KIDS TO KIDS OUTREACH
"A Project of Love"
Uniting Kids Around the World

Welcome to the KIDS TO KIDS OUTREACH Web Page!

Our Purpose

Kids to Kids Outreach is focused on education for all kids. Presently working with kids in the United States, Mexico, Guatemala and Uganda we are aiming our efforts to:

• Support education by sponsorship of kids in rural communities
• Providing schools and dedicated teachers and volunteers
• Sanitation and health instruction
• Helping villagers to become more self sufficient

By teaching kids about other kids we:

• Create an awareness of the good and beauty in other cultures, races and languages
• Teach kids to share, care, accept, and look for the good in others
• Support traditional Christian values of respect for all living things
• Be examples of good citizenship showing reverence for life and love for one another

Educational Programs

Kids to Kids Outreach works to provide the needed resources (both people and materials) to support the particular educational needs of the communities in which we serve. Needs include:

• Health education (hygiene and dental care)
• Prevention of disease through sanitation and clean water
• Direction in use and maintenance of latrines
• Engineers to instruct in generator use and maintenance
• Certified teachers, volunteers with various skills, health care professionals, etc.
• Agriculture and animal husbandry development
• Use of natural resources for developing ways of earning a better living
• Instruction and use of other energy forms, ie. solar cooking and wind generators
• Basic materials for learning, ie/ paper, pencils, books, teacher support resources, etc.
• Helping others fulfill their dreams of a healthy, happy family and a good life.

Our present projects are...

• Guatemala: Building a basico (junior high school) on the Rio Dulce River that will serve 34 aldeas (villages). Without this school these kids will have no chance of education. The area is remote and the needs are great.
• Mexico: Sponsoring kids for school enables kids who show commitment and dedication to learning an opportunity to go to school. Paying for books, paper, pencils and uniforms is difficult for many families. Kids to Kids is helping.
• Uganda: These are our newest friends. Here we are sponsoring kids in school much like we are in Mexico. We communicate through letters and photos. The exchange is global. Where will we be led next?

Kids to Kids is a project of love.

Kids to Kids Outreach History

Kids to Kids began in 1993 in an effort to provide high school students an outlet for utilizing their gifts and talents to help others less fortunate. It began with one girl named Amy and grew little by little to over 10,000 kids in the state of Texas alone. These young people have shared themselves by writing cards and letters and making banners, gifts, videos and photographs that have been exchanged across the globe. Along with generous adults they have also helped to raise donations to fund the sponsorship of kids for school, the building of a small church, school supplies, medicines, food, clothing and toys for other kids in Guatemala, Mexico and Uganda.

Mission Statement

To be examples of
understanding, acceptance,
respect, faith and hope for kids
(of all ages) around the world!
To live the commandment Jesus gave us...
"Love one another as I have loved you."

Meet the kids you can help!

"Kids to Kids" are bright, loving, and enthusiastic about learning. They are generous and caring. In the midst of extreme poverty their generous nature, along with that of their parents, has been demonstrated to us over and over, whether it's through the giving of a tropical plant or flower, or a chicken or fish.

In gratitude for helping his family, one child gave us three beautiful feathers. It was all he had.

One day a family brought us chicken soup and tortillas. They told us the pieces of chicken were for us alone. They would eat what was left. This was a big sacrifice for them as they normally eat only tortillas and chilies. We were told one day that the people pray for Kids to Kids' family and friends every week. Just another sign of their giving what they have to share.

The kids pictured here are loving, generous, and bright. They are eager to learn and have tremendous potential. The limitations they face are poverty and lack of opportunity. The road out of poverty is through education. You can help.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Nobel Peace Prize winner, saint of our day, said "There is no such thing as sacrifice without prayer and there is no such thing as prayer without sacrifice." Our prayer is to be able to help these kids fulfill their dreams and we are asking for both your prayers and sacrifices. We invite you to join in the Spirit of Giving. Become a member of Kids to Kids Outreach today! Send your prayers and tax deductible gifts to:

Kids to Kids Outreach
P.O. Box 423
Rockport, Texas
(512) 365-1213 || (512) 790-9740

VILLAGE OF LAS BRISAS DEL GOLFETE
CLEAN WATER PROJECT

(March 1998)

Kids to Kids is a charitable organisation based in Texas with many ongoing missionary projects in Central America. Here on the Rio Dulce, Kids to Kids has been active for several years working with the villagers of Las Brisas a small village of perhaps 300 souls located close to the south end of the Golfete. Last year's major project was the expansion and improvement of the village church which also serves as the meeting place and social center for the villagers. This year Kids to Kids is embarked upon an even more ambitious project of building and staffing a Basico (junior High Shool) for the village children. While these major works continue, smaller projects are constantly being worked on and one of these is in need of your help.

Presently, the villagers of Las Brisas draw their water in buckets from shallow, hand dug wells. These wells are often polluted and at best provide only muddy water. To access the water table, all of the wells in the village have been dug in low, swampy locations which are subject to flooding during the wet season. The wells measure approximately 6 feet square and are 8 to 10 feet deep. Most of the wells are only covered and protected by several flimsy, ill fitting sheets of corrugated iron. There is no effective protection to prevent children or animals accidentally falling into the wells. Kids to Kids is working on a project of improving this dangerous and unhealthy situation by completing three separate but inter-related projects:

PHASE 1. Take water samples from all existing wells and have these tested for potability. Select those wells which provide the cleanest water and install simple plunger type pumps which the villagers themselves will assemble from components supplied by Kids to Kids. Each pump will cost about $20 or 120.00 Quetzales.

(This phase will reduce the risk of drinking from polluted water and avoid contamination from mud, caused by throwing buckets into the well).

PHASE 2. Contract for the lease of a gas powered well digger to dig deep, narrow diameter wells in convenient locations throughout the village. These will be lined with PVC piping and will be fitted with plunger type pumps using components from the pumps constructed for Phase 1. Additional pumps will be required as will concrete pads and run off drains. If funding can be obtained, washing and laundry sinks will be provided adjacent to the new wells. The old wells will be filled and made safe from accident or pollution of the water table.

(This phase should substantially improve water quality and eliminate the risk of children experincing injury).

PHASE 3. Construct a limited number of strategically placed wated towers. Tanks on these towers will be filled using hand operated pumps (either plunger or rotary type). The tanks will be made accessible so that the water they contain can be chemically treated. Using commercial grade filters the water from these tanks should be free of contaminants and entirely safe for drinking. The villagers will be encouraged to drink and cook with water from these tanks. The wells from Phase 2 will continue to provide water for washing and laundry etc.

(This phase will reduce the incidence of illness and possible fatalities particularly to infants caused by drinking and cooking with unclean water)

Ultimately Kids to Kids hope that donations will enable a diesel powered generator to be installed in the village to supply power for mechanical pumps and automatic water purification. Water distribution would also be advanced from the bucket process to gravity fed faucets through PVC pipe from the holding tanks. Sanitary disposal of waste water would be assured by providing suitable drainage to holding ponds for the irrigation of small vegatable gardens which is another project of Kids to Kids.

Boaters, local businesses and residents are encouraged to support the worthy efforts of Kids to Kids in improving the health and education of the villagers of Las Brisas del Golfete. Donations of cash, materials and/or physical involvement will all be welcomed. Kids to Kids is represented here on the Rio Dulce by The Reverend Maria Teresa Kaesberg and Captain Norm Kaesberg. They can be contacted on their sailboat QUETZAL via VHF Radio on Channel 69 between 7am and 8am daily.

KIDS TO KIDS OUTREACH PROGRAM
RIO DULCE, GUATEMALA

On a recent sailing adventure we were fortunate enough to spend some time in the Rio Dulce area of Guatemala. During our stay on the river we met a lot of very nice people. Among those nice people were Capt. Norm and Maria Kaesberg who were living aboard a sailing vessel called "Quetzal". Norm and Maria are from Texas and that means they are very congenial, outgoing, and just downright normal/nice folks! Norm and Maria are here on the Rio Dulce working with a charitable organization based in Texas called KIDS TO KIDS.

KIDS TO KIDS has been in existance for several years in Central America and is a program which aims to help the local villagers learn to help themselves and make their lives a little better. Norm and Maria are helping the people of Las Brisas, a village of 300 people, located in the Rio Dulce/El Golfete area. They have built a small building that serves as a school/church/social meeting area and are teaching families, especially the kids, how to improve their lives. The main project for this year is to get clean water for the village. They now carry water in buckets from shallow, hand-dug wells which are often polluted and muddy. The village needs a well that is deep enough to supply fresh, clean water. Can you help? Sure you can!

If you're heading to the Rio Dulce, Norm and Maria need assistance in bringing supplies into the country as freight, duties, and tariffs charged for parts and supplies make it an almost impossibly expensive project. Of course, monetary donations of any denomination will not be turned down, but if you are heading this way and would be willing to bring along some of the much needed supplies, then the people to contact are listed below. Besides, the Rio Dulce is a great place to visit, a safe place to keep your boat during the hurricane season and, there are a lot of long, lost Texans just hanging out there! Y'all come!

Kids to Kids Newsletter