Time and again we have witnessed the power that joy has to foster healing and change a life. Laughter, love, and hope all grow from joyful experiences.
Our goal with the Estudia Con Amor program in Guatemala is to help child laborers escape a life of suffering. Education is an important tool to achieve that goal, but it isn’t enough. We also believe that to become healthy, happy adults, our kids need to experience the joys of childhood.
To that end, we took children to the zoo (clown included), had pinata parties, and even took 75 children to the movies for the first time in their lives!

A girl in our program, I’ll call her Tania, used to survive by scavenging the garbage dump near the bus terminal in Xela with her mother. One day, when she was five years old, she was gang raped on her way to school. She was unconscious when someone found her and took her to a hospital, and she was kept there for a month while she healed. When she was released from the hospital, she went to the bus terminal market to search for her mother but couldn’t find her. The same day that Tania was raped, a woman was found murdered near the garbage dump, and the police believe the woman was Tania’s mother.
Another woman who sells produce in the terminal market was familiar with Tania and her mother, and this woman decided to take Tania home. It never ceases to amaze me that the more impoverished a person is, the more likely they are to help others who suffer even though they have the least to share. The trauma Tania endured caused her to be very fearful and withdrawn. She was too scared to go to school or even leave the house of her adoptive home.
We first became acquainted with Tania two years ago when we added after-school tutoring and activities to our program in her rural community. She was about 17 years old at that point. She had no desire to go to school, but she was drawn to the laughter of the children who participated. Our team often saw her spying on the activities from a safe distance, but if we tried to approach her, she would run away. The joy the other children were experiencing was too great a lure, however, so after a few months she timidly started attending our sessions. That was a HUGE step for this fearful girl.

This year, we bussed children from her community to Xela so they could go to the movies. While I ordered food at the mall food court so they could enjoy a good lunch before the movie, Sandra met the bus and guided the children to the theatre. I was shocked when Tania appeared and gave me a hearty hug with a huge smile on her face!!! Where was the timid girl who was scared to leave her own home? The transformation in this girl overwhelmed me. She is a living testament to the healing power of joy!
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