Staff at Casa Guatemala

Angie

Angie is the General Director of Casa Guatemala.

She runs the entire operation of Casa Guatemala, and unfortunately has gradually been able to spend less and less time with the children as the orphanage and the duties of running have grown and grown.

You can read a brief biography and the story of how she
started the Rio Dulce orphanage here.

 

Sylvia

Sylvia is the administrative director at the children's village, and a professional social worker.  Together with the volunteer coordinator, the school director, the clinic head, and the staff leader for the farm she runs the day to day operations of the orphanage.  She is responsible for the needs of the children.  She must make sure that they are safe, well fed and healthy.  She distributes the resources of Casa Guatemala.

Sylvia lives at the orphanage for 5 days a week.

 

Beatriz

Seņora Beatriz has been at Casa Guatemala for 14 years now, and she is the sub director.  She has seen pretty much everything - she has watched hundreds of people come and go, she has seen the orphanage grow and transform over the years, she has seen it destroyed by natural disasters and watched it being built back up again.  She has a huge wealth of experience, and can handle almost any situation!

Seņora Beatriz oversees the care of the animals on the farm, and she maintains a sense of discipline amongst the children.  She has to maintain a balance in the children's lives of having fun with the volunteers with some structure and a long term  regimen for their development.

She also runs the kitchen.  The comedor is a highly sociable place - it is the hub of Casa Guatemala.  Almost everybody comes here to eat daily, and new people can get to know each other here.  The kitchen has some logistical problems that come from living in the jungle - transport and storage of food, there is no refrigeration and there are jungle animals that want to share: rats, scorpions, spiders, cockroaches!  Hygiene management is another issue that Beatriz oversees.

 

Manuel

Seņor Manuel is in charge of the cultivation aspect of the farm.

There are three aspects to the farm:

  1. To provide food for the orphanage, the animals on the farm and to sell in the town.
     
  2. To teach the agricultural aspect of our curriculum.  We have designed a system for teaching the children how to farm the land, about the animals, the environment the types of vegetation, the trees and we also run a reforestation program here.
     
  3. To learn about ecology and the eco-system.  The river environment is very important and we are trying to teach the children about the effects that people have on the environment.  We have a structured teaching system that Manuel oversees.  The kids learn about:
    • Life in the river: fish, algae, water based fauna
    • Pollution and how it is produced
    • Why it is important to keep the environment clean

    We have conservation projects that we need volunteers for.  There is a recent explosion of a certain type of algae that is growing rapidly in the water.  There are more and more manatees in the river due to this.  There are plans to explore the bottom of the lake for oil.  If you are interested in working on related conservation projects, please consider volunteering here.

 

Armando

Armando takes care of maintenance in the children's village and the Backpackers Hotel.  This includes maintenance of: the boats & engines, pipelines, generators, buildings and water filters. 

He coordinates construction projects and the logistics of transporting materials and hiring workers. 

Armando is an ex-soldier and has worked here for 16 years.

 

 

Lillian

Lillian is the director of the Casa Guatemala school.  She is responsible for the legal aspects of running the school, and liaises with the minister of education to make sure that the school meets the requirements of the government teaching standards.

She is in charge of 17 teachers who are both Guatemalan and volunteers (mostly from Spain).  She runs the agricultural education program in conjunction with the school sub director who is always a volunteer.

Additionally, she designs the sports program, the arts and crafts program and develops different activities to keep the children stimulated and engaged.  Many of the kids at the school have suffered trauma and have psychological problems, due to their backgrounds.

Lillian holds a seminar at the beginning of each new school year to deal with the problems that the children have and devise strategies for handling them.  It is often much more difficult for the children to form a strong bond with the volunteer teachers compared to the Guatemalans

 

Captain Joe

Captain Joe Greno is a pharmacist who runs the clinic each Friday.  People from the local villages are able to come and consult with him.  If he identifies any serious conditions, then he is able to refer the patient to the doctor in Fronterras.

 

We have a permanent position for a full time doctor that needs to be filled.  A long term volunteer would live in the clinic, and treat patients on a daily basis.  We also expect that person to promote the clinic services and raise funds to pay for materials for the lab, medications and other running costs.

People from the surrounding villages come to use the clinic and occasionally people sailing on the river come here in an emergency.  One other aspect of the job is to travel to the villages and train individuals in the 'Promotores de salud rural' program.  This allows each village to have first aider that can give vaccinations, identify pregnant women for the doctor to give care to and provide immediate help to sick people.

 

 

 

 

 
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