CAMINO CANICAS

Camino Canicas was founded by Kanika Batra in 2016 in the indigenous Kaqchikel and Tz’utujil Mayan region of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. This grassroots initiative focuses on providing trauma-informed expressive arts education. It aims to create safe spaces for children from under-resourced families affected by trauma, neglect, and addiction. The work in Guatemala currently serves around 20 indigenous children and their families. 

Camino Canicas is unique in that the work began on a request by the children and it continues because they ask for it. The process starts by identifying at-risk children, creating rapport with them and their families, and bringing them into safer spaces that offer developmentally appropriate environments and activities. Camino Canicas simultaneously works with families to make their homes safer and more resourced. The program offers art, stories, theater, play, and social-emotional learning tools through a rite of passage framework that expands the children’s resourcing tools and allows them to make life-affirming meaning, all while learning to both express and self-regulate themselves. 

“When the rockslide hit our village last year, leaving so many families and children with deep trauma to process and integrate, Golden Girls Global sent funds so we could rent a safe space for the children, buy warm clothes and create a safe space for them to be held and guided in their process of reestablishing safety. As I held all this together here, I was being simultaneously held and supported by the therapeutic team at Golden Girls Global so I could continue my work on the frontlines in an integrated way. I am so deeply grateful for the support - financial and emotional. It is a deep resource to know that I have this wise and compassionate community holding me in such a precious way. It feeds my resilience, so I may share that forward. Thank you.” ~ Kanika Batra, Founder, Camino Canicas

RECENT CHALLENGES

• GLOBAL PANDEMIC - When COVID-19 hit, schools shut down. For some of the children in the program that meant not having any time away from their difficult home situations. Work went up tenfold, having to visit each household daily to ensure the children’s safety and well-being. Having zero funding for the work, it was a big challenge to sustain the work while also sustaining life in a foreign country for Kanika.

• DISASTER RELIEF - In October last year, during the pandemic, the village of San Marcos was hit by a big rockslide which destroyed homes and took lives. In the disaster relief efforts, while ensuring basic amenities for the children and families, Camino Canicas brought in trauma care and are still working with the victims of the tragedy. The children have been able to find meaning in it all, and integrate slowly to come to balance.

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• PERSEVERANCE - Most local organizations and NGOs in the region have stopped their work this last year. Despite all the challenges, Camino Canicas continued to work ceaselessly with more and more support coming in.
• ENHANCED PROGRAMS - This year Camino Canicas has been able to include various awe-inspiring experiences for the children. On one spectacular occasion the youngest ( a 3-years-old girl) accompanied the group at 4 in the morning up to a mountain peak where they held a fire ceremony and watched the sun come up. They have also been horseback riding and participated in sweat lodges together. Building a good bank of healthy childhood memories together!

GOAL FOR THE NEXT YEAR  

• Make the work emotionally and financially sustainable.
• Train the local youth to start taking more leadership roles.
• Create a permanent space that is always available for the children.
• Raise a salary for Kanika, the youth leaders, and others involved in the work.