Help me get to Guatemala!

After three years of waiting (thanks covid), I have luckily been given the opportunity to finally get to Guatemala. I will be working as a volunteer with swallowing disorders in infants and young children, specifically with cleft lip and palate, as well as with the assess, treat, and assist with nutrition management and models of delivery in a developing country such as Guatemala. There I will carry out important work with staff and patients. Many of the orphaned children here were born with cleft lip and palate. I will be performing volunteer work at a local orphanage & hospital.

Guatemala has an extremely high poverty rate, over 60% of its population lives below the poverty line. Another 20% lives in extreme poverty. Eight in ten children suffer from chronic malnutrition, a condition that weakens their immune system and does not allow their bodies to fully develop. This leads to further complications such as cleft lip and palate. These children are often abandoned due to their conditions as well as parents not being able to afford to keep them and have no choice but to give up their child to an orphanage to give them a chance to live. The country’s topography also keeps people living in rural areas isolated from the rest of society, making it more difficult for them to receive help.

These children are taken care of in the orphanage and hospital but are in much need of your help. Funding is incredibly low for essential items such as appropriate feeding bottles for cleft lip and palate to increase the chances of the children receiving adequate nutrition. They also need bottles and pacifiers for babies, clothes, and other general supplies. Please help me to give back to these children desperate and in need of our help. I have set up this GoFundMe to cover the costs of going to Guatemala and to bring with me lots of basic supplies these children desperately need. Thank you in advance for helping me, help them.