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