My Story

NE-2306

Zona 5, where your child lives, is located in a slum area of Guatemala City.  An extremely poor area, our program is squeezed in among the shanty dwellings built over an old city dump. Many houses in this area are without toilets or running water and are assembled with scrap wood, sheet metal, and cardboard.  Zone 5, is considered one of the most dangerous areas of Guatemala City. It is controlled by gangs and drug pushers.  Robberies and murders are common in this area.  Public education is available - however, many cannot afford it.  Life in Zone 5 is very difficult. This child lives on top of an old rubbish dump in Zone 5 of Guatemala City.

Hello! Let me introduce you Erick David Jolan Miranda. He attends the Zone 5 feeding program. He was born on November 15^th, 2010. He is eight years old and is not attending school. At a young age like one year and a half, he suffered from Meningitis, and that affected his ears, and he started to have speech problems. However, it was not until the age of four that his mother realized his problem. He is currently under a medical treatment in a Public Hospital. He is receiving speech therapies twice a week and has is pronouncing words like mother, father, car, etc. At the beginning when he started to use hearing devices, it was hard to feel different sensations and he did not like them. Now, those devices are helping him to improve his speech. In his free time, he likes to play soccer, run and watch TV. His favorite color is blue, and his favorite animal is the dog. He loves to eat black beans and noodles. He has two brothers and one sister. His father Erickson David works as a painter and his mother Mayra Susana does the housework and takes care of them. They live in a rented concrete block house with cemented roof, granite floors, running water and electricity. There are two rooms including a kitchen which is inside one of those rooms. They do not attend any Church yet.

With much love and many blessings,

Erick David Jolan Miranda

Translated by: Mireya de Sandoval/ AAC Secretary