Some of God's Children at ANINI Orphanage in Guatemala

(all photographs copyrighted by Mark Wyatt)

While visiting my wife's family in Guatemala, my family and I had the privilige of visiting ANINI (Association of the Children for the Children), an orphanage 30 km outside Guatemala city, which specializes in special needs children. Visiting ANINI is both heart breaking and at the same time heart warming. The sadness comes from the thought of these beautiful children being abandoned by their parents (in many cases), and the joy comes from seeing how they are being taken care of. They currently have 60-70 special needs children.

Most of the children suffer from physical or mental disabilities. They require significant care and physical therapy. Many people volunteer, and others are hired by ANINI to give care- many from the local village (Monte Bello).

Some of the children suffer from autism

This autistic boy is seen playing with one of the staff. The padding on his arms and neck is to protect him from himself.

What follows are some of the children, staff, and activities at ANINI.

You see Jesus here. (The boy's name is Jesus). Jesus was very curios about my camera.

This little three year old is Elissa. I was told she must be fed through a feeding tube, and will probably never be able to eat. She was recently abandoned by her parents, then dropped off by a social worker. This litttle girl touched all our hearts.

Some of the older children are practicing a play about the Good Samaritan.

One of the actresses is Sofia.

Here is the chapel. They are looking for a priest. They are lucky to have a mass once a month here.

Some of the older boys enjoying the aftermoon.

This is one of the bedrooms.

In addition to the orphanage, ANINI has opened a school for the children of the village of Monte Bello (as well as a few of the more capable children in the orphanage). There is no charge to the children's families. Without this school, most of these children would likely be illiterate

Here is the school's library:

Evangelina Dominguez is the director of ANINI. She poses here with Paula, one of the residents.

ANINI is constantly struggling to pay its bills. As they become more successful, more children are left with them. The children at Anini are getting older, requiring Anini to seperate the boys and girls, and requiring more facilities to house older children, and even some into adulthood. The options for those who leave Anini are generally not favorable. In addition to the special needs children, the school is a financial challenge. If these pictures and this story touched your heart, I ask that you offer a donation to ANINI. Even $5 or $10 dollars will help them. Thank you and God Bless.

Some friends of Anini in Chicago (Hugo Rodriguez and Dianne Schuyler) accept donations for Anini. At the time of this writing, Anini does not have a direct internet donation capability. I suggest donating through the Chicago based website. At the time of this writing it is not tax deductible, but it is still worthwhile. They report that they are working with the Rotary Club in Chicago to make it tax deductible. Here is their main web site: Travel to Guatemala With Anini.

Here is ANINI's website: http://www.aninigt.com/. There is currently no way to donate that I can find. I understood that you could donate through this site: http://www.anini.org.gt/ , but the site appears non-functional at this writing.

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