upon us, and yet it is hard to shrug off the angst and fatigue of the pandemic-laced 2020. …
read more »Fuego, one of four active volcanoes in the country, erupted in 2018, killing nearly 200 people
Much of the local cuisine is based on traditional Mayan foods, but street food, “antojitos,” are also popular, with ingredients such as tamales, fried plantains, and black beans
The marimba is the national instrument and its music is heard widely in the country
God is working in
Zapote!
Please pray for...
Our students to take to heart the Gospel message they have learned
Encouragement for our leadership and teachers
The community of Zapote. Pray that God would use Source of Hope and the local churches as a light to bring the community into a relationship with Him
Each member of our staff and each of our students to encounter God this summer in a new and deeper way
Continued protection and health, knowing that while the threat of COVID-19 will eventually retreat, recovery from its impact will be more long term
Prayer requests updated 5/2020
Source of Hope serves over 200 children in the town of Zapote, a village located at the base of the very active volcano Fuego. Poverty is very high in this community and half of all children under five suffer from malnutrition. But our students at Source of Hope receive two nutritious meals a day, a quality, Christ-centered education, health services, and other needed resources.
Kids Alive is committed to holistic care, which means we work to meet educational, physical, emotional, nutritional, and social needs. Most importantly, we teach every child in our care about the love of Jesus. We pray that as a result of planting these seeds, great fruit will be reaped, bringing change in Zapote that will last an eternity.
What a blessing to report that 100% of our 9th graders graduated from our program! Two of our graduates have received donor support through our Independence Fund scholarship to continue studying at university. And our after-school discipleship program has grown, now with 65 children attending each day.
As we look to the future, we hope to increase the number of 9th graders that complete our program and go on to further education or training. Our twice-yearly medical clinics meet a critical need in Zapote, and we want to use those to further engage and build relationships in the community. Growing our discipleship program is a priority, and we are seeking to reach even our youngest students with the hope of the Gospel.
Once again, we greet you in the name of Jesus from the ministries of Kids Alive in Guatemala!
I want to thank you for being a part of planting hope in Guatemala this year. We rejoice that this is not simply a hope for escaping poverty or abuse or for a better career – you are planting the living hope (1 Pet. 1:3) in their lives which means an eternity with the One who loves them!
It’s been amazing to see God opening doors for the ministry here to influence not just the children we serve but the entire country. They are benefiting from your care in ways that go far beyond their individual cases, and these ripples increase every year.
The prophet Amos wrote that we should “hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice.” It is a privilege for me to lead a team that hates evil. How I love seeing the staff at Oasis, Arquilla, Casa Ester, Source of Hope, and Escuintla Care Center “love what is good” as they lead hurting children to a loving and good Father.
In the coming year, we will implement a pilot program and outfit a dedicated space at Escuintla that will reduce the number of times a sexually abused child must tell her story. Currently 14 different people interview her, causing her trauma to multiply, and our goal is to reduce this to one. We are also working to strengthen the ministry at Casa Ester for young women who, because of special needs, require supervised care beyond the age most ministries can provide.
At Source of Hope School, where heavy rains mixed with volcanic ash from last fall’s eruption of Fuego has made life even more difficult for this community, we continue to plant living hope
in the lives of impoverished children. One of our joys this year is that 67 of
our kids are participating in voluntary after-school discipleship classes,
demonstrating their hunger for the truth of God’s Word.
Because of your support, children and families are being introduced to Jesus each day. He gives them a new identity and we help them learn new ways to respond to the world based on that identity. And we are working hard to turn the courts of Guatemala into “true halls of justice,” helping to make all children here safer.
Thank you for all the ways you help Kids Alive
plant living hope in the lives of children.
Corbey Dukes
Country Director
Guatemala