Hogar Miguel Magone - History
Asociasion Ciudad Esperanza, Hogar Miguel Magone, was founded in 1996 by Karen Rodas de Reynoso and others to save young boys from lives on the street and give them the opportunity to get an education and become responsible men. The majority of the boys come from street families where the parents, but more often single mothers are mere children themselves and cannot take care of the boys, much less themselves. The home provides the boys with a roof, nutritious food, an education, but most importantly the love and support they desperately need.
Hogar Miguel Magone is the harvest of the seeds planted more than 20 years ago, at Rafael Ayau, a refuge for Guatemalan street kids, where Karen volunteered every weekend at 16 years of age. There she noted that the children would continuously escape to return back to the streets and Karen couldn’t understand why they would choose that life. So Karen set out to answer this question and began looking for the children in Guatemala´s Historical Center (downtown) and the bus station. She also found many of the kids in the youth correctional center, where most are sure to end up should they find no way off the streets.
Karen was surprised to see young women prostituting themselves and consuming drugs while their children looked on. She knew something had to be done immediately to save these children. This is the moment when most of us would have given in to the conventional wisdom that the problem was too big to solve, or even attempt to remedy. But Karen kept going.
At this point in her life she was studying Special Education before embarking on her career as a Psychologist. In her free time, she, along with close friends and family, dedicated herself to the street children of Guatemala. For one year they were able to provide lunch to many kids, as well as see that they bathed and washed their clothes. They began rewarding the kids who participated with new shirts or a pair of pants and little by little they were able to include sports, games, teach morals, and many other lessons, all to ensure they learned something new every day.
Throughout this first year Karen dreamed of opening a full time home for the children, but it all seemed impossible without the seed money to even begin. On the 31st of January, 1996 Karen was able to rent a house in zona 7 and began living there along with 18 muchachos. Day by day they made it work, asking anyone they could to offer resources whether it was money, food, or simply their time spent. They found donors for furniture, clothing, and importantly food for all the kids.
Many of the first children in the home had problems with drug addiction and many returned to the streets. It was difficult to help them beyond the bare necessities due to a huge lack of human and physical resources. For this reason Karen was determined to focus on younger children before they became victims of the street. These children were from broken families filled with problems such as substance abuse and physical and sexual violence.
Thanks to her dedication to understanding why families live on the street, Karen was able to gain the confidence of many of the parents who called the street home and she was determined to not allow their kids to follow in their footsteps. With this objective in mind she began with 25 little ones in her home. In the beginning they would simply arrive spontaneously. Now all the children must have the proper paperwork and go through all the legal channels available.
Karen counted on a great deal of support to begin this journey, and still does to this day. Her greatest supporter has been her husband Estuardo Reynoso. When he fell in love with Karen he also fell in love with this project, as have so many who have had the opportunity to involve themselves. Many of us find that we are too preoccupied with our own family to have time to worry about others, much less 40 other children. Karen, with the help of her husband and wonderful 9 year old girl Marie Andrea do find the time and plenty of it.
Hogar Miguel Magone is currently responsible for everything involving the care of over 40 boys from ages 5 to 16. This includes but certainly does not exhaust the list: all clothing items, school uniforms, all school expenses, food, shelter, ensuring their place in school, moral development, physical development, and most importantly that these boys know that they are loved and appreciated at all times.
To keep their programs funded and to meet their budget, Hogar Miguel Magone also sells donated clothing, collects paper and collects glass and plastic to be sold to recycling companies. These same kids do all the organizing and collecting because who else will?
Fortunately, The Rotary Club of Guatemala donated a 16 passenger van that is used to transport some kids to school as well as spend most of everyday taking kids the doctor or dentist, or picking up donated food and hygiene supplies. Gustavo is the driver extraordinaire who is responsible for all the transportation needs of the home.
In 1998, thanks to many volunteer organizations and a local landowner, Hogar Miguel Magone moved to its present location. Little by little over the last 9 years it has really taken shape with a carpentry shop, a bakery, a sport court, large dormitories, offices for the psychologist and English teacher and rooms for volunteers.
Ultimately, these children will leave Hogar Miguel Magone and will no longer have Karen, Gustavo and the other staff and volunteers to take care of them. Therefore, the end goal for the home is to see these young boys grow up to be independent, well rounded and above all ¨good men¨ and ‘good citizens.’
Like all homes for children in Guatemala, Hogar Miguel Magone receives no assistance from the government, but rather relies solely on private donations, church groups, and the like. Through hard work and a great deal of perseverance, Karen has established an amazing network of donors to the point where almost 100% of the food, clothing, and hygiene products are donated.
Karen´s work was recognized when she won the Guatemalan Woman of the Year Award in the area of humanitarian work in 2001.
