Link for Health

The Children’s Malnutrition Center of San Juan, Guatemala provides temporary care to infants and young children who are severely malnourished.  The children range in age from infancy to 10 years of age.  The children come from homes where they did not receive proper nutrition, primarily due to their parents’ lack of means to provide the necessary food and care.  Some children are even near death by the time they are brought to the Center. 
  
The children receive housing, daily bathing, medicine, and three meals a day.  There is also a doctor who works 2-3 hours of time every day at the facility. A child is discharged from the facility once the doctor determines that that they have regained proper health and that there are proper assurances that the child will receive proper nutrition on a regular basis once they leave the facility.  
 
There are approximately 35-40 children living at the Center. However, they will have the capacity to house and serve up to 200 children once the many repairs and improvements have been made, and additional resources are acquired to hire additional staff to care for the children. Unfortunately, there are only about three staff members available to care for the nearly 40 children during the day, which doesn’t give them much time to provide individual attention to the kids.
 
The Malnutrition Center was built in the 1950s as a tuberculosis hospital, but was converted to a care center for children in the 1970s. In the 1970s, under the direction and funding of the Lion’s Club of Guatemala, it flourished as it housed almost 200 children.   However, since that time, funding from the Lion’s Club has been decreasing and the facility has fallen into disrepair. The facility is in need of significant work in order to improve the living environment and quality of care that is provided to the children.
 
The Florida Baptist Children’s Homes identified the Children’s Malnutrition Center of San Juan, Guatemala as one of its first international ministry locations because of the extreme needs and because of the potential to improve the quality of services at the Center.  The goal is to elevate the quality of care as well as expand the capacity of the Center in order to serve more children.  Mission teams mobilized by the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes will work to make improvements to the facility and spend time interacting with the many children.
 
To learn more about this group, and their project, visit their website.