About Hogar Miguel Magone

Hogar Miguel Magone is a home for abused, abandoned and orphaned boys in Guatemala. The home receives no government funding whatsoever. It relies solely on private donations of money, goods and food for the boys.

Most children in the home are not orphans, but their parents are, sometimes just temporarily, unable to take care of them properly. Divorce, poverty and alcoholism are the main reasons for their inability to take care of their children. These children have been picked up from the streets by the police or have been taken away from their parents by a judge and are placed in the home.

Hogar Miguel Magone is not intended to be a permanent home for these boys. For most, the home is a temporary refuge that allows them to regain their strength and feel safe. Some boys only stay for a few months and are able to return to their parents. Other boys move on to different homes and some are lucky enough to get adopted. In order to be adopted, the boys need to move to another home, as Hogar Miguel Magone does not handle adoptions or the adoption paperwork. In March 2007, the U.S. State Department issued warnings about adoptions in Guatemala and urged citizens to adopt from other countries instead of Guatemala. We fear that the number of Guatemalan adoptions will decrease greatly.

We usually have between 40 to 50 boys in the home at any given time. Their ages range from 5 to 16 years of age. We sometimes have a few sets of brothers in the home. That creates interesting dynamics.

Teachers

Three teachers (care-takers) are present at all times. There is one adult for each group of little kids (Peques), one for the medium kids (Medianos) and one for the bigger kids (Grandes). The teachers work on a 24 hour on, 24 hour off schedule. They start at 9 am and work until 9 am the next morning, when they are ´relieved´ by their colleague. The next day, the first teacher takes over and the cycle starts again.

The teachers are with the children all day and all night. They even sleep in the same shared dormitory with the boys. Weekends are a little different – the teachers start at 9 am on Fridays and work all through the weekend until Monday morning. Try to imagine spending 72 hours non-stop with a group of 15 to 20 kids!

Schedule

The boys get up at 6 am every morning. They get dressed, have breakfast, do their chores and get ready for school. All boys have chores, even the smallest ones. Chores can be doing the dishes, cleaning the dining room after a meal, sweeping the dorms, taking dirty clothes up to the laundry, mopping floors, sweeping the sidewalks, sweeping the sport court, disinfecting the floors, cleaning the bathrooms and more. They even maintain the landscaping and grounds.

The boys come home from school around noon and have lunch. After lunch, the little ones take their showers and spend the rest of the afternoon with their teacher. They are doing their schoolwork, doing exercises, playing games, etc. The older boys go straight into homework class after lunch. After they have finished their homework, there is time to play. Mostly, you will find them on the playground, playing football.

At 6 pm, dinner is served for the little ones. They finish around 6.30 pm and usually go to the chapel in the home where the teacher tells them stories, has discussions with them and teaches them about values. Around 7 pm, they will go to their dorms and get ready to go to bed. It usually takes at least an hour to get all of them into bed!

The older boys usually go to chapel before dinner, and have dinner at 6.30, after the little ones are finished. In summer, when it stays light until about 7.45, they will play some more after dinner. In winter, it’s dark by the time they have finished their meal. They will go upstairs to their dorms and prepare for bed. They shower, listen to music, talk to each other about their day, play, etc. Around 9 pm they will be in bed and the lights are turned off.

Food

The home provides food for the boys, the teachers and the volunteers. All the food is donated and we try to use it all. The cook comes in after the boys eat breakfast (beans). The cook starts cooking lunch and dinner. There is often a pot of beans and a pot of rice on the large gas stove. A dish of beans and rice is a staple in Central America and together, it’s a nutritious meal that provides a complete protein to the boys. If we’re lucky, we have fresh vegetables and sometimes fruit. What we can’t use, we might trade with another orphanage and receive something else that we are lacking. Once and sometimes twice a day, their meals are fortified with a warm milk based high protein drink called Atol. The boys must eat everything on their plates as we don’t waste anything. We have an on-site bakery but no one to run it. So we currently rely on leftover bread and sometimes pan dulce from other bakeries in Guatemala City or the surrounding areas. We supplement their diets with vitamins… which many don’t like to take so we have to check to make sure they have chewed and swallowed. Tu lengua, por favor!

Raising funds with the boys’ participation

To supplement our income and to provide the local villagers with affordable clothing, we have a baratillo once a month. A baratillo is a yard sale. The villagers see the signs that we post and they look forward to it. It’s like a huge garage sale. It takes a lot of work to get the mountain of clothes and shoes out on the sport court. And… it lasts all day. Not related to the baratillo, but another way to raise money for the orphanage, the boys collect papers and bottles and cans. They are sold to recycling companies. This work teaches them to protect the environment while making money and doing manual labor.

Visiting Groups

There are some young adult groups, school groups and others affiliated with churches who come to the home on occasion to play with the children, bring them lunch and other treats and conduct religious services. Sunday’s can be very long for the boys and they look forward to interaction with other children and adults on these Sundays. It teaches them socialization skills in addition to an education on various topics from different sources, using different teaching methods.

Church services

The majority of the Guatemalan population is Catholic and the founders feel strongly that the boys should have religious training. We do have a chapel on site and the kids are often in the chapel for meetings and services. In addition, some of them occasionally attend services in the larger church in El Aguacate.

TV

Yes, we have a TV that was donated by an organization. We even have a DVD player. The television is in a large room in the Grandes Dorm building. We don’t allow the boys to watch TV indiscriminately. Usually, they are limited to watching TV and movies and only on Saturday nights.

School

Yes, they do go to school. Some of the smaller boys attend the local school, which is a five minute walk up the hill. The middle size boys attend the public school in Satelite. We walk them to school in the mornings. It’s a brisk 1 ¾ mile walk and it’s fun to walk them to the entrance. Seven of our boys are attending private school in Guatemala City. Their days are long and grueling. We were able to donate $4,000 in January 2007 to keep these 7 boys in private school, supply them with uniforms, shoes, transportation costs and supplies for the current school year.

Other Staff

We do have an English teacher who is teaching English to 9 boys. One older boy is waiting for adoption papers to be finalized and his American dad hopes he’ll learn English before he gets to the U.S. Most boys do not speak English. They may greet you or answer you but that’s usually about it. Other staff includes the cook, the laundry person, an occasional computer teacher and a part time psychologist. We would like to have funding for a carpentry master, a music teacher and someone to work in and teach the boys baking skills.

Medical

Yes, of course we take care of the medical needs of our boys. They go to the dentist on a regular basis as well. In fact, as a volunteer, you might be asked to accompany some of the boys on their visits to the clinic, the doctor or the dentist.

Buildings and Grounds

The home is on a sizeable piece of property. The buildings and grounds include two large dormitories for the boys, a new transition house for older boys as they age out of the system, a carpentry shop, a few play areas, a sport court, some classrooms, a bakery, a kitchen & dining room building, offices, a chapel and even a new chicken coop.

We hope this gives you a broader perspective of the orphanage. Please contact us if you have more questions.