When kids want to read but cannot

Dear all,
As most of you know, Tobias and I have been working for the last 10 months in Guatemala at a large orphanage.

Quite remarkably I have not been sending around any fundraising emails, mostly because I wanted to take the time to see what things are really needed and to have a clear and concrete project. Due to a decrease in donations the organization received this year, there have been some major cutbacks, amongst which a lack of money to buy
children glasses:
At the orphanage, there are 18 children who desperately need normal glasses as well as special kinds of reading glasses (some with a special prisma, I am sorry I do not know too much about these things). Amongst them is David.

David is a very bright boy, 9 years old; he even won a medal of honor this year because he had the best average of his grade and you can see in the picture he is not only very smart, but also great at making crazy faces. Since his previous glasses broke, he has been attempting to read while holding the paper about 5 cm in front of his face. He has a lot of trouble reading off the board in class and reading books by himself. For him it is really important to have the glasses, not only to be able to see everything clearly again, but also to maintain his enthusiasm for reading and develop to his full potential.

It would be wonderful if you could help David and the other children to see clearly again and give them a better chance later on in their lives.

What is needed to get these children glasses are:
- vision exams - 30 Quetzales per child with a total of 540 Quetzales = ca. 54 euros or ca. 65 CAD

- pairs of glasses or repair of old glasses - 500 Quetzales/child with a total of 9000 Quetzales = ca. 900 euros or ca. 1080 CAD

If you would like to contribute something, you can send this to either of thesetwo accounts:

I have to apologize for this informal way of transferring to my personal account, but unfortunately Central Americans do quite excel in their extent of bureaucracy, so that it would take over 6 months to access the money if I would do it the formal way. I am hoping however you will trust me sufficiently to put it on my own account. I have included some pictures of the orphanage in general as well to give you a bit more of an idea.

Thanks very much in advance for your support!

Warm regards,

Bertine de Jongh and Tobias Stapf