Fellow travel bloggers and NYC musicians have all been helping us get to our $10,000 goal to put 55 students in school with The Integral Heart Foundation. That’s 55 individuals stories, each worth hearing and retelling–stories that begin with struggle, but stories that Mick and Debora and everyone at The Integral Heart Foundation are in the process of turning into stories of success.

Charities always end up with “poster kids,” the ones whose stories are ‘marketable” and followed in newsletter and progress charted. I’ve already shared with readers of this blog the story of how Maria and Carmen came to The Integral Heart Foundation. Today, I am happy to share their progress with you. If you are a blogger that was involved with Travel Bloggers Without Borders, thank you. If you are a musician or audience member to the benefit we did in New York, thank you. If you have donated to this cause, thank you. If you haven’t, well it’s a beautiful day in Guatemala and I hope you’ll consider getting involved.

Mick Quinn’s Update On Maria and Carmen

 Dear Friends and Supporters, 

Since we made the first appeal for Carmen and Maria in February of 2013, they have been reconnected with their appropriate grades in high-school, engaged in weekly meetings with a psychologist, a bi-weekly English class, and they are attending our weekly Critical-Thinking and Integral Philosophy classes.

That means they are busy, learning, and most of all engaged enough not to be easily distracted or attracted to the many paths of lesser worth, which constantly surround them.”Carmen and Maria are improving greatly in both their studies and behavior. Their English teacher believes that because of their improvement, he is almost dealing with two different girls. They are doing their homework and show a lot of interest in studying, which is really great!

Arturo, their English teacher, is also serving as kind of a tutor. Discipline has always been an issue with Carmen and Maria because of their history (picking trash in the local dump for several years) but it seems they have such a high degree of respect for him and his judgment that they even call him any time they go through a particular issue, whether it is emotional or psychological, or at the time of making an important choice or related to school and homework.

Maria is particularly improving in her English skills and Arturo says that she is somewhat gifted. For Carmen, it is more difficult but she is putting forth a lot of effort to catch up with her sister.

In their behavior they are showing a lot more respect and Carmen sometimes lets Maria know when she is not behaving properly. Their aim for studying is to have a better life and Arturo has been playing such an important role in making them responsible for their studies.

Also, every other week, they meet with a female psychologist since we thought it would be easier for them to relate and talk to a female. They are also showing a lot of improvement in this area.

This important change in the girls is also benefiting their little brother Byron who is happier and healthier with all the attention.

Our course, the girls, their mom and Byron receive the attention of our sponsorship program staff, Liz Flinn and our Guatemalan employee Marisol who regularly visits their home to keep abreast of their situation.

Thank you all for your efforts, donation and making this possible,

With warmest regards,

Mick, Debora and all of us at Integral Heart Foundation.