Casa de Sion

Well we are in GuaTE and have been for the last two weeks. So much has happened. First, we had friends here who were helping put in organic gardens at the orphanage to enable us to be more self suffiecient and to teach the kids a trade. The man next door told us that the land we thought we had bought for the kids to have a playground and a soccer field were really his. So we stooped all construction until it was settled. It got settled Sat. and we do indeed own the land. The man now wants to sell us his house as he does not want to live next door to an orphanage. We think we can get it for $60,000.00. It will be a great addition as it is a big house and will complete the property very well. Now we just need to get the $60,000.00. We meet with him this Fri. to see the house.
We got our kids enrolled in a great private school in Panajachel where everything is taught in English. They catch the boat to school at the dock near the orphanage. My downs son is going to a special ed school with other downs children and 3 children from the orphanage. Two are girls who had such severe malnutrition they are very developmentally delayed and one is a new 8 year old boy who can't hear or speak.
We received 7 new children at the lake orphanage last week. The 8 year old boy and his 3 year old brother. Three sibs who are 5, 3 and 1. Very malnourished and neglected. And the younger sibs of Manual' family have moved in with their mom as the nanny for my malnourished baby program. They also are very malnourished and the mom was breast feeding the 2 month old but had no milk. We showed her how to make a bottle and how to clean the bottle. The baby was so funny when he got his first bottle. But by the next day he was sucking the bottles down for all he was worth.
Now our big dilema is the judge in another department is trying to take the 3 little ones we got last week and give them to another orphanage. We want to keep them here as the are Tzutihill and we have a Tzutihill casregiver and the other one does not. We are now up to 50 children.
Vicki
Director of http>www.safehomesforchildren.org