Gifts to the Guatemala Appeal – launched in March following a fire at a large children’s care home in the country – are helping our partner network to respond effectively and strategically.

Forty-one teenage girls died and 15 others were seriously injured after the tragedy at the Virgen de la Asuncion home on the outskirts of Guatemala City. Our partner network Viva Guatemala was invited to respond to help children left homeless by the fire, in partnership with UNICEF Guatemala. The network has already provided emergency food and clothes, and rented two homes for 24 children with disabilities to move in to.

The network plans to provide psychological and educational support for children and, in the longer-term, will run Viva’s Quality Improvement System programme in government shelters to ensure the foundations are in place for better care for children.

Viva Guatemala will look for every opportunity to promote that children are better in safe, secure families than in care homes. “The network is highly respected in this city and we must use this position to change people’s minds about the best place for children to grow up,” says Carmen Alvarez, Viva Network Consultant for Latin America.