Why We need An Orphanage OR COME SHARE THE BLESSINGS

While in Guatemala this last time, Jody and I and the kids and Robert, the new director, were able to find one family of children who had been in our old orphanage.We went to visit them on Saturday and the pictures show what we found. Manuel, Rosa, Rolando and Carlos had been with us since Rosa was 9 and Manuel was 13. The boys were 6 and 8 when they came. They are the children of finca [ plantation ] workers and their alcoholic father and mentally challenged mother could not feed or educate them. They signed them into our care with finger prints on the legal papers. Within the year they went from dirty malnourished uneducated kids to extremely neat and clean kids who seemed to appreciate a bath and clean clothes [ at least Rosa and Manuel did ]. Rosa was top in her class and Manuel was winning art awards for his artistic ability. Then we were shut down [ which is another long story that I was lied to about and will have time to write about someday ]. The kids went back to their mom and dad. The dad has left them now and they live here. There are eight children in all. Manuel-17, Rosa-13, Rolando-12, Carlos-10, Carolina-8, Victor-6, Reuben-3 and David-1. The day we arrived Rosa was tending the younger children while Manuel and the other boys were with their mom on top of the mountain gathering firewood to sell. It was a surprise visit for them. When I hugged Rosa she just balled into my shoulder. I imagine life has been very hard for her. All the kids were dirty, but Rosa had been my most prim and clean girl at the orphanage. She was now filthy. She is at the prime age to be raped and there is no one to protect her alot of the time. David, who she was holding when I hugged her screamed at the stranger hugging his sister, which made me wander what horrors these kids had seen. There was not a drop of food in the house. They slept on the floor on two thin blankets with nothing to cover them. Some of the kids did not have shoes. The older four were enrolled in school, but not attending as they did not have school supplies or the monthly fee to attend. The boys and the mom would each carry off the mountain 100 pounds of firewood for a 5 mile trek so they could sell it for food. It broke my heart that Rosa, my little student who had tried so hard to be clean and studious, was now reduced thru no fault of her own to being dirty and not in school. Reuben, the 3 year old, was sleeping on one of the thin blankets. We had saved his life when he was 1 month old. The mom had come to the orphanage to visit the four oldest. She told me she had no breast milk and we had hired her on the spot to live there with the younger children and have formula for Reuben. My staff hated her as she did not work and 2 months later the dad whisked her away with the younger children.
Saturdya , two weeks ago,we brought food. Big bags of beans and rice and oats and a big bottle of oil and the cans of tuna and peanut butter that one of you had sent to me. We brought shoes for each child from the shoes that you had sent. We committed to coming back with blankets and clothes as they seemed to have no more clothes than those on their backs. The pictures are pretty self-explanatory except the ties. We had been taken to their home by their Sunday school teacher. The children had attended church services every Sunday while in the orphanage. The boys had saved their ties and wore them every Sunday. Manuel made sure that all 8 children went to church with him each Sunday even tho the mom did not go. AMAZING. AN AMAZING BOY.
BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO FOR THEM IS OPEN THE ORPHANAGE AGAIN. WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO THAT . MAYBE AS EARLY AS NEXT MONTH. WE NEED HELP THO. OUR FINANCES ARE COMMITTED TO THE PROGRAMS WE NOW HAVE GOING AND THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT AS YOU WILL SEE ON THESE BLOGS. WE CAN USE SOME OF OUR EXISTING EMPLOYEES TO RUN THE ORPHANAGE, BUT WE MUST HIRE MORE. WE NEED ABOUT $4000.00 MORE A MONTH COMING IN FOR THE ADDITIONAL EXPENSES. i NEED 40 PEOPLE TO COMMITT TO $100.00 A MONTH OR 80 TO $50.00 OR ONE TO $4000.00 OR 400 TO $10.00. ANYWAY YOU GET MY GIST. PLEASE HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN. THESE CHILDREN COULD BE WITH US AS SOON AS NEXT MONTH WITH YOUR HELP.