About Us

Casa Guatemala currently supports more than 300 children. We're able to provide this care thanks to the generous contribution of 15 teachers, 20 employees, and approximately 20 international volunteers.

We also have affiliate, registered charities in Canada and the US that help to collect the funds needed to operate this large organization.

Our History

Since 1977, Casa Guatemala has helped thousands of vulnerable children from around Guatemala. Over the years we have facilitated hundreds of adoptions around the world, rehabilitated thousands of malnourished children and provided a loving home, education and health care for over 250 children per year. Casa Guatemala has been like a light shining at the end of a tunnel for families that could not afford to feed their children, and children whose parents were not able to care for them.

Our Mission

Casa Guatemala seeks to provide a safe home, love and nurturing, proper health care, and an excellent education to the children of Guatemala who are abused, abandoned, malnourished, or living in extreme poverty.

Our Vision

Casa Guatemala strives to equip the children in their care with the skills and education needed to become upstanding, empowered citizens in their community and to become fully self-sustained through the businesses that they run which provide financial support and meaningful job training for the older children.

Our Goal

Improve the quality of life and independence of Guatemalan children

Building the Future of Guatemala

In Rio Dulce, Casa Guatemala's main objective is to cater to all low-income children of any race, nationality or creed that need help, home, education or health care.  

Objectives:  

• Provide adequate primary care to children in terms of health, food, clothing, hygiene and general care.  
  
• Provide the environment for intellectual and emotional stimulation required in normal development.  
  
• Provide the children with adequate training to enable them in the future to integrate into society, in order to break the cycle of poverty in which they find themselves. 

Who we are looking for

We are looking for volunteers who are committed to the cause so that our children receive the necessary attention as they deserve, giving the opportunity too for volunteers to enjoy and share experiences with this beautiful city of children and with the team.

The Children's Village

Situated in Las Brisas, Rio Dulce, Casa Guatemala’s Children’s Village is a paradise filled with laughter, learning and love. Spanning over 100 acres of tropical jungle are the many buildings that make up the community. These include separate housing for the boys and girls, local staff and primary school, medical clinic, library, carpentry shop, outdoor playing fields and a dining hall, where the meat, fresh fruits and vegetables from the school’s farm are served.

The farm is both a learning tool where the children gain the agricultural skills needed in the outside world and a source of provisions for a balanced diet. In addition to the wide variety of produce we grow, our farm also pigs and other livestock, the surplus of which is sold in the local community to aid in the self sufficiency of the project on a whole. Our medical clinic provides free health care services for the children of the centre as well as the many local indigenous communities in the area.

The Future

As part of a new plan for Casa Guatemala, we will be creating a new organization that will focus solely on the work in Rio Dulce. Once established, The Children’s Village will be run under the name of Sonrisa a Sonrisa (SAS).

This organization will have a board of directors made up in part by members of the Foundation, and members of the long-term staff of the school and Children’s Village. Hotel Backpackers will also fall under the umbrella of the Foundation to ensure that the funds generated will always be used to support the projects of Casa Guatemala in the future.

2015 Top-Rated Nonprofit

Casa Guatemala was recently named a 2015 Great Nonprofit by GreatNonprofits.org. GreatNonprofits is the leading platform for community-sourced reviews and stories about nonprofits. This means our donors, supporters, and volunteers reviewed and recommended Casa Guatemala as a valuable nonprofit that can make a difference in the world.

Casa Guatemala has three locations in Guatemala; a nursery and administration centre in the Capital city and the Children’s Village of Rio Dulce, where the majority of children we serve live. Since 1987, this centre has been home to up to 250 children during the school year and provides educational and health care services to more than 300 children every year

Facilities include houses for the girls, boys, teachers, volunteers, and staff. School facilities for pre-kindergarten through grade six classes. A medical clinic, dining hall, offices, storage, and carpentry shop. Three greenhouses, two fish ponds, one pig pen, and four wells for water, and 25 acres of fruit and vegetable crops.

Where we work

Guatemala, in the northwestern corner of Central America.  It has a large indigenous cultural heritage which is a product of Mayan and Spanish influences  during the colonial era. 

Despite its relatively small land area, Guatemala has a wide variety of climates.  This is due to its mountainous terrain ranging from sea level to 4220 meters above sea level. Because of this Guatemala has diverse ecosystems, ranging from the mangrove wetlands of the Pacific to the high mountain cloud forests. We are located near the Atlantic coast, in Rio Dulce.

For foreingners there are no mandatory vaccinations for entry into the country. As in any international trip, typhus, hepatitis and tetanus are recommended. The risk of malaria is generally across the country below 1,500 m. For more information on health and vaccines we recommend you visit the website of your Ministry of Health. 

It is increasing the number of travelers in Guatemala and with them the security. It is always advisable to move around tourist areas and recommended by the effects of poverty.