We need Encouragement

I have fiinished reading a book called "People Raising". One of the ideas it talks about is that donors do more than give money. They give encouragement. We need some of that now. Let me whine for a few minutes about all the crap going on down in Los Robles, Guatemala and maybe you can say something that will inspire me to move forward. First, we were burglarized two weeks ago. They broke into the kitchen and stole our microwave and big pots and pans and our submersible pump out of our well. So our poor cook and intern are hauling water from the school to make sure the kids still get their lunch. We are having to spend $500.00 a month more for 24/7 night time security. Who did it? Not sure. Maybe an employee or maybe a group of community men who were mad we did not give them enough food when the mudslides happened. We have heard both rumors. Next a rumor went around that an employee had hired a hit man to beat up our new directors. Some people in the community were upset with them. The new directors left that day. The intern stayed as she was not afraid and things have been fine so far. So now we are trying to hire a new director. A Guatemalan [ actually he is Tzutihil] who used to work for us. Then there has been a string of kidnappings in our area of San Andres. Let me first say before anyone panics.
THEY DO NOT KIDNAP AMERICANS BECAUSE THE FBI COMES IN AND IT GETS STICKY. Much easier to do express kidnappings of a Guatemalan, demand $2000 , get the money or bargain on the money and then return the person. Well so we heard there were a string of them. One was a family of 6, the youngest being 8 months. They wanted $25,000.00 to free them. Safe Homes contributed some as the dad in the family was the brother of our worker Arturo. Friends and family raised the money and two days later the family was thrown over the side of the mountain. The dad was hurt and required hospitalization, but everyone esle is okay. The next day in the same town a stupid kidnapper tried to snatch a boy. Boy yealed. 100s of people with tremendous anger towards kidnappers surrounded him and beat him to death. Things will be safer now and even tho I am an American and belive what I told you about them not taking gringoes, it is scary. My friend Nancy who has lived in the country for 20 years confirmed she has not know gringoes to be taken and that the high ransom must mean the kidnappers were doing a revenge thing on the dad.
Okay so I get past the kidnappers. The Mayan justice does not really bother me as they keep things safer and I wish there had been vigilante justice when I was a kid. Plus i really like the song "Whisky For My Men and Beer For MY Horses". No I do not dirnk, but it is about vigilante justice.
Then our guardian decided to quit. Okay, well there had been trouble surrounding him anyway, so we look to replace him. He decided to stay and we say "sorry", we have other plans. He leaves. goes to the Guatemalan Labor Union and comes back with a piece of paper saying we owe him $3000. So now we have to pay our attorney to get this straigtened out. And we hear thru the grapewine that he is making up false charges against us and is going into cohoots with Pedro to try and get more money out of us. Pedro who has done so many illegal things. Gosh it makes me mad.
Oh yeah our septic system fell in and we have to build another one. That is from the rains. Our well needs a retaining wall from the rains. Poor well. The lid is off where they stole the pump and it is starting to lean from needing the retaining wall. Okay there is all my whining.
I need to be down there and need your prayers for safety, for money, for positive things happening and for the negatives to stop.
There are positive things happening. I just do not feel like writing about them today. Maybe tomorrow.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

Patzaj

Here is another aldea near us that was washed out by the mudslides. They did not have much to begin with and now they have even less. I was not in the country at the time, but a couple of our volunteers were. They along with our employees set up 3 shelter box tents for them, gave them food and took clothes. Our stock of clothing is limited and the stock of shoes is gone. They took pajamas and the mothers put them on the kids right away for warmth. I can't wait until our 140 buckets on the container arrive at our place. Then we will have tons of clothes and shoes and some school supplies and shampoo and kitchen items.
One of the pictures shows a woman overcome by the loss and despair at the amount of clean up work.
One shows the muddy road you have to take to get into Patzaj. Many are of the tents and the people. All over Guatemala people are suffering. Thousands have lost their homes. Many have lost loved ones. And several hundred thousand have lost their food supplies of corn and beans.
Help us to help them. Push the donate button.
Thanks
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

Risking my life to take your Donations to PA

All last week my family worked to sort donations, buy more 18 gallon rubber maid buckets and pack them all with your donations. We packed 140 buckets or about 3500 pounds of donations. All that had been stored in my house and shed. We rented a 6 by 12 foot uhaul it and put a hitch on the back of our 15 passenger van. Then Sunday we took all the seats out and loaded all 140 buckets in the van and the uhaul it. My daughter came to babysit the kids at home and at 8 monday morning Jody and I took off for PA., an 8 hour drive under normal conditions. But nothing is ever normal in my life. As soon as we hit the major highway, the uhaul started wobbling. At one point, my husband pulled too sharp to pass a big truck and went 65 miles an hour doing it. The uhaul went nuts shaking back and forth and he could not control the van. I thought we were dead. I have wondered many times whether I would die doing work for the Mayans of Guatemala. Maybe by a bandito, a kidnapper, a crazy driver on the crazy roads, a mudslide, but never did I think it would be taking a load of donations up to PA. Until then.!!!! I seriously thought we were gone and I wondered if my at home kids would go into foster care. but after much screaming [ until Jody told me to be quiet ; it was not that nice] , then much prayer, Jody figured out how to pull us out of the death throes we were in. The rest of the way was nerve wracking with me watching the speed [ never again over 60], and reminding him a million times to stay slow and in the right hand lane. We did manage to meet my 20 year old for lunch as we came within 5 minutes of her school. That part was fun.
Finally we arrived at Orphan Resources in Epharata, PA were happy to unload all 140 buckets just because it meant we were alive. The container will go out in 2 weeks and should be in Guatemala in 3 more weeks. Lots of great kids clothes [ thank you Karen ] and shoes [ thank you to many of you ] and soccer uniforms and equipment [ thanks again] and some school supplies and kitchen equipment and some warm adult clothing. Thanks everybody. The people of Guate will love you.
We enjoyed our time visiting with Sarah and Rod of Orphan Resources. They are a large interracial family like us with the same crazy hearts we have for Guatemala. Then on to a great B and B in a house built in 1763 in an Amish coommunity. Jody crashed and slept the rest of the night, but the next morning we had a good breakfast and toured the country side before heading home for the next 8 hours. This trip we traveled fine as the trailer had no weight.

Info for buying books

We are holding an Usborne on-line Book Fair (eFair) to benefit Safe Homes for Children! Usborne is a leading publisher of children's books, offering high-quality commercial-free books.

For total Book Fair sales of $200-$499, Safe Homes for Children will receive an additional 25% in free books. For total sales of $500+, Safe Homes for Children will receive an additional 50% in free books! For example, if total Book Fair sales reach $800, Safe Homes for Children will get an additional $400 in FREE books!

There are two ways to shop... both Wishlist sales and personal use sales count towards this total.

Please go to the website below, then click on "Safe Homes for Children" under Active e-Fairs. There is a Spanish book wish list for you to choose from. Once you get to the check-out, choose "Ship to Organization – Safes Homes for Children", and the shipping will be free. Also, there is no sales tax.

Or, if you would like to shop for your family, while benefiting this Book Fair, just
click on "Safe Homes for Children" under Active e-Fairs and begin your shopping. Once you get to check-out, choose ship to your home and your order will ship immediately.

The Book Fair will be open until Sept. 15th. At the close of the Book fair, the Spanish books will be mailed to Vickie Dalia, then make their way to Guatemala.

Thank you for considering supporting this Book Fair!

www.OrderGreatBooks.com

Please buy books for you and help us get more for the library

A report from one of our volunteers on the success of the library.
The library: One of the biggest successes is the library. Children
love coming around or staying after class to read a book or two. The
access pass: their parents’ permission. The principal from the school
told me that there is a difference of day and night between the kids
that stay in the program and the ones that don’t, she also told me
that they have improved their reading speed and reading quality by
tons. We are going to send you the list we made with Russell. One of
the programs that I was going to start on the Wednesday of the
burglary was the reading contest. I left the poster ready on the side
of the closet that has the TV on the main central room. It is ready to
have names posted on it and how many books were read in the period of
two weeks. I also left the prices in the same closet drawer. I left
Laura with all that info and exact location of the things. Children
were reading between 2 and 5 books a day! They also learned silent
reading. The kids loved lying down on the petates or sharing a chair
and reading. We have some pictures that we are going to send, I am not
sure if Russ sent those to you already. They would come with me after
reading and before leaving and they would tell me how much they loved
the stories and what were they all about.

Two containers going down in a week/Need School Supplies

My last blog reported on Nueva Victoria. When I visited there 3 weeks ago, it was to assess needs and give out food, sweatshirts and work gloves so the men could work out in the rain. One of the major needs I saw was the school. They lost their last school building to the mudslides. They had to change departmnts when they moved to new land. The new department is San Andres. That is where our facility is located, so the muni of San Andres came to us for help. They had no money in the budget to hire the 3 teachers needed for 100 children so we paid their salaries and trained them. We even did a week of traiining on the Seven Habits to provide some character training for the kids. Their school "building" consisted of tree posts sticking up in the ground. The men had cut these trees and probably paid for them. Richard, a volunteer there last week, has bought the cement for the floor.I had my new intern go up there yesterday to give me a report on the progress of the school.
Here is her report.

"hey vicki,

in nueva victoria we talked to the community, daniel was there on
richards behalf discussing the water situation and i was there to see
about the school. the temporary school is pretty bad, and
unfortunately we got there too late to see a class in session and the
teachers had left for the day. i took pictures of the school and some
with the kids standing in front. i was able to get the names and
numbers of all 3 teachers and i met the directorat a road crossing to
give her the money to buy a snack on independence day. when i talked
to the directora, she said that they have 82 children, and nothing
else. they dont have a floor (but richard provided money for this
already). they need books, paper, pencils, black or white boards (at
least 3), desks, notebooks, anything you can think of. all they have
now is a few benches and a few pieces of paper...it is truly
incredible that they can even continue like that. the information for
the teachers is as follows:

Maria Morales 5992 5176 (directora)
Telma Quino 4554 6345
Diego Xon 4621 6913"

We have two containers going down in the next two weeks. One from Utah and one from PA. We live in VA and will be traveling hwy 81 with a big turck load of stuff for the PA contaner. If you live in Utah write me and I will give you the number for the family handling the UTah contaner. We need desks, school supplies, shoes, books, medical equipment, dental equipment, farm equipment including shovels, rakes and hoes,toys, household furnishings, kitchen pots and pans and blenders and microwaves. If you can help with any of it, let me know. If you want to donate cash , push the button. Thanks to all of you who have already responded to this disaster.
I do not have Laura's pics yet, but here are a few I took. One of the "school" location with the posts and two of the children you will be helping. There are a total of about 200 children in this community, 100 are elementary age. All would love a simple Christmas party with a small present.

thanks
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

Nueva Victoria

The following pictures are of the community of Nueva Victoria. They are a community of about 380 people who lost everything in the mudslides caused by Agatha. They borrowed money as a community to get this piece of land. With the help of the muni they got enough water in for drinking and cooking. The muni also split the cost with them of a small block making machine that the men work all day making block for their homes. They make 120 blocks a day and use it with some wood to make small homes. The women walk 4 miles up and down steep mountain roads to wash clothes and bodies in the river below. With your financial donations. we took a 100 pound bag of corn and a 10 pound bag of beans out there for each family [ there are 63] . With your material donations we gave each man a sweatshirt [ they had no protection from the rains ] and a pair of work gloves. They were thrilled. Each child got a piece of clothing. and a bag of chips.
I am happy to report that one of our volunteers that was there last week has worked out a deal with the muni to put in a water line that will supply all their water needs. They still need electricity. This same man bought cement to put in a floor for their school. We paid the salary for 3 teachers for the 120 elementary children. So now they have a cement floor and 3 teachers. No desks, no books and no lunch. We would like to help them with all of that, but we would need donations to be able to do that. Feel free to push the donate button. And thanks for helping us help them. We also need teams to go down and helo the people. They are a very hard working community and have done much with the little they have. They lost all their crops tho and still need help withfood. The men go out to work if they have jobs to pay off the loan for the land, but no is living luxurious lives. the picture of the house is the first one they built.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

Mudslides Kill

Here or bury over 100 People.is a story about all the mudslides in Guatemala and the damage they are causing

My husband and I along with two employees were on this road two weeks ago delivering food to the people of Nahuala.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100905/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_guatemala_mudslides

Help Us Improve Our Library

Thanks to some wonderful people we have been able to start a library in Los Robles. Our new directors spent many hours finding our books, organizing and cataloguing them. Since my mom was a librarian and I made money in college cataloging library books, this is close to my heart. I love to read and am a lifelong learner. Teach a kid to love reading and you can change their life. You can also take them away from a hard life and help them survive.So we now have 600 books for grades pre_K thru middle school. We have an incentive program or reward for each book the children read and we have a story hour on Tuesdays at our children's play group. Help us get 300 more books for either this library or to start a new one in Nueva Victoria and change a kid's life. Here is how to do it. And thanks to Debbie for orgaanizing this.
I will post pictures of it later as my computer is malfunctioning right now.


We are holding an Usborne on-line Book Fair (eFair) to benefit Safe Homes for Children! Usborne is a leading publisher of children's books, offering high-quality commercial-free books.

For total Book Fair sales of $200-$499, Safe Homes for Children will receive an additional 25% in free books. For total sales of $500+, Safe Homes for Children will receive an additional 50% in free books! For example, if total Book Fair sales reach $800, Safe Homes for Children will get an additional $400 in FREE books!

There are two ways to shop... both Wishlist sales and personal use sales count towards this total.

Please go to the website below, then click on "Safe Homes for Children" under Active e-Fairs. There is a Spanish book wish list for you to choose from. Once you get to the check-out, choose "Ship to Organization – Safes Homes for Children", and the shipping will be free. Also, there is no sales tax.

Or, if you would like to shop for your family, while benefiting this Book Fair, just
click on "Safe Homes for Children" under Active e-Fairs and begin your shopping. Once you get to check-out, choose ship to your home and your order will ship immediately.

The Book Fair will be open until Sept. 15th. At the close of the Book fair, the Spanish books will be mailed to Vickie Dalia, then make their way to Guatemala.

Thank you for considering supporting this Book Fair!

www.OrderGreatBooks.com

thanks
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com