The planning period….The planning period has been busy and productive. With the communityʼs participation we are beginning to collect resources and materials to be used for construction, and are sourcing some of our major recycled elements such as tires, glass bottles, plastic bottles and rubbish…. And also volunteers! We have begun design discussions with the

head builder who will be in charge of the larger construction jobs, and we will work with him to include the children in various aspects of this so that they can learn about the construction methods that we are using. The first few weeks have been focused on community participation, engaging with the children and developing the design for the play area. It was inspiring to see the enthusiasm from the children during our first design workshop, which generated a number of lively discussions around different elements that they wanted in the playground, and areas

that their are looking forward to working on. One of our goals with this project is also to encourage these children – most of which have come from very under privileged homes, or off the streets – to start to think of themselves as individuals that can have an impact on their surroundings and environment. After showing them a video of other Guatemalan children who are working with these building methods, it was interesting hear them start to talk about how they could make a difference in their own place, here at the childrenʼs

home.

In July this year we kicked off the Recycled Recreation Project, a dream made possible thanks to the generous support of Webmanage. It has been a busy and inspiring few weeks on the ground with the children, as they jump enthusiastically into this project - their project. This is the first of our project updates, which we have put together to share with you the work that is happening here in Guatemala. On behalf of the children at Casa del Niño, we would like to thank Webmanage by sharing what their generous support has made possible.

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RECYCLED RECREATION

P R O J E C T S E R E S

Hilda and Wilson look over the plans for the

cubby house.

Design Meeting.

The collection of bottles so far….

Update # 1.

The coming weeks…. The children have expressed an immediate interest in starting to paint murals, and in clearing out the area to be the cubby house. Offers have been made by friends of Casa del Niño to help on smaller elements such as the basketball hoops and soccer nets, and will work with the children to create them. In addition, Seres will hold meetings with local businessʼ about donating materials, and to spread the word about the work that the children are doing so as to make valuable local contacts for the future.

A workshop has been organised with a neighboring community’s Elementary School for an educational workshop with them about Recycling and Reusing. The children of the Casa del Niño will assist and demonstrate, and will request help with collecting and filling the eco-ladrillos.

RECYCLED RECREATION

P R O J E C T S E R E S

Update # 1.

Hilda filling

her first eco-

ladrillo

Carlitos gives the task his full attention.

The first workday….For our first session of making the eco-ladrillos, Harvey, Fabiola and

Juan-Daniel taught the new children how to fill the bottles.