The Miracle of Edison

 here is a picture of Edison and his mama. She brought him to Casa de Sion 2 years ago when he was 2.5 years old. He could not hear. But he had the sweetest look in his eyes. You could tell he was unsure of the world by the way he never smiled, clung to his Mother's skirt and never played. We had him checked out by Dr. Peter who said he definitely could not hear. then he recommended treatment at Fundibien in Panajachel. Casa de Sion  found a sponsor who has paid for the transportation. Then they started a school in Pana for special kids like Edison. Again their transport was paid for. we never could come up with the $1000.00 needed for the hearing aids tho. But the school found him some. I saw him for the first time with his new hearing aids a couple of days ago and he is a different child. Coming up to me and signing hello. Smiling and laughing and looking like the world is not such a scary place. Oh how he touched my heart. Then his mama gave me a basket full of hot homemade tamales. So poor, but so generous. How I love this Mayan family.

my basket of tamale feeding the men at a staff meeting

Have you ever seen a sweeter smile

what about this one; see his little hearing aids?

Donate now so we never have to tell a child like this no

Check Out Our progress in Self-Sufficiency

 Jody and I toured our gardens in Los Robles, Guatemala Sunday after church. Here's what we found. A hoop house full of tomatoes, 50 beautiful brocolli plants and 50 caulifours ready to harvest in a couple of weeks, green beans, quisquil, carrots about 4 inches long, onions growing, swiss chard and a hugh field of black beans, plus assorted herbs.

heads the size of a basketball

 Did I say everything is being grown organically?

this is quisguil, similar to a squash and very popular here

The most exciting news tho is we have 13 more acres just waiting to be planted with something. We have hired a new gardener who is knowledgeable in everything we want to move forward with. He knows how to take chickens thru the process from laying eggs , to setting the chicks, to harvesting the eggs to eat to killing the old chickens and using them for meat. We want to get started on this right away and increase our chickens from the 20 we have right now to the 100 our chicken house is set up for.
We want to add the raising of pigs to our self-sufficiency dream. There is a good market for them and the addition of pork and eggs to our feeding programs would be most welcome. We want milk animals to be able to give the children fresh milk. Last but not least, we want to plant fruit trees. Apple, peach and avocado. And blueberry bushes. I want to use our farm as a training farm for the people in the community. I have wanted to do something for the men to strength their ability to make money, but also to strength their feelings of self-worth. A once a month farm lesson for them with a lunch to make them feel special and for them to take to their homes the knowledge to produce more of their own food and give their families something to eat besides beans and tortillas. It will also be a great training tool for the children and women we serve. The children can grow up knowing how to plant and harvest the foods they need FOR optimum health.

DONATE NOW TO MAKE THIS DREAM COME TRUE SO WE CAN USE ONLY THE FOODS WE RAISE IN OUR FEEDING PROGRAMS AND USE OUR FARM AS A TRAINING TOOL FOR THE COMMUNITY. 

THANKS
VICKI DALIA
20.VICKI@GMAIL.COM

Wow there is a lot of work to opening an orphanage. My husband, accountant and I met for 3 hours with Edy Tum yesterday. He is the consultant that handles the opening of new orphanages. He checked out our place and gave us a blow by blow of everything we need to do and need to get. Here it is. If you have ever wanted to help the orphans of the third world here is YOUR chance.  Below is the list.

A picture of the addition we want to add to the playground

Edy, Roy and my husband meeting at the orphanage building. I, of course, am taking the picture.

CONSRUCTION List of improvements to Los Robles

Edy Tum says these need to be done by mid-October.

 

1.        Extend dining room  out 8’ to 10’ and close in.  I like the idea of large windows to allow for ventilation.

2.       Water and sink put in kitchen. Possibly build a new kitchen and use old one for food bodega.  Two cabinets with doors for food storage.    

3.       Add bodega space possibly near the kitchen area.  More much more space.

4.       Pila with 3 faucets for teeth brushing outside of kitchen.

5.       Gas tank for kitchen has to be enclosed or outside back beyond the kitchen wall.

6.       Fire pit has to be enclosed.  Possibly put beyond back of kitchen area.

7.       All windows that are broken need to be replaced.

8.       Umbrellas for tables.

9.       Add laundry room on 3^rd-4^th floor or near kitchen  area.  Must be enclosed if kids nearby.

10.   Fence around perimeter of property.  Must include new gate for cars, to clinic, and beyond to gardens.  Two meters high with maya embedded in cement at bottom.

11.   Fence  near parking area.

12.   All inside doors need knobs and locks that kids cannot use.

13.   Need fire extinguishers.  At least 2 preferably three.

14.   Painting inside and out all over except clinic. 

15.   Signs for all doors preferably in English as well as Spanish.

16.   Closets need to be painted and screwed to walls.

 

 

We need to build a third floor to accommodate teams which bring in money and donations and labor for the programs.  This will allow the bottom two floors to be exclusively for the orphanage.

 

 

Jody & Vicki Dalia

20.vicki@gmail.com

www.safehomesforchildren.org

www.casadesion.blogspot.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other things that need to be done

 

1.        All board members need to have submitted to Edy Tum by tomorrow the following:

Scanned copy of your passport or DPI which includes Name, age, passport number, passport origin, and additionally your occupation and marital status.

 

2.       Need bell, Furniture for orphanage:  enough to outfit two living rooms for orphanage.  Couches, rocking chairs, etc.  Wall decorations for children.   LDS posters would be nice.  CD player with church CDs.   One TV with DVD player and DVDs that are educational, uplifting or clean recreational entertainment. 

3.       Bedding: kid oriented sheets, quilts and pillows.  Bedding for twin and crib size. 

4.       Diapers, formula and other baby items.

5.       Table and chairs for studying.

6.       Spanish children’s books.

7.       Larger van for transportation to church.  Pickup truck. Newer car.

8.       Children’s toys.  Small ridding toys for toddlers.  Sports equipment. 

9.       More playground equipment.

10.   More bunk beds and cribs.

11.   Kitchen equipment.  Silverware, pots & pans, plastic plates & cups, blender & other appliances.

12.   Anyone with connections to food producers in the country: for example, supplies of cheese, yogurt, milk or the like.

13.   To increase our self-sufficiency we have 13 unused acres and could use: livestock, cows, goats, pigs, chickens, fruit trees, etc.

Tocayche takes off with new feeding programs

We finally got our feeding programs started at Tocayche. The community bought the big pots and pans, KAH supplied the nutritional rice and Casa de Sion bought the rest. Now 60 elementary children and 35 children under 5 are being fed  lunches each day.

Dominga with Casa de Sion keeps things in order but the community women do the cooking and run the program

proud of their new pots and pans that they bought

the women are proud of their cooking

BUT MOST OF ALL THE KIDS ARE HAPPY








WANT TO PARTNER WITH US AND FUND A COUPLE OF TEACHERS [ $500.00 a month] or ADD THE MAMA/TOT PROGRAM [ $500.00 a month] OR SPONSOR ONE OF THE 8 STUDENTS IN THIS COMMUNITY WHO COULD NOT GO TO MIDDLE SCHOOL THIS YEAR BECAUSE OF FINANCES [ $300.00 a year]

WRITE ME AT 20.vicki@gmail.com or just DONATE

Dental Team visit: a wonderful powerpoint of service

The following is the power point presentation that Kindersmile made about their dental team trip to help the Mayan communities that we serve.

They gave so much..

http://www.kindersmile.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Jr-board-Presentation-Hec-Casa-De-Sion-V1.pptx)