While I was in Guate at Los Robles back the first of Oct., we celebrated children's day. We had two pinatas with lots of candy and hot dogs and a drink and invited the whole community. Eva, one of my nannies from the old orphanage, got to see Fernanda, one of our teens from the old orphanage, for the first time in a year.
We had about 200 people there with lots of kids. The kids had a ball when the pinatas brooke. Just like all kids. I was so happy that dads came and grandparents and teen boys.The kids love having their picture made with the gringoas. That's me. At the end they presented me with a wonderful gift. Mt friedn Evelyn was there with me and made me give a speech.

our toddler feeding program

When I was in Guate the first of October, I started our toddler feeding program. Here are some pictures of the tots we feed. We had about 20 show up that first day.
Food and nourishment is such a challenage for the 1.5 million Mayans who live in our area.
I heard last night that the wife of the man we are hiring as a driver had her in utero baby die. She was 8 months pregnant. They attributed the death to malnourishment of the mom. She had to have a c-section and is now in intensive care.
How grateful I am for food.
We now have two medical teams coming to do clinics and two construction teams coming to do building projects. If you have a team and want to book our volunteer housing write me. I will send pictures of it the next blog. We also have family coming to help with Christmas. One volunteer group gave out 56 food baskets on Tues. and left 300 toys for the kids to get on Christmas Eve. The volunteer family will provide a lunch for the community on that day. They also will visit each household in Los Robles and get a picture of them and their dwelling. Also info that willl help us better help the families.

thanks everyone
Vicki

Some miraculous happenings part 2

Well I can not seem to get the pictures to come up so I will just write the story. So anyway the couple who helps all over the world checks what we are doing with the Mayans out and decides to work with us. Then my daughter Erin , who went to Guate in March with her blond headed 2 year old and started our first feeding program, flies out to California to do a presentation to that group. She and one of the ladies from California did it together.It was so successful. They raised $800.00 that night for a nice yard with flowers, grass and tables to be put in between the big building and the dining/kitchen one. We got a sponsor for Nelson so he can continue his schooling. We also got a $2500.00, a $500.00 and many smaller donations. AND WE GOT THE $15,000.00 we need to build the small clinic. My husband will design it, but we think it can have 3 rooms, definitely one outfitted for moms to give birth and stay for a few days before they go back to their drafty, smoke filled homes. The midwives will deliver routinely, but the medical teams will when they are there. The medical teams can also train the midwives so there will be more sanitary births. Then we will also have a clinic room and bathroom to see all the million people who have never had medical care. I am so psyched. When we go for a month during the holidays, we will start building.
NOW WE NEED TO SEND A CONTAINER DOWN WITH THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR THE CLINIC. aNY TAKERS ON ORGANIZING THIS.

UPDATE ON THE ORPHANAGE KIDS: Pedro and the attorney met with the CNA and they said???? all they need now is letters from all the staff we have hired saying they are hired. So Pedro is hiring the doctor, nurse, social worker, psychologist and nannies and getting the list to them. They will be hired on paper and actually start when we have kids, which hopefully will be soon.

Many. many people have sent boxes of donations and we have sponsors for Fernanda for high school. We have them also for Claudia and Alex. The same family who helped them last year. Thank all of you who are so faithful. We had a high school girl send me 6 hugh boxes of last years' soccer equipment that she collected and paid the shipping for. We have also had financial donations to be used we we see fit. THANK ALL OF YOU FOR HELPING THESE KIDS.

Vicki Dalia
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org
20.vicki@gmail.com

Some miraculous financial happenings

Many of you know how I have been praying and working towards a clinic/birthing room for the Mayan ladies. I have given birth 10 times and can not imagine doing it on a nasty dirt floor so this has been a priority for me, albeit one I could not afford.
WELL, several things happened to make this dream come true.
First when my husband and I were in Guatemala the end of Sept. we met with four people who played a significant part in it. Two were from a group who have helped send medical and construction teams to places all over the world building things like clinics and sending medical temas dwon to serve the people. The other two were women from California who wanted to help us. One has been a long time supporter of our work and the other came to see what we were doing and how she could help.
Here is a picture of the couple who sends teams and another one of the woman who has been a long time supporter. She is with me and we are both laughing. My ocmputer is messing up so I am going to try and publish this and write another one rhight after oit of the continuing story.

the amazing new road

We had a group, Isa Mundo, pay to have our road carved out thru half our property so the 17 acres is more useful. It was an amazing job done by our guardian and his dad and his uncle and two cousins. It provided much needed money for 3 or 4 families. I had to get a new computer so am going to try now to pull up some pictures for you of our hand carved road. THANK YOU ISA MUNDO FOR YOUR HELP AND DEVOTION.
The top picture shows you the next level of our property where we need the next section of the road to start. When done the road will connect all 3 levels of our 17 acres making it possible to use the whole property. The next pictures are of the road as it was literally hacked out by machete and pickax and shovel. The men did an amazing job working from 6 in the morning until dark. They all desperately needed the money to feed their families. The final picture is of Jose. our faithful guardian, who along with his relatvies dug our raod.
The second and final phase will cost about $3000.00.

Vicki Dalia
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org

Infant feeding program

While we were in Guatemala, we started our toddler feeding program. I will show you some pictures of it next blog. Some of the same moms with toddlers come to our infant feeding program. We have about 25 moms now getting formula for their babies and want to offer this in another community we know of that is struggling with starving infants. Here are 3 of the moms that get the infant formula and 3 of the precious babies.

My family is spending Christmas in Guatemala. We leave on the 15th and will be there for a month. While there we will give a Christmas Party for the kids. If you want to send donations, send them now so you don't have to do priority mail.
We have rented a small former bed and breakfast house to use for volunteer teams. It has 5 bedrooms and 6 baths and nice yard and American LR, DR and kitchen. It sleeps 16 and we will charge $20 a bed per night. It will include a simple breakfast and lunch at our projects in Los Robles. Book your team now for 2010.

Two young people who need your help

I had the privilege of spending some time with two young people while in Guatemala. Each of them could use your help so I will tell you their story and let you decide whether you feel moved to help them. The picture at the top is of Fernanda greeting Eva, one of the nannies from our orphanage. They had not seen each other in a year. Fernanda, who is now 15, had lived at the orphanage since she was 12.Fernanda had been sent, by the courts, back to live with the father who had broken both her legs when she was 6 or 7. When Pedro visited her a couple of months ago, the dad had poured boiling oil on her as a punishment. Eva has basically been unemployed since we closed. Fernanda came out to our new facility for the Oct. 1 Day of the Child party that we threw for the community of Los Robles. She spent two nights at the house of our cook. She asked me if she could come back to live with us as soon as the orphanage opened. I said as long as she is willing to do chores and live by the rules we had before, we would love to have her. She broke out in the biggest grin. She was my daughter Scotia's good friend. Her mom was killed in Guate City by one of the drug gangs. Her mom belonged to the gangs. Fernanda has two younger sibs we hope to have live with us also. She will be in high school next year and will need a sponsor. My guesstiment of the cost of tuition, supplies, uniform and transportation will be $1000.00 for the year. I will get more exact costs for anyone interested in helping her succeed in the world.
The boy in the picture is Nelson. He lives in the community of Los Robles. He is in 6th grade and attends our after school tutorials. He competed in some academic contest with all the elementary children in the Dept. of Solola and won. His reward is he gets to spend a day in the Guatemalan Congress. He loves to learn and his family does not have the money to send him on the middle school. It will cost about $600.00 for the year to pay tuition, supplies, and transportation for him to go to school next year.
I am trying to find these two children sponsors so they can continue and be the first in their families to complete their education.
Let me know if they touch your hearts as they did mine.
Vicki
Director of http://safehomesforchildren.org
20.vicki@gmail.com

Los Robles community meeting for medical help

Our second day in Guatemala was quite busy. We had one of our board members visit our property with his wife and 4 children. Ryan brought Antonio with him. Antonio is close to my age and has retired from his money job to run a humanitarian project. He brings in medical and dental teams from the USA to help the needy people of Guatemala. As soon as we have a clinic on premises the teams can come to our place. In the meantime our people need to go to them. Antonio told us that the Latter day Saint Church has built and furnished a dental and medical clinic in zone 2 in the City that orphans can use for free so we now have a place to take our orphans. He also made arrangements for Edit to go to a pediatric clinic in Guate City and for Dominga to go to a clinic for people with eye problems. The pictures are of Antonio and Pedro telling the community group of people about the medical help we were working to get them. Another picture is of the gathered crowd. One picture is of Jose's new baby, the one that was born on the dirt floor of his house. The baby is now 2 months. The last picture is of Dominga ,the lady with the syphilus. We had to take some pictures of her so Antonio could show the doctors. She has a one month old baby who will also need to be treated and a husband. We are paying her way to Huehuetenango where the clinic is and Edit and her mother's [ the 3 year old blind child ]way to Guate City. The lady with syphilus started crying as we took her picture. She is so ashamed of her facial blemishes as well as loosing her eyesight from it. One more picture, the one in the middle. If you look closely you see a tall woman dressed less modestly than the others. She was so wanton looking compared to the other women that I asked Pedro afterwards who she was. He said she was a prostitute that lived out there and went after the young boys. I asked how young and he said the 10, 11 and 12 year old boys. She was a prostitute in the city and I have heard that they all are HIV positive.
Over 100 people were at this meeting and Pedro and Antonio promised them that we would get free clinics started out there for them. We will be the only clinics on this side of the lake so will be able to serve at least 3/4 million people. PLEASE HELP US RAISE THE FUNDS FOR THIS. When Antonio heard that we would be hosting the people from Mercy Ships on Wed. thru Sat. he asked if he could come back to meet with them. We, of course welcomed him.
On our way to this meeting, we stopped and visited a small [ 15 child ] orphanage. There place was old, but clean. Our looks a hundred times better.
I also looked at a property that has two houses for rent in a gated safe neighborhood. it is the same neighborhood my husband and I are staying in. We are going to rent and furnish the houses for volunteers. We will charge $20 a night for a bed with meals included. Hopefully this will make it easier for teams to come down.
More from our trip later,
Vicki
Director of http://safehomesforchildren.org
20.vicki@gmail.com

We are home. We accomplished so much. Here are some pictures of the kids from the tutorial program. They had a welcome time for us when we first got there on Fri. They had a bunch of pictures and sang us some songs. They love us and appreciate the help we are giving them. They are such sweet children; at least when I am around. We were tired that day so only stayed an hour. There is also a picture of the wonderful cabinets that GCP made for us. They are full of the donations they gave us. If I had not had kids here in states that I love and precious grandchildren, I would have stayed down there.
Vicki
Director of http://www.safehomesforchildren.org
20.vicki@gmail.com

Arrival at the Guate Projects

We flew or drove all day Friday and arrived at our property in Guatemala around 4 pm. Gosh it looked good. The big house was all set to receive children as soon as the certification comes from the CNA. All of the nice sheets and blankets that some of you have donated were on the beds and the beds were set up and the cabinets were in place and the donations all organized. This is all of your work and it looked wonderful. The new kitchen/dining /bodega is built and the children from the the tutorial were their waiting for us. They had made lots of cute welcome signs and sang several songs to us. They were sitting at tables and benches that some of you had made.I am trying to learn their names. There is one little chunky boy named Adolfo who is so cute and you can tell he is the trouble maker because the teacher kept saying his name every time he got near me.
The hand dug road is amazing and almost finished. I will tell more about it in another blog. I can't write long as I have limited use of this computer. But suffice it to say, I am so busy and it is so worthwhile. Pedro has accomplished much and we are accompishing more.I will write an email of each day and what is happening. Friday ended early and we went to our rental place and went to bed a 8 Guate time. I did get my cell phone and call home. All my kids were great thanks to the wonderful care they are receiving from the adult sisters.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

Miracles are already happening

We are on our week long trip to visit our projects and meet with people in Guatemala. It was hard to get off. Wed. we came home to absolutely no water. That is a major thing in a household where eight children and two adults live. I also knew my daughter Erin would not come babysit with her husband and kids if there was no water. So after my husband decided he had no idea what was going on, we called a specialist. He came that night, diagnosed the problem and came the next morning and with my husband and a helper pulled a 300 pound pump from a 300 ft. well that is 8 inches in diameter. New pump, new wiring and much money and we had water. The next night my son's wife had an emergency hospital stay and I had a one month old and a toddler for the day and night. But things smoothed out and we are on our way.
The first miracle is we found out we will be meeting on Sat. with a man who brings in medical and dental and nutrtion teams into Guatemala. He wants to start working with our facility. Then the wonderful couple from Mercy Ships will be with us starting on Weds. I asked Sylvia, a labor and delivery room nurse for 30 years, about doing a mini clinic for the pregnant and lactating and non-lactating women in our community and she graciously agreed. This so exciting for me. She is going to round up supplies for the midwives also. One of my other dream jobs, which will not be pursued in this life, was to be a labor and delivery room nurse or a midwife so just being an attendant at the clinic will be thrilling for me.
I will try and do reports each day and when I get home post pictures.
Thanks to all who are helping make this possible.
Vicki Dalia
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org
20.vicki@gmail.com

Pictures

This is Claudia. She is 14 and in the 6th grade. She has 2 brothers 15 and 7 and 2 sisters 10 and 5. She probably will not get to go to school next year unless she has a sponsor because she will be in the middle school and it is too expensive.

The girl in the blog above is Joselin and also in 6th grade. She also will not go next year without a sponsor. She has one sister and 3 brothers.

Anyone want to sponsor them. probably about $600. for the year will include school supplies and black shoes and transportation.

Pictures [I Hope]

if you need to contact me write to 20.vicki@gmail.com

We are moving forward

If you need to reach me or want to be added to the email group, write me at 20.vicki@gmail.com

Some pretty exciting things are happening. When my husband and I are in Guatemala in a couple of weeks, we are meeting with several groups/families and individuals.
here is a list of most of them:
1] Mercy Ships is meeting with us to discuss how they can help to get construction, dental, and medical teams to us thru 2010. They have very succesfully helped an orphanage and clinic and community programs in Honduras and we hope they will help us.
2] Pan en la Boca is meeting with us to see what we have accomplished since they sent a group of 30 people down in the summer of 2008. They were a tremendous help at that time and we hope they will want to help in the future.
3] An photojournalist for the US Airforce is coming to do a photojounal of what we are doing with our projects and the orphanage. This will be used for fundraising presentations.
4]We have a new full time volunteer for the next month who has many computer skills and also teaches karate. We hope to have him do files on all the families we are helping. Also he will teach karate at our afterschool program.
5] I have appts. with several individuals who live in Guatemala and are helping the poor. I will brainstorm with them on ideas that have been most effective.
6]Hope For Home visited us on Thurs. to look over our property and projects as a possible location for their home for disabled children. They have also promised to help send construction and doctor and dental teams.
7] My husband and I will meet with Anselmo's family whose son Alex is being sponsored by one of our families for a a middle school scholarship. We have been contacted by Anselmo, who has asked for work as he has no way of buying food for his 7 children. We will give the family a hugh food basket as well as some of the clothes and shoes that have been donated. We will also meet with the family of Anna, Diego and Abram, our beloved children from the orphanage. They will be given a hugh food basket as well as donated clothes and shoes. We hope to have them back with us soon.
8] One of the members of our email family has arranged for Luis to possibly come to the states as an exchange student. I will meet with Luis and his mom to see if she will give permission. They will also be given food and clothes.
9] I will hold a meeting with the women again and assess their needs. They now have an official name. It is the Relief Society. I hope to help them to help give relief to their neighbors in need. Our cook will provide food as it is probably the only treat they have had since the last time we met the end of June.
10] We will also have a big community party with lots of food and dedicate the house and dining room/ kitchen. I am sure this does not happen often.
11] Heart 4 children is collecting $30.00 times 56 to give a food basket to every family in our Los Robles community. They will give them out at a Christmas Party in Dec.

We have three groups doing fundraisers between now and Christmas. This is a great time of the year to get folks to do charitable donations.
1] Pan en la Boca is doing a dinner presentation in CA. My daughter Erin, who started the first feeding program back in March, will do the presentation.
2] Another group is putting a dinner presentation together in the Washington, DC area
3] I am initiating our "Pennies para Pan" program at A.B.Combs school. This school has been the leader and the example for Steven Covey's book " The Leader in Me " . This school has embraced the Seven Habits that Mr. Covey is so famous for. They have had wonderful success and been named the top US Elementary school. Part of the program involves them doing charitable work that all the students participate in. The school was named for my grandfather so I am very proud of it. Their 800 plus students will help us collect pennies for our feeding programs. If you want more info on the " Pennies para Pan " program to have schools you know do it, just write me.
that's all for now folks
Vicki
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org

WE PASSED

I can be reached at 20.vicki@gmail.com if you want to help or be on the email group.
The government finally sent the people to do our final supervision. It was quite a small crew. The head of the Central Salud, a nurse and a restaurant inspection person. They passed everything and liked what we are doing. Now they just send their report to the CNA and then they send it to someone and then we start taking kids. Hope it moves thru the channels fast.

Okay well the pictures did not show up. You will have to get on our email group to see them. Write me at 20.vicki@gmail.com and I will add you.

Pictures of the construction of our new road. We were given $2000.00 by Iso Mundo for the construciton of a road to connect the 3 levels of our property. We hired local men to dig it as we got more for our money this way and we gave work to families who desperately needed it. Hope the pictures show up.
DSC06540.JPG DSC06540.JPG
375K View Download
DSC06541.JPG DSC06541.JPG
375K View Download
DSC06542.JPG DSC06542.JPG
276K View Download
DSC06543.JPG DSC06543.JPG
201K View Download
DSC06544.JPG DSC06544.JPG
188K View Download
DSC06545.JPG DSC06545.JPG
199K View Download
DSC06546.JPG DSC06546.JPG
196K View Download
Reply

Forward




New window
Print all
« Back to Inbox

Archive

Report spam

Delete

Move to


Labels


More actions

‹ Newer 116 of 10836 Older ›
Add your Gmail inbox to the Google homepage.
You are currently using 2222 MB (30%) of your 7370 MB.
Last account activity: 35 minutes ago on this computer. Details
Gmail view: standard | turn on chat | basic HTML Learn more
©2009 Google - Terms - Privacy Policy - Gmail Blog - Join the Gmail team - Google Home

Starving Children in Guatemala

Many of you have probably seen the news reports on the starvation of people in Guatemala. I could write my own report on it as we witness it first hand in our village of Los Robles. We started out with a feeding/tutorial program for the 70 K thru 6th grade children in the school next to our orphanage building. As we feed and tutored the children, we met their moms and siblings. We learned that these children only got tortillas and maybe some beans or rice once or twice a day , if they were lucky. This program is 3 days a week and we would like to increase it to everyday. The children get a vegetable soup with a little meat and a piece of fruit. We then found out that a baby had died because the mom had no breast milk, so the next time we were in Guatemala, we met with the women of the community. A bunch had infants and no breast milk and no baby will die for lack of formula if I can do anything about it. Now we have 20 infants on formula. And more moms coming to us everyday. Now the moms want to know if we can feed their toddlers, so thru the generous donation of two women who are each giving a $100.00 a month, we have started our toddler feeding program. We need to increase the numbers on all the programs and reach more communities. But we need help. can you give anything? We are traveling to Guate the end of this month and if you send it this week, I will take it down with me. Read the news article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/09/09/guatemala.calamity/

Hunger of Children in Guatemala

The following is an excellent article on the hunger of the Mayan children in Guatemala. We have increased our food programs and need more sponsors to keep them going. Right now we do lunch 3 times a week for 70 K to 6th graders, formula for about 20 infants whose mothers have no breast milk. We just started an incaparina program for 2 to 6 year olds. Gosh do we need sponsors. as the word spreads more and more people come to us. Read the article and then if you want to be on our Guatemalan email group email me at 20.vicki@gmail.com and I will gladly add you. I have pictures of all our programs I send to the email groups.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200908u/guatemala-hunger

Mayan poverty

the following is an interesting little quiz to give you an idea of what your life would be like if you lived in Los Robles where our facility is located or in any of the Mayan villages around the Lake. One. five million people live like this in Guatemala.

So few people really know what it is like to live in a third world country...so here's a little exercise in third world living...it makes me truly feel blessed...how about you???

1. Take out the furniture: leave a few old blankets, a kitchen table, maybe a wooden chair. You've never had a bed, remember?

2. Throw out your clothes. Each person in the family may keep the oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. The head of the family has the only pair of shoes.

3. All kitchen appliances have vanished. Keep a box of matches, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a handful of onions, a dish of dried beans. Rescue those moldy potatoes from the garbage can: those are tonight's meal.

4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, take out the wiring and the lights and everything that runs by electricity.

5. Take away my house and move the family into the tool shed.

6. By now all the other houses in the neighborhood have disappeared; instead there are shanties - for the fortunate ones.

7. Cancel all the newspapers and magazines. Throw out the books. You won't miss them - you are now illiterate. One radio is now left for the whole shantytown.

8. No more postman, fireman, government services. The two- classroom school is 3 miles away, but only 2 of your 7 children attend anyway, and they walk.

9. No hospital, no doctor. The nearest clinic is now 10 miles away with a midwife in charge. You get there by bus or bicycle, if you're lucky enough to have one.

10, Throw out your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, insurance policies. You now have a cash hoard of $5.

11. Get out and start cultivating your three acres. Try hard to raise $300 in cash crops because your landlord wants one-third and your moneylender 10 percent.

12. Find some way for your children to bring in a little extra money so you have something to eat most days. But it won't be enough to keep bodies healthy - so lop off 25 to 30 years of life.

Can you imagine? Unfortunately this a realty for so many living in Guatemala and countries around the world? Can you step up and out of the box to help be the change in the life of a child? Can you spare some change to feed a family? If so here's your chance. Click on the donate button and make a contribution so these children won't have to find work and they will still have a meal!!
Posted by Vanessa at 8:58 AM 4 comments
Friday, July 3, 2009
FFF--HOME

I hope this blog works. I just did 5 pictures from our June trip. I hope you can feel the need and want to help and pray for the people and for us. They are all from the women's meeting I had. One hundred plus women showed up on just a one day notice from our worker Jose spreading the word. The first picture is of the pregnant woman who has a bad case of herpes on her whole face and is going blind from it. She needs serious medical attention and a drug called cyclovar. Anyone want to help her?
The next is the elderly midwife for the community. She has given birth to 17 children, 9 of which are dead. She is a sweetheart and needs a birthing room to deliver in rather than the cold, wet dirt floors of the womens' houses. They can't use the bed because too many other people sleep there or probably because there is not a bed. Any takers here? Help a mom deliver in a nice clean bed in a nice clean room Next, I think is Edit, the 3 year old we found on her dirt floor. We got her to a doctor and got her a wheelchair. All told the visit cost us $100, but that included her monthly meds and Incaperina to improve her nutrition. Any sponsors for her? Last is one of the babies we are giving formula to because the mom has no breast milk. Any takers to save a babies life. Might look good on your resume someday. We have 15 now we give formula to once a week. A big can of formula that lasts two weeks costs $16.00. I think there is a fifth picture , but I can't remember what it is and right now it looks like goobly gook. Hope they look like pictures when they come thru.
My daughter Hannah is doing a lesson on nutrition and why veggies are good for you to the lunch kids tomorrow. We are going to start using Steven Covey's program from his book " The Leader In Me" in our tutorials. Hannah is having another women's meeting on Fri. I know the women will want to know have we forgotten them or are we progressing to help them. I got 40 more cans of formula this week and some meds from a great group. One of our lessons at church today was on charity. Please consider giving; give for the wonderful feeling it gives to you and because it maybe the most important thing you do next week.
Vicki

javascript:void(0)

I am trying to learn how to upload pictures

DONATIONS I NEED ASAP

Well I have booked our tickets and hubby and I are traveling June 10th to Guatemala for 2 weeks. I want to start my welfare program for the community while we are there and will give out needed donations one day a week as well as do a social/medical history on the family to see what ways they need help. Can you tell my degree is in social work? SO...... If you can send me donations to arrive by that date I can take them down with me. I especially want infant formula and over the counter meds for colds and flus. This is the rainy season and it is chilly and wet in an 8 by 8 room with a dirt floor and corncob or recycled tin walls. Also the kids need shoes really bad. We have a family of four boys who have lived in the orphanage and whose mother testified for us in court and who is sending the boys back to us as soon as we reopen. In the meantime, she has no clothes for them. I think we have clothes down there and will get them to her, but she has no shoes. There are not shoes there Pedro has already looked. She also needs money for food and for them to be enrolled in school.
Pedro has painted all the bunkbeds and now we need to buy the mattresses the courts want us to have. They are $20.00 each. We still need to build a kitchen/dining outside room. A friend is doing a online book sale that will give donated books to the elementary school we help. If you need her site let me know. And don't forget buying from ...shoptoearn.net/safehomesforchildren. It saves you wear and tear and earns us money. Any boys that want to do us as an Eagle Scout project write me and I will give you ideas of needed items to collect.
Sometimes I wonder if any one read these blogs because i don't get alot of immediate feedback. And I have a million other things I could be doing. But yesterday I had two great emails. One is from a young woman who has been on the blog for a while and has organized a group to come for a month and build us a building. the other is from a group that has almost [ they are $500.00 short ] raised the money to put a road in to connect the upper property with our lower property. Any way I hate to ask for your help, but need to to be able to help the children. Thanks so much for all you do.
thanks Vicki

Here is what Pedro sent me concerning what the courts want done before we reopen. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I think with the attorneys help we will get all our kids back except the ones who went home to their parents. And maybe some of them as Luis and Anna, Diego and Abram were awarded to us until 18 years old.Please pray about what part you may be able to do.

HI BOS THIS IS THE LIST OF THE JUDGE WANTH WE MAKE IN THE HOGAR THIS IS PRIORITY TO OPENED

BUILDING THE KITCHEN
BUILDING THE DINING ROOM
SECURITY ALL WINDOWS OF THE SECOND FLOOR
MATTRESSES NOT SPONGES
PILLOWS AND BEDDING
MORE LIGHT EXTERIOR

THIS IS THE LIS TO THE STAF WE NEED BEFORE TO APENED
ONE BABYSITTING
ONE COOK
ONE WASHERWOMAN
ONE NURSE
ONE PSYCHOLOGIST
ONE DOCTOR
ONE PROFESSOR
THIS IS FOR THE NUMBER THE CHILDRENS WE HAVE IN THE HOGAR IF WE HAVE A MANY WE NEED MORE STAF
THE CHILDRENS WE HAVE BEFORE CAN NOT GO BACK BECAUSE THE HALF BACK WITH THE FAMILY AND OTHERS GO TO OTHERS ORPHANAGE
THE ATTORNEY WANTH TO SALARI Q 5,000.00 AT MONTH AND HE TAKE THE LEGALY JOB
ANY QUESTION CALL ME

A picture from our new facility and our tutorial program.

* Previous
* Next

Drag the corners of the transparent box below to crop this photo into your profile picture.
Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

Word From Pedro on yesterday's court

Well looks like we can reopen after we have met many requirements. Most of these we knew;they just all cost money. But this is the next phase. Getting done what they want and bringing back the kids. We could also take some of the infants who are being left in cardboard boxes on the streets to die. Pedro is sending me the list today and I will forward it for everyone to see so you can see what you want to help with. If anyone could organise a work team to go down asap, it would be most helpful.We need to build the outside kitchen. Not hard to do. You would not need experience. Guatemala has only had one case in the City of swine flu so it is not a concern.
Pedro saw alot of the children yesterday. He saw three of the babies who are in the government orphanage Casa Alegria. Two are up for adoption. He was in court from 8 to 5 and called me at 7 his time on the way home. It was pouring down rain and we lost connection. So I missed which two. Luis was returned to his mother. Luis was very upset about this and fought with the judge until Pedro talked to him and told him as soon as we reopen he would try and get him to us. This is the same mom who left him when he was one and he was subsequently raped by all his male relatives. The same mom who never came to visit him in the 3 years he lived with us. I can see why he did not wish to return to her. I guess she could have changed. Anna, Diego and Abram were turned over to their grandparents. I happen to know the grandparents. We went to church with them in Santiago. They seemed concerned about the kids and loving towards them. But they were so poor and so frail, I do not know how they will be able to feed them, much less keep them safe from their dad who sells them to other people and the mom who is a major druggy and prostitute. They also had nothing to do with Abram. I will visit them when I go next month and see how we can help. I just remember when they came to us and Abram was a year and could not even sit up. His head was so flat from always laying. He had been hospitalized many times for malnutrition. And anytime anyone came near him he screamed. Two years later he could walk and talk and loved to be picked up and smiled at everyone. I woke this morning at 4am with a nightmare about those kids. The rest went back to their government orphanages.
Now the time has come to get working to get the things done so we can receive the kids back I will send the list, but know that we personally can not afford to do it all. So please see how you can help.
I will post a list of fundraising ideas, but if everyone earned a $100 it would go so far towards what we need. Or gave $25 each. Write me directly if you wish to help at 20.vicki@gmail.com instead of the comments page.
I need to make a retraction. Apparently I misheard JCICS saying they could help us if we paid part of the airfare. They do not work that way. So please overlook what I thought I heard.
Please do the shoptoearn. I found things I needed on there and it was cheaper than the store and the orphanage earned money. For instance I wanted some landscaping fabric. A 3 by 50 foot roll at Lowe's was $14.50. If I ordered it on ShopToEarn from Ace Hardware, it was $12.00 and they shipped free to any Ace store. The link again
is www.shoptoearn.net/safehomesforchildren.org. thanks for any and all help.

News Flash News Alert

Last week several significant things happened surrounding the issue of reopening and the kids coming back. Tuesday Pedro and our attorney go to the head court to meet with the judge and are grilled by her for 1.5 hours. He could not read her and did not know whether she was in favor or not.There he saw all the kids from our orphanage except the babies. As some of you have asked about Luis, he was there and is in the orphanage in Xela. Abram, Diego and Anna, Anna Esquit, Fernanda, Juan and his fam and all the others. I guess the judge was quizzing them also. Friday she asked for an appointment with Pedro and our attorney. She spoke with them for 7 hours. Some of her comments were: "We should have never been shut down in the first place. There absolutely no evidence of any wrong doing. It was criminal what was done to us." She asked Pedro to get affadavits for her as to people we bought food from and paid rent to and bought other things from. She told him some of the things we needed to change when we reopen such as having meat on the menu everyday. We will do this as we want the kids, but here in the states we don't have meat but a couple of times a week because we think it is healthier so we were trying to feed those kids like we do ours. Anyway that will be done. She wants a kitchen outside the residence building so we will do that. She wants doors on the upstairs rooms. Already in the works. And she said she will have the list of other things when he comes to court on WEDNESDAY the 13th of May. The kids will be there also. I think things will be settled and we are praying, hoping for the best. Please pray and think positive for us. Those kids are in such rotten circumstances. I fear for them. Pedro's brother is the chief of police in Chimaltenango and he told Pedro he is investigating a child trafficking thing going on there. I know what that is like for the child as it was part of my childhood.
We need help so much. I had two people volunteer with the website and am going to try and coordinate their efforts this week to get us more visible. I truly appreciate that.
I also need the funds to build the outside kitchen/dining area. It will be a cement slab with cinder block walls part way up. My husband figures if we have to have someone build it, it will run about $5000.00, but if I can get a team down there asap we can do it for just the materials. Either way, cash donations and work teams are much needed.
They want us to have a playground for the kids. That is another work team project.
My husband and I are going down for two weeks in June and can take donations. I would really like formula and newborn kits as I want to do a new mother day for the community of Mayan ladies while I am there.
Also dental and doctor teams and alternative health people. We need simple medical examining equipment and over the counter meds bad. I have an EMT young man who is volunteering for 6 weeks who could help the community alot with those simple things. I will take them when I go if you will send them to me.
I was at a Time Out For Women's conf. this past week end and got a big name musician to agree to do a concert which will be combined with a dinner for us if we do it in Utah where he lives. I need people to help organise this and put it together, but I believe we can make enough from this to build the next building.
Well enough of your time for now. Let me know if you feel prompted to help with any of these things and please pray for the outcome on Wednesday. And remember 100% of your donations go to Guate to take the children. My time and my husbands is totally volunteered. We only pay our in country staff.
Vicki

Mother's Day if you are an orphan

This is the first Mother's day I have been in the states in 4 years. The last four I have been in Guatemala running the orphanage. Mother's Day is even bigger in Guatemala than it is here. It is celebrated all week long and on Thursday of the week all the mothers attend school with their children and receive their presents. Our little children at the orphanage had either me, Olympia [ the social worker ], or Emma [ the cook ] to go with them to school. Don't get me wrong. we loved them, but every child wants a real mom there with them. Then they have to deal with the question, who do I give all this stuff I made to? I got alot of it and I loved all of it. But every time I shared the sorrow they had that there was not a real mom to give it to. And now this year with them all scattered to the wind at different orphanages, on the street, with abusive families, who do they take to school with them or are they even in school and if they are who do they trust enough to give their little paper crafts to? It makes me sad to ponder their fate.
My Mother's Day was great here in the states with kids and grandkids and a wonderful weekend off while my hubby watched the kids. But Mother's Day was hard for some of the people of the world like the little orphans.

Things are moving forward

Things seem to moving in a forward direction. We have had alot of positives.
1] We have had a former volunteer contact us about bringing a doctor group in Aug. so we can do a clinic.
2]The police have contacted us about putting a substation on our land so they can better protect the road. We have agreed. A perk of this will be better protection for our property and the people there.
3]A former volunteer has agreed to provide Christmas for the 70 kids we do lunch and tutorials for. I hope she will do it for the orphanage kids too when they return.
4]A large Christian organization is going to work with us providing work teams to help with construction projects. We are working on the details of this now.
5]We have two volunteers that each want to stay a month that are involved with medical stuff so I am hoping we can have clinics during July and Aug.
6] We had a member of this group send $500.00 for educational support for Pedro's children. Pedro was so moved that he started crying when I told him. Anselmo's children were able to enroll in school and attend because of the school support of another group member.
7] Another volunteer has paid the fee for Safe Homes to be on Shop To Earn. You can go on www.shoptoearn.net/safehomesforchildren and do all your shopping. Alot of the products are shipped free. There are tons of stores on here and everything you buy gives a financial return to Safe Homes. Wendy has volunteered to walk you thru shopping or if you want to sign up for your own store. SHFC gets $100.00 for everyone who signs up for their own store. Let me know and I will put you in contact with Wendy.
Here are some other things we can use volunteers for
a. website construction
b. construction,doctor and dental teams
c. people to just come work and love the kids.

The authority people came on Weds. A day early; I am sure to show power. Pedro called me and said there were 19 people there. He was so nervous. They liked the land and the house. Some were very pleased and obviously caught our vision for the orphaned children. Others he said were normal. Others wanted to know where the seperate building for the kitchen was and the playground. We promised them as soon as we got word we were reopened we would build them asap. No sense in spending the money otherwise as it can go into more feeding/ tutorial programs.

Which brings me to money to build those things. Please would you consider us for a financial donation. Any size is great. or organize a car wash, a bake sale, a golf tournament. Or a dinner at your church. Some groups have raised as much as $10,000.00 from this. If it is close enough I will come speak or find a volunteer near you who has been on site to come speak. My dad used me in child prostitution and pornography so I know first hand what some of these childrens' lives are like. I am unable to turn my back on them. I can't do it without you. 100% of all donations go to the children of Guatemala.

thanks so much for everyone's help
Vicki

GREAT NEWS

Monday Pedro and our attorney met with the judge for Solola who I guess will make the decision on us reopening. He said he saw no reason for us not to open that everything looked good. That he needed to talk with the PGN attorney and the judge in Panajachel.
Then today the judge in Solola called the attorney and wants to visit our facility next Thurs. in terms of us reopening. What a blessing if we could offer a safe homes to our children again. We have much work to do. Please pray, give money or send positive thoughts our way.
Plus if anyone can connect us to a doctor or dentist tema who is willing to come do community service; our Mayan community could sure use it.
Vicki

Children in Need

We received some upsetting news from Pedro. All the charges against us have been dropped and since we were only closed temporarily we should be able to reopen. In an effort to make this happen , Pedro visited one of our children Fernanda. She will testify to the courts in favor of us reopening. If you volunteers remember her, she is 15 and was one of my daughter 's good friends. We were paying for her to go to a private basico [ middle school ] and she was doing well. Her mom had been in prison and then shot by her drug gang and killed. We had to do suicide watch on Fernanda, but she handled it well. When the children were removed from our home, Fernanda went back to her grandfather. But then her father came and got her. When she was younger and lived with him, he had broken both her legs. When Pedro saw her a few days ago, she was covered with burns and said her dad had poured boiling oil on her. She wants to come home to us so bad and all we need to do it is to reopen. All the government orps will be closed at the end of this week and the children are being tossed to the wind. Some homeless, some abusive homes some other orps. Pedro is trying to keep track of them. The following is a report by the Joint Council on International Children Services. It explains the desperate straits of Guatemala's unwanted children. JCICS is willing to travel to Guatemala and plead our case for reopening asap if we pay their expenses.[ they are going thru a difficlut time financially right now ] Please help in anyway you can. Prayer, money, important contacts.
here is the report
http://www.jcics.org/Guatemala.pdf

thanks
Vicki

In addition to running the feeding/tutorial program, Pedro spends a ton of time running around and at meetings trying to get the orphanage kids back. He truly loves those kids. He was able to go to the government orphanage in Mixco a couple of weeks ago and see the kids that were there. Olmypia went with him. They and the kids cried many, many tears. The kids that were there begged him to get them out and back to us. They told him to tell Senora and Senor Dalia to not forget them and to keep working to bring them home. They said they hated it there and cried themselves to sleep every night.
A few days later Pedro read in the Pensa Libre that the government had not approved the budget for 2009 for the PGN attorneys. They are the one that rule over the orphanages. The one we have hates the Mayans and us because we take Mayan children and educate them. She has caused us all kinds of trouble with her lies. her latest is that whne she met with me 2 years ago I tried to give her a big bribe to leave us alone. What a lie. I have no clue how to bribe and would be scared to death to try. Plus we had to have a translator there so I would have had to manipulate a bribe thru a translator. No way I would even attempt that and it makes me mad she told such an outrageous lie. She is the same onemaverick0661@hotmail.com who said we sold the kids for sex to the volunteers. So hopefully her salary will be gone.
A few days ago Pedro and the atty. were called in and told all the charges had been legally dropped. The next day they went in and asked that the association papers be reinstated. They were told this PGN atty. is making all kinds of other complaints. They are fighting to get the kids back. Pedro and the atty. have a meeting Friday to rehash this. Pedro said it would help tremendously if you volunteers, who have been to the orphanage, could write letters telling the judge that the children were well-fed and well-cared for. This must be done immediately. Send the letter: To Whom it may concern. If you write Spanish well, write it in Spanish. Pedro's email address will follow. The emails must be sent by late Thursday so that he can get them for court. Here is his email maverick0661@hotmail.com or send it to mine at 20.vicki@gmail.com and I will forward it

thanks
Vicki

Erin's starts the feeding program

Here is a link to the story of my daughter's trip to Guatemala to start our feeding program there. There are pictures with it.

http://iflifewereeasyitwouldntbesomuchfun.blogspot.com/2009/03/guatemala.html

The feeding/tutorial program has started

Last Monday my daughter was able to oversee the first day of the feeding and tutorial program. We fed 70 children and their teachers K-6th grade and tutored 35 of the oldest. The program starts at 12:30 and ends at 4:30. We had a nutritious soup with lots of veggies and some meat and a fruit. The kids brought tortillas from home. If we were to make the tortillas we would have to hire a second cook that we can not afford as they are so labor intensive. Tortillas are about the only thing besides beans that they get at home so we were not too worried about it. Thank you to all who donated silverware, bowls, cups and plates. My daughter helped to cook the soup to make sure the cook was not overwhelmed. She also shopped with the cook for a couple of days helping her see the best foods both for health and economics. The older children helped distribute everything and all the children washed up their utensils afterwards. They ate it all but were thrilled about getting a banana. You would think that in a country that grows so many beautiful fruits and veggies, the poor children would get their fill. But the fruits and veggies are the most expensive and are grown to make money from the wealthier hispanics. The Mayans can not afford them. So we are focusing on that trying to improve the health of the children. Erin also interviewed the applicants for the teaching position and choose a 22 year old Mayan woman who has a teaching certificate. Erin met with many of the children's mothers to try and make sure they had input. They actually wanted this woman as she was Mayan and would not put them down like the hispanic teachers do. Erin liked her best also. The moms thanked us over and over for what we were doing as they did not feel the children learned alot in the regular school. Erin was very impressed with their concern for their children's education. I will try and get some of the many pictures Erin took up on this blog.
If you would like to be part of this program financially we can increase our lunch/ tutorial days from MON/WED/FRI to add TUES and THURS. We only have enough to do three days right now. Also we could start tutoring the younger children.
Erin also met with Anselmo who has the 16 and 17 that one of our donors is sponsoring in school. She met with the children also. She said Anselmo was so emotional about the help he was getting. They were all so thankful. We still need sponsors for many more children.
Our water maybe in. I need to ask Pedro. I know he has the toilets and sinks and showers in and it is almost hooked up because it got to that point while Erin was there.
We have had some great volunteers stay with us in Los Robles. Thank you so much for all your help. And mant thanks to Erin for taking a week off from her family and helping to get this going.
20.vicki@gmail.com
Vicki

Staus of orphanage kids and new feeding program

I hope alot of you watched the video I sent. It was so sad for my family to watch. We have loved some of those kids for many years and still do. I have a 14 year old daughter who has always seemed somewhat slow. This year she was really struggling with school and we had a bunch of tests done. Her IQ came back seriously low and she was put in a learning Resources classromm. I cried for days after. Well this child loves the orphanage kids. She would live at the orphanage if I let her. When she saw the video, she was sobbing and I put my arm around her. She said " That's my family mom". That has been so profound for me as it really sunk in how right she is. They are our family. We have loved them too long for them to be anything esle. Please pray we get them back soon. Also if you can contribute financially, we can get our attorney to do more.

Here is the status. One of our formers orp kids, Juliana, was reclaimed by her aunt and uncle last month after having spent 6 months in the government orphanage. She clued us into what happened to the kids. We are not allowed to ask questions so it is hard for us to find out anything. Juliana said the kids were divided between several government orphanages. She said they were made to work and not fed as much. She lost 30 pounds. She said the kids cried themselves to sleep ever night and wanted to go "home". She told us this when we were down there in Jan. That same week the Pensa Libre[ country newspaper ] announced that the President.'s wife was closing the government orphanages. We don't know where the kids are now and can't find out. We know the judges are frantic for places to put kids as several of them call us every week asking if we are reopened. The $10,000.00 we spent on attorney fees got all the false charges against us dropped. The next step is to get us reinstated. We were only temporarily closed. We all pray this will happen anyday. The attorney said the person who needs to do it told him he is so busy with all the other things he is doing for the Pres. wife that he has not had time to do the paperwork. But remember there were over 200 orphanages shut down in the last year, not just ours so something weird is happening.

In the meantime or rather especially because of all this, we have started a feeding/tutorial program in the local community. Kids are starving to death and their schooling is poor to say the least. We help the Mayans. Alot of people don't like that as some of the Hispanics use the Mayans as serf labor and an educated Mayan won't do serf labor. My daughter flew to Guatemala today. She will go to the market with our cook tomorrow and buy the food for a simple soup and a piece of fruit. On Monday we open the doors of our feeding/tutorial program. We will feed 35 children at the school next door lunch 5 days a week. There are 35 more who need to have this lunch, but we will have to get more donations to do the next 35. Then after lunch the kids will be tutored for 3 hours in subjects by our hired teacher. This will help them compete for jobs in the future. If this is successful we hope to take the program to more schools for the Mayans.
REMEMBER US FOR DONATIONS FOR ATTORNEY FEES, LUNCHES AND TUTORIALS FOR MORE KIDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS FOR KIDS ESP. PEDRO'S CHILDREN

From the blog site of one of our Casa de Sion supporters. I just found this neat video of the kids in the orphanage when we were at Cerro de Oro. Many of you will remember most of the children. It made me so sad to remember them and know where they are now. Please pray that they will soon be returned to us and the only home most of them have known.

http://www.blogryan.com/maya-jade-orphanage-slide-show/

Vicki

We are trying to help Pedro, our director, with school expenses for his children. So the following is a list of the expenses for his 12 year old son and 7 year old daughter. Pedro' salary has had to be cut because we just don't have as much money coming in to pay him with. He has remained a very loyal employee and we would like to help him out here. The expenses for the year total about $800.00 for each child. Any amount would be of help.
I know this is written in Spanish and calculated in Quetzales.
HI VICKI AND YODY THIS IS THE INFORMATION ABOUT OF MY CHILDRENSJOSE MUGUEL CARRANZA 6TO GRADO PRIMARIAINSCRISION Q. 160.00MENSUALIDAD Q. 1,600.00TRANSPORTE Q. 1,500.00UNIFORME Q. 400.00UNIFORME FISICA Q. 250.00ZAPATOS Q 150.00ZAPATOS TENIS Q. 175.00UNIFORME DE GALA Q 300.00CUADERNOS Q. 70.00LAPICEROS Q. 12.00CAJA DE CRAYONES Q. 15.00BORRADORES Q. 5.00ZACAPUNTAS Q. 10.00PAPEL BOND 80g CARTA Q. 25.00PAPEL BOND 80g OF. Q. 30.00TIGERAS Q. 7.00COMPAS Q. 10.00CALCULADORA Q. 70.00FLAUTA Q. 50.00CUADERNILLO Q. 15.00DICCIONARIO Q. 60.00MARCADORES Q. 15.00MOCHILA Q. 50.00MECANOGRAFIA Q. 450.00FOTOCOPIAS Q. 150.00 ============TOTAL DE GASTOS AL AÑO Q. 5,639.00 ============ANA LUCRECIA CARRANZA 2DO GRADO DE PRIMARIAINSCRIPCION Q. 160.00COLEGIATURA Q. 1,600.00TRANSPORTE Q. 1,500.00UNIFORME Q. 375.00UNIFORME DE FISICA Q. 250.00ZAPATOS Q. 150.00ZAPATOS DE FISICA Q. 150.00GABACHA Q. 75.00UNIFORME DE GALA Q. 225.00CUADERNOS Q. 70.00TEMPERAS Q. 50.00CUADERNO DE TEXTO IDIOMA Y MATE Q. 180.00PINCELES Q. 20.00DICCIONARIO Q. 60.00CRAYONES DE MADERA Q. 15.00LAPICES Q. 10.00LAPICEROS Q. 6.00ZACAPUNTAS Q. 3.00BORRADOR Q. 3.00REGLAS GEOMETRICAS Q. 15.00PAPEL BOND 80g CARTA Y OFICIO Q. 55.00FOLDERS CARTA Y OFICIO Q. 60.00TIGERAS Q. 7.00MANTA PARA COSTURA Q. 20.00LANA PARA COSTURA Q. 30.00MOCHILA Q. 50.00 ============TOTAL DE GASTOS DE TODO EL AÑO Q. 5,139.00 ============

Other happenings. We just about have water. we have had 3 males volunteers there digging diligently to get our water pipes in. The pump is now in so hopefully next week the water will be. My daughter Erin is traveling to Guatemala next week to get the feeding/tutorial program started.
thanks
Vicki

I am forwarding this newsletter I get from a friend of mine in Guatemala so everyone can see how great the need is. Dick does such wonderful work. Our little community of Los Robles where our facility is located has all these same needs. We need help with the malnutrition, but the only way I see to help is to leave the child in the family and provide the help directly to them. We need to help with the domastic violence. It is rampant. Many men have multiple common law wives and can be very abusive to both them and the children. There is much need for medical care. We can have teams of doctors and dentists come to our facility and set up clinics there. We can keep you busy for however long you want to work. Last January, we had a team of two dentists and their organizer come down. They did dental work for the whole orphanage [ 40 kids ], staff members families [ another 20 kids ] and the families of the church we were operating out of. They worked hard for 2 days and what a difference they made. We have the fields to grow food for the community as we have 17 acres of farmland. We need another well and a road put in to be able to grow year round. Now we can only grow during the rainy season. But we also need farmers and workers. Our feeding program starts Feb. 15th and we need volunteers with it. We have hired a cook and a school teacher, but I was unable to get the mothers of the children we are feeding to donate even 2 hours a week to chop veggies and pat tortillas. I don't know why; they are excited about the program. They said they have to work doing what their husbands tell them to do and work in the fields. Anyway I am doing this for the children so we will proceed. So I need volnteers. I need someone to do computer work and update our website so it shows the social welfare programs we are starting. We continue to need your materials donations and money donations. One volunteer has started a Change for Children and will be collecting change to contribute. We can also use grant writers. Well you can tell Dick inspires me. I, like Dick, have seen all those same needs [ a little different faces ] up close and personal. The starving child, the mother and children with no place to live, the funereals of infants who died from lack of milk or medical care, the families who live in one room with dirt floors, no bathroom, parasite infested water, etc. We believe strongly that the real way out of all this is education for all and education of the girls. The boys take priority with the family money, but it is the educated girl who feeds her family correctly, who avoids living in an abusive situation and improves hygiene and practices preventive medical care for the family. Our four children who need sponsorship areJose's two children, one boy, one girl. They are in first grade and need $20.00 each for school supplies, $15.00 each for black shoes, and a bookbag.Anselmo's two children Claudia who is starting 9th grade. Her total expenses are $850.00 for the year. This includes tuition at the private school [ they only have private schools for middle school and high school ], books, uniform, shoes, school supplies and transportation. Her brother Alex is in 8th grade and his total yearly expenses are $750.00 and goes for all the same things. Their expenses do not have to all be paid upfront.things.Anselmo has 5 younger children who need $20.00 each for school supplies and $15.00 each for black shoes.We will have Pedro pay all the fees for the children as we do not want to have to put the fathers in the postion of choosing food for his family over their educational fees.
Thanks for reading this and Thank you to all the families who give money so faithfully even in this tight economy.VickiDonations can be mailed to me and I will take them down. Write for the address20.vicki@gmail.com Pedro and our attorney contiue to work to free our orphanage kids and bring them home to us. The attorney turned in more paperwork last week and hopes to have a good report this week.

I promised I would write more about the kids from the orphanage and where some of them are. Juliana, one of the Mayan teenagers, went to court and was able to be returned to her aunt and uncles home. Pedro met with her on Monday before we flew home on Tues. and she was able to give him the following info.
1] she told him our orphanage was much better than the government one she was in. She had lost about 30 pounds, so we assume she had less to eat. There were 8 girls to a room and many fights. Most of the girls were drug users and prostitutes. She said Brenda cried everyday and swore she was going to run away the day Juliana left. These girls were at Casa Alianza in Mixco. Also there from our orphanage are Alicia, Selena, Josue, Gerardo, Rudy and Byron. We know this one closed last week and all staff were fired, so I have no idea where these kids are now. Juliana said the babies up to 4 years were all brought here at the beginning and then moved, so no one knows where they are now.
2] At the government orphanage in Zacapa there is Maria, Juan, Monica and Aura, as well as Jose Julian, Wendy, Alex, Ludwin and Romon
3] At the government orphanage in Xela are Manuel, Rosa, Rolando, Carlos, Anna, Diego and Abram.
4] Fernanado is home with her grandparents.

While we were there it was annnouced that the National Hospitals were closing because they could not afford to pay the doctors. These are the only medical care for the poor including most of the Mayans. Also the government orphanages were closoing. The Pensa Libre[ national newspaper ] had front page news that the schools were opening late with a deficit; there was not enough money for the desks and books. There was a two page article about all the families who could not afford any rent and were now living on the streets and under bridges. Food prices were 4 to 5 times higher than when we lived there in May.

Pedro is meeting today with the comite [ the community council ] and the parents for the school we are doing the feeding program for. They are excited their children are being given this chance. He had to pay $50.00 to the private school we sent Juliana to last year before they would send her papers to her new school. Wonder if Fernanda is even going to school this year since we have not heard form her family.
Vicki

What happened to the orphanage kids in Guate was so discouraging that I have not written on the blog in several months. However after much work and attorney money things seem to be turning around.
My husband and I just returned from a trip to Guate to assess our past and future programs down there. I will try and go over some of what we learned now and will fill everyone in on the rest as the week progresses. Suffice it to say we are back in business.
First we learned two of the " charges" against were 1]we allowed the volunteers to use the kids for sex. You volunteers know how horrendous and maddening that charge was. The other one was 2]we did not feed them meat with every meal. No evidence was be found to formally charge us and the charges were dropped after $10,000.00 was spent on an attorney. We think the reason the lady attorney who filed the charges hated us was we took Mayan children. They are very discriminated against as are the organizations who help them. We know where almost all the children are. They are either back with family or in one of 3 government orphanages. Some of them have run from the government orphanages as they are really bad places to be. While we were there the government orphanages closed and the staff was fired because there was no more money. The attoney told us things could change really quick and we could be reopened anyday. The woman attorney who gave us so much trouble has asked to move to another area as she is hated by the Mayans and feels threatened. I will tell everyone where each kids is or was last Thurs in the next email. Many have asked about Luis so I will tell you know that he and Anna, Diego and Abram and Manual and Rosa and Carlos and Rolando are at the gov orphanage in Xela. The courts call Pedro 3 or 4 times a week asking if we are reopened as they have tons of children they need to send him. The economy of the country is in horrible shape and I will go over that next email also.
Our building at Los Robles [ Godinez ] is almost complete. Everything is done except the water. We need $5000.00 more to get the water into the house and buy the toilets, sinks and showers.
The building looks great and all the donations including all the wonderful tables and shelving systems that Evelyn's group built are all stacked in there. Pedro and Jose will start organizing everything on Monday. Pedro is ever faithful. He put up a tent in one of the rooms and has been spending his time there working with Jose on digging the septic and dealing with the courts.
Briefly here are the new programs we are starting:
1] a feeding program at the school next door. everyday after school at 12 the 70 elementary kids will come to casa de Sion and have a soup and tortilla lunch. then grades 4, 5 and 6 will stay for tutorials for 3 hours. We start feeding kids on Feb 15th and really need the water in by then; otherwise we will buy a toilet and haul water.
2] a welfare program for the community. Jose told me that his sil had a baby 15 days ago. She had no breast milk and no money for formula and the baby died. I told him not to ever let that happen again. To come to us and we will help. 50% of the people in the community live in one room homes with dirt floors, no bathroom, no water and no electric. jose came to us the day we left with a woman whose husband beat her and kicked her out with the 4 kids under 10. he has 4 other common law wives. we are providing housing and food.
3] scholarships. I am sure many of you met Anselmo. his mom Juana was my maid for 3 years. Anselmo has 7 children. The two oldest are Claudia and Alex [ 8th and 9th grade ] They will be the first in the family to graduate . They want to be teachers. Anselmo and his mom and wife have no education. Anselmo can not afford to send them this year. It will cost $750.00 a piece for the year to send the two of them. That includes pickup transportation. Jose can not afford to send his kids to 1st grade because of costs. That will run about $100 for the year.

Well I will write more in a couple of days. lets just say we are back in business. We have volunteers starting to come in feb. and will have boy and girl bunkbed volunteer room.

Here are things we need
$$$ for the water system and to start a new building and for scholarships for kids. No amount is too small
school supplies and bookbags and educational toys, formula, children's shoes and alway clothes in good condition. can be shipped to my home.

Jody and I took 4 suitcases of your donations down when we went and my son hauled 15 buckets full to go down by container

We can't do this without you.
thanks
Vicki