Hello everyone: Warm greetings to you! It’s with considerable pleasure that we send you our annual update on our outreach with BIENESTAR and thank each of you for your participation in this worthy engagement. It has been a very good year. Thanks to your support – and the welcome engagement of a local school -- we have increased the number of scholarships, have seen a project we supported make considerable strides forward, and also now look to a new health endeavour for the year to come.
Rossland Summit School This year we had the real pleasure of partnering with the students and teachers of Rossland Summit School. Sparked by the interest of a couple of their young students and further affirmed by a presentation by several nursing students and Mary Ann, the school decided to make Guatemala a focus of their studies. The learning results and project displays were impressive, and following a fund-raising event, students made a donation of $680 to Bienestar, creating yet one more scholarship last year!
Corazon de Maria Spanish School
Using seed money provided by BIENESTAR, seven young people from Nuevo Horizonte received a month-long training program to teach Spanish and opened the school for business last January.
Judging by the glowing report of one of the first students – local Nelsonite journalist and photographer Louis Bockner – they are succeeding in creating a safe, fun, and engaging environment to learn Spanish. Check out Louis’s article and then start packing your bags! https://matadornetwork.com/read/learning-spanish-ex-guerilla-community/
Scholarships
Education continues to be a high priority for our partners. Last year we funded seven scholarships to support students in their studies. Except for one – who unfortunately had to withdraw due to a lack of additional financial support – all were very successful.
And their achievements are real… • Jaqueline Castañeda León very proudly finished second out of seventy in her career in Business Administration • Bernabé Alexander Ramírez Girón graduated with a Tourism diploma • Evelyn Johana Vásquez Torres graduated with a Tourism diploma as well. She had some significant health challenges during the year, but persevered and achieved her goal nonetheless. .Beberlin Orquídea Jiménez graduated from an Accounting program in Business Administration • Marina De Jesús García Martínez completed her high school studies in first place. Next year she will continue at the next level. • Merlin Paola Martínez García, completed her fourth grade of Accounting. A note from one of them – Jaqueline – says,
“Thank you so much for your continued support of me and my family. I hope with all my heart that you are enjoying good health and that you are finding success in all your endeavors. I am doing well in my studies and would like to go into business administration at the university level next year. My hope is to finally be in a position to help other young people in the same way you have helped me.� This year Bienestar will be providing $4,070 for 9 student scholarships at the request of the women’s group in Nuevo Horizonte who administer the scholarship program - an increase of two! This will include youth who are studying at the high school in Nuevo Horizonte and others who are enrolled in training-type programs in Education, Business, Tourism, and Accounting at private colleges in the surrounding communities.
Cultural Performance Group
Over a period of ten years, an initially small dance troupe in Nuevo Horizonte has now grown into an enthusiastic group of 48 young men and women who are performing folkloric works in a host of regional community events. We support their desire to maintain their cultural traditions as well as their engagement in healthy physical activity. Bienestar is providing them with $1,700 to purchase new costumes.
Diabetes Prevention Initiative We also have an exciting new project to report! Over the years we have worked closely with the people of Nuevo Horizonte to address the escalating rates of type 2 diabetes through communitywide screening programs, ongoing health education, and support for the people living with diabetes to offset the costs of medications and equipment. While valuable, these initiatives are not addressing the regional challenges nor are they systematically building capacity. Now, Nuevo Horizonte wants to play a leadership role with diabetes prevention and self-management in their own community as well as surrounding communities. And so, this coming year Bienestar will partner with Nuevo Horizonte, two trained
Guatemalan diabetes health promoters from a village on Lake Atitlan, and local Kootenay diabetes educators Jean Charman and Esther Brown to facilitate the first ever diabetes health
promoter training program in the Petén!
Yes, you heard right. Diabetes health promoters are a new phenomenon and like traditional health promoters, are radically altering health where there are few health care professionals and even less interest in the welfare of marginalized people. The diabetes health promoters will become experts in all issues related to diabetes health and wellness. They will accompany their clients to meet with healthcare professionals and advocate for them. They will support and encourage selfmanagement through weekly contact and social gatherings, and they will focus on upstream community involvement from moms and tots groups through to school education programs and community-wide diabetes prevention activities. Under the guidance of Nuevo Horizonte and a local project coordinator, three diabetes health promoters will receive a salary to provide a program of education, support, and advocacy to Nuevo Horizonte and two other communities near CNH where members now go to renew their medications. The diabetes health promoter training and outreach program will dramatically increase local knowledge, skill sets, and collective will to address the social factors that are behind this epidemic.
Double Your Money!
Bienestar is committed to supporting this vital health work. But what makes the project even more exciting is that an anonymous donor has stepped forward prepared to match every dollar raised to a maximum of $8000! Think about it – your money doubled in value and impact, in communities where people you know are capable of changing attitudes and doing the work needed to mount a new revolution, one built around living well with Madre Tierra. So if you have not already done so, and would like to join us in these important steps forward make a donation now –perhaps even in the name of your family or a friend as a Christmas gift – and double your impact. Instructions on how to do so are attached. You can make your donation through https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/m/38293/donation Remember, regularly donating the price of two coffees a month -- $10 (with a tax receipt, this amounts to only $7 a month) -- you truly can be part of something that is hope-filled and community-driven and where 100% of your donations go directly to the Bienestar projects.
On behalf of the Bienestar board and our project partners, let us sincerely thank each of you once more for your ongoing support in making all of this good work possible. Please do stay in touch with us and know that we welcome any questions or fundraising ideas you may have. Warmly, Miguel (For the Board)
Board members: Roy Nelson Liz Knox Teeka Ferguson Cheralynne Kennedy Monika Nowatschin Mary Ann Morris Michael Chapman