Introduction to the Hogar Abierto Expansion Project (HAEP)

Hopefully, news about our Hogar Abierto Expansion Project will be a regular feature of this blog.

For a long time now, we have been fully funding a Children’s Dormitory that serves as a home for 15 children from extremely underprivileged backgrounds. These children either do not have a home or come from a home in which their most basic needs are not being met. Although each case is different, many of the children arrive at the Hogar showing signs of physical and sexual abuse, malnourishment and drug addiction.

The current Hogar operates out of a rented house in the centre of Quetzaltenango. With 15 children and a permanent care-giver living at the house, conditions are cramped and there is no outdoor area for the kids to let off steam. Worst of all, we find ourselves in the position of regularly having to turn children away from the Hogar, or placing them on a waiting list until a space opens up. It’s an unfortunate reality; it’s heart-breaking and, basically, it sucks.

So in 2008 a few of the Quetzaltrekkers volunteers started HAEP: an ambitious project to construct an entirely new Hogar that would eventually have the capacity to house 80 children. A generous donation from the Swiss information technology firm, IPT, kick-started our fundraising drive and we set up a new bank account to ensure that funds for the project didn’t bleed into the funds that are used to keep our current projects ticking over.

We are pleased to report that in September 2010, we made our first withdrawal from the account and purchased a 2400m2 parcel of land in the Las Rosas barrio of Quetzaltenango. The New Hogar will be built on this land!

kids and volunteers visit the new piece of land in April 2011

Since the purchase, we´ve continued our fundraising efforts and money has been steadily trickling into the bank account. With the help of donors, we hope that construction can get started asap.

Feel like helping out?

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