Maltese volunteers for Guatemala missions

A total of Lm18,372 was raised during the Guatemala Day held by the Mission Fund on May 31 at the Trade Fair Grounds in Naxxar.

The money will be used to help about 30 Maltese volunteers who will soon be flying to Guatemala to help realise a project organised by a Gozitan priest to build a centre for disabled people.

The volunteers, who leave in July, include electricians, welders, teachers and three drydocks workers.

The project is being put together under the watchful eye of Fr Anton Grech, a young priest who has been helping the poor in Guatemala for some 10 years.

An estimated 83 per cent of Guatemala's population live in poverty.

In the last four years, Fr Anton, 31, who serves in the parish of San Manuel Chaparron, has built a church, a number of small chapels, a school complex and a workshop, thanks to the money raised by Maltese and Gozitans.