In November 2025, Hazel’s Footprints Trust agreed a grant of £5,600 to Street Kids Direct for computers at the Door of Hope (Puerta de Esperanza) centre in Guatemala City. This is our second grant to Street Kids Direct: in 2023 we funded a set of laptops at another of its centres, and the results persuaded the Trustees to support the charity again.
Fifteen Lenovo laptops
The grant bought fifteen Lenovo laptops at a cost of Q57,375. Getting them was not straightforward. Rising import taxes caused a shortage of equipment, two of the machines did not work and had to be returned, and installing Office and antivirus software needed a little extra investment. By spring 2026 the laptops were in use, and Duncan Dyason of Street Kids Direct sent us the first photographs in May.
Who uses them
Door of Hope’s own report, which reached us in July, describes two groups of users across its Gerona and Terminal sites.
Children and adolescents in the school support (Refuerzo Escolar) programme attend computer classes every Friday at one site and every Wednesday at the other. Adolescents and mothers in the PRONEM programme attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The aim is to give every child in the programme access to computer knowledge: operating a computer properly, using the internet appropriately, typing with speed and accuracy, and making sensible use of artificial intelligence.
What has changed
The report’s achievements are simple and specific. The adolescents have improved their typing speed and accuracy and now know the tools they need to complete schoolwork independently. The younger children have “lost their fear of using the equipment”, explored educational games and learnt to use a keyboard properly.
Duncan visited Door of Hope again in July. “I took more photos of the laptops in use,” he wrote, “and could see the impact they are having in helping these vulnerable kids get the support they need for their homework.”
Looking ahead
Door of Hope’s next objectives are to teach every operating system, to build skills the young people can show in their own workplaces, and to keep developing appropriate use of the internet and AI.
Our thanks to Duncan, Steve Raher and the team at Door of Hope.
