Niños de Guatemala- The Story

In 2006, our founder, Marten Dresen came to Guatemala to learn Spanish and volunteer with a non-profit in Ciudad Vieja. During his trip, he befriended a girl named Mirna from the local community. After noticing that she was always barefoot, Marten decided to give her a pair of shoes. Mirna’s gratitude touched him so deeply that he was moved to do more for Guatemalan children from low-income families, and he realized that a relatively small investment could make a huge difference in their lives.

After returning to Holland, Marten allied with his friend Sander Wirken and his sister Annemiek. They believed that the key to a better future for children like Mirna was access to quality education and as a result, Niños de Guatemala was born. The organization was founded in the Netherlands and the Dutch branch started its fundraising activities. In 2007 Annemiek moved to Guatemala to start the organization there, together with Antigua local Carmen Paniagua. Sander joined them in 2008 in preparation for the construction of the first school.

Our work:

Niños de Guatemala (NDG) provides 500 children from families living below the poverty line with access to a quality education across our three schools. In Guatemala, although education is technically free, things like the cost of school supplies, transportation, and books oftentimes prevent children from attending school. Niños de Guatemala works to help more children receive the education they deserve and empower them to break the cycle of poverty. To support Niños de Guatemala in the daily operations, we work with international and national volunteers that assist our three schools with all kind of different tasks. We also give the option to sponsor a child’s education and become their mentor in life!

Self-sustainable organization:

Niños de Guatemala aims to be self-sustainable, this is why we started to social businesses:

Cambio Language School

Cambio Language School offers high quality Spanish, with 100% net profits donated to NGO Niños de Guatemala.

Impact Experiences

Impact Experiences offers off-the-beaten-path excursions to local non-touristic towns, traditional culinary and artisan workshops, and Niños de Guatemala’s schools, all with 100% net profits donated directly to the NGO schools.

 

If you are interesting in volunteering, you can find more information here.

If you’d like to know more about the Sponsorship Program, go here. 

Contact Information:

4 Calle Oriente #28, Antigua Guatemala

Niños de Guatemala

(502) 7832-8033