Food needs For 2011.

Bad Omens for 2011 – FOOD-GUATEMALA
Bad Omens for 2011
By Danilo Valladares

GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 16, 2010 (IPS) - Guatemala needs to take steps to prepare for even worse problems of hunger in 2011, caused by climate change and farmers' heavy dependence on a few basic crops like corn and beans, experts warned on the occasion of World Food Day, celebrated Saturday.

"The phenomenon of La Niña is expected to last through 2011, bringing extremely heavy rains," Eddy Sánchez, director of the National Institute of Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology, told IPS. "Extreme climate conditions will continue to be seen over the next few years."

La Niña is characterised by cooler than normal sea surface temperatures and unusually strong trade winds in the equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean, which often bring torrential rains.

El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of a Pacific Ocean cycle that affects temperatures in the ocean and the atmosphere above it. They repeat every three or four years on average, and are the extremes in what is known as the Southern Oscillation.

The proportion of malnourished people in Guatemala rose from 15 percent (1.4 million people) in the 1990-1992 period to 21 percent (2.7 million people) in the 2005-2007 period, according to the "Panorama de la Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional en América Latina y el Caribe" 2010 (Overview of Food and Nutritional Security in Latin America and the Caribbean).

Honduras and Nicaragua, meanwhile, reduced their malnutrition rates from 19 to 12 percent and from 50 to 19 percent respectively, in the same lapse of time, the report adds.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) study released this week warns that the food security situation in Guatemala, as well as Bolivia and Haiti, is serious.

The production of corn, the main subsistence crop in this Central American country, has declined due to the impact of climate change. The projected harvest for the May 2010 to May 2011 period is 28 million quintals, while average annual consumption is 40 million quintals, according to the United Nations agency's office in Guatemala.

Sánchez said that in order to counteract this situation, the country must adopt measures to adapt to global warming, using flood- and drought-resistant seeds, and diversifying crops, for example.

The situation has not been easy for Central America, especially Guatemala, one of the poorest countries in the region. Half of the population in this country of 14 million people lives below the poverty line and 17 percent of Guatemalans are extremely poor, according to U.N. figures.

Tropical storms Agatha, in May, and Alex, in June, and torrential rains in this year's rainy season left more than 100,000 people homeless and caused serious damages to roads and other infrastructure.

Paradoxically, the main problem in the region last year was drought, which caused severe losses in grain crops, and even the malnutrition-related deaths of at least 54 children in Guatemala.

Furthermore, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala are still feeling the effects of the devastation caused by hurricanes Stan, in 2005, and Mitch, in 1998.

"We are entering a more alarming stage," Roberto Cabrera, with Action Against Hunger, told IPS. "We have had three years of virtually continuous shocks since the 2008 global economic crisis, the drought caused by El Niño last year, and the excessive rains this year."

The expert said small farmers have not had "a single successful harvest season" due to the erratic climate conditions, which "this country is not prepared for."

This year's heavy rains caused crop losses mainly in the south and the west, while the so-called "dry corridor" in the centre and east of the country continued to suffer the effects of drought and the food crisis, although there was less crop damage, Cabrera said.

Guatemala needs "an integral government policy that creates alternatives which would free farmers from having to grow corn and beans, their main sources of livelihood," he said.

Sucely Girón, with the Food Security Observatory, told IPS that it would be very important to "put a priority on food and nutritional security" when the government budget for 2011 is being discussed.

She called for strengthening the Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security information system in order to map out where the hungry are located, and for the earmarking of funds for the institutions that make up the National System of Food and Nutritional Security.

These institutions were created by law in 2005 to promote policies and mechanisms specifically designed to fight hunger. However, they have not yet had tangible results.

Girón also said it is necessary to invest in studies to explore other possibilities of subsistence for people in rural areas, such as tourism. "People cannot continue to depend on the cultivation of corn," she argued.

In addition, "crop diversification must be promoted, as well as the use of agro-forestry systems," or the combination of agriculture with the planting of trees, to optimise production, she added.

Gustavo García with FAO Guatemala also commented to IPS that alternative sources of income in rural areas must be explored. But he stressed that access to credit must be improved in order to do this, because "many farmers would like to diversify their crops, but don't have the means to do so." (END)

Save A Life

Push the Donate

As we get ready to leave for two weeks in Guatemala, I am anxious to see what has moved forward or ,sadly, backwards since we were there the last time. I know the posts sticking up out of the ground for the school in Nueva Victoria,have had lamina but around them. No windows to see out of of or to provide ventilation, but lamina on the sides and roof to protect from the downpours that continue to make life miserable for the people. I an excited to tell the people of Nueva Victoria that soon, in Jan., a team will be coming down to build the tables and benches they need to school their 2011 , 120 elementary students. I am thrilled that thru the help of a Utah man that came as a volunteer a few months ago, they will get the water they need to wash and bath. He is also providing the cement for the floor of the school. He also plans to help them buy the materials they need to build permanent houses. I am worried that they have not had enough beans and corn to maintain even the most basics of health. So many are starving in Guatemala because of all the crops destroyed by the rains and the mudslides destroying their homes. They are in survival mode. I am even more concerned about the people of Nahuela. Can not wait to talk to our contacts there to see how this aldea is faring. They have been unreachable since we were there as you had to go on the international highway that was closed because of all the mudslides and resulting deaths.
I want to see our facility that was damaged by slides and banditoes. We have to build a retaining wall. We are in the process of putting bars on all our windows and doors so they can not be broken into. We have rebuilt the septic tank that fell in .We are interviewing people to work security at night. I am excited to work with the employees on our ongoing programs. We continue to have more and more pregnant women come for the eggs and lunch and help. I want to start the same program at Nueva Victoria and will be looking at the logistics of doing that. Feeding programs for the kids and tutorials.
I am wondering the status of the bridge between San Andres and Panajachel as I have no desire to cross the foot bridge. I will be taking possession of a new house on the San Andres side of the bridge that will be used for our family while we live there after the New Year and for volunteers when we are not there. It is hugh and I think everyone will enjoy it.
None of my pictures will load , probably because of the storm and I need to go do a conference call with my management staff of our for -profit business.
Please give $$$$$ for us to buy food for the needy while we are there. You will be saving a life. Also if you want to send needed items for me to take, do it now. Thanks to everyone who has already sent items.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

As we get ready to leave for two weeks in Guatemala, I am anxious to see what has moved forward or ,sadly, backwards since we were there the last time. I know the posts sticking up out of the ground for the school in Nueva Victoria,have had lamina but around them. No windows to see out of of or to provide ventilation, but lamina on the sides and roof to protect from the downpours that continue to make life miserable for the people. I an excited to tell the people of Nueva Victoria that soon, in Jan., a team will be coming down to build the tables and benches they need to school their 2011 , 120 elementary students. I am thrilled that thru the help of a Utah man that came as a volunteer a few months ago, they will get the water they need to wash and bath. He is also providing the cement for the floor of the school. He also plans to help them buy the materials they need to build permanent houses. I am worried that they have not had enough beans and corn to maintain even the most basics of health. So many are starving in Guatemala because of all the crops destroyed by the rains and the mudslides destroying their homes. They are in survival mode. I am even more concerned about the people of Nahuela. Can not wait to talk to our contacts there to see how this aldea is faring. They have been unreachable since we were there as you had to go on the international highway that was closed because of all the mudslides and resulting deaths.
I want to see our facility that was damaged by slides and banditoes. We have to build a retaining wall. We are in the process of putting bars on all our windows and doors so they can not be broken into. We have rebuilt the septic tank that fell in .We are interviewing people to work security at night. I am excited to work with the employees on our ongoing programs. We continue to have more and more pregnant women come for the eggs and lunch and help. I want to start the same program at Nueva Victoria and will be looking at the logistics of doing that. Feeding programs for the kids and tutorials.
I am wondering the status of the bridge between San Andres and Panajachel as I have no desire to cross the foot bridge. I will be taking possession of a new house on the San Andres side of the bridge that will be used for our family while we live there after the New Year and for volunteers when we are not there. It is hugh and I think everyone will enjoy it.
None of my pictures will load , probably because of the storm and I need to go do a conference call with my management staff of our for -profit business.
Please give $$$$$ for us to buy food for the needy while we are there. You will be saving a life. Also if you want to send needed items for me to take, do it now. Thanks to everyone who has already sent items.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

CHILDREN'S DAY

Yesterday was Children's Day in Guatemala. We bought cakes and had about 60 kids at our lunch and Cake Party for the afternoon. They played all kinds of games and had a ball. I was in Guatemala last children's day and remember how fun it was for the kids.
We will be living down there for Jan., Feb., Mar., and April with our kids. We plan on organizing baseball teams for the kids as it is my husband's favorite sport plus it is one I can play. If you have any baseball equipment, get it to me and I will take it down. My husband and I are also going down either the end of Nov. or beginning of Dec. I will take any Christmas gifts you send for the kids at that time.
Still need Skyline Miles really bad.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

Teams For 2010 AND 2011

In order to plan our volunteer schedule for the rest of 2010 and 2011, I need to know if you alone or with a team are contemplating coming down to help and when. Yes I am moving forward; never thought of quitting. Thanks for the encouragement and let me know asap.

Vicki

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

NEED DONATIONS

The pictures are of an aldea by the name of Nahuala. They have nothing. No shoes, no coats, no food, one set of wet clothes and muddy floors in their makeshift shacks. Half the children had no shoes on in 45 degree rainy weather. One picture is of a very shy little girl who had muddy, bloody feet. We spent our first days assessing needs of three aldeas. This one. Los Robles. and Nueva Victoria. Nahuala was the worst. We cmae back later with Shelter box tents, shoes, clothes and 100 pounds of corn, 10 pounds of beans, 10 pounds of sugar and a box of soap for each family. THANKS TO YOU WHO DONATED THE MONEY FOR THIS FOOD. IT WAS LIFE SAVING. Also a month's supply. I have pictures of the tent day I will post later.
But I want to get this out now as we are sending a container down the end of Sept. It is by far the cheapest way to ship. $3.50 a sq. ft. but I need your donations here by the 20th as we will be packing it then. We are in desperate need of shoes [ from little guys to adult size 9 ], socks, underwear, jackets and sweats for adults, work gloves, ponchos, school supplies, OTC meds, medical equipment and if close enough furniture for our directors houses and farming equipment like a tiller.
Write me at 20.vicki@gmail.com

More from Guate

We have been so busy the last few days. We set up tents in Nahuala on Thurs. for families that had very crude shelters, like boards loosely put together and old tin roofs done the same. The boards were so far apart and the tin so loose that rain came in freely. Their floors were dirt and always muddy. They slept on boards raised about an inch from the ground with whatever they could find for blankets. It is always raining there, it seems and the children had no coats. By the time we left on Thurs., all the kids had jackets and some had shoes. Each family had a tent with a floor and sleeping mats and blankets. They had water jugs and water filters. The tents are beautiful and the families were so..... happy. No rain, no wind and no mud floor. We are going back out there today to give out a 100 pound bag of corn and 10 pounds of beans and soap and sugar to each family. We did the same on Friday to the 63 families of Panamache { now called Nueva Victoria}. I have to go pack and get ready to deliver food, so will have to write more later. Also have a bunch of pictures. I usually go yo church on Sunday but this is our only day we can delvier the food as it was the only day I could get a 4 by 4 to make it back to Nahuala.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

here in guate

first let me say i am at an internet cafe with no caps that work on the computer and is missing several keys. love guate. we have been so busy. the first day here mike with shelter box tents called me asked if we needed more tents. he had given us 50 some right after the hurricane and he was in the country ad had more and had my guate number. i told him we were going to do a needs assessment the next day would let him know. well in one day we found over 1000 homeless people living in horrible shelters or out in the open. the children were so scik from living in the cold , 40 degrees, and rain with only a tshirt and pants and some with no shoes. 600 of them had zip in the way of food. not even beans and corn. safe homes for children is buying 1500 DOLLARS WORTH OF 100 POUND BAGS OF CORN AND BEAANS AND BOXES OF SOAP. GUS, OUR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR FRIEND HERE IN COUNTRY GOT A TRUCK FROM THE MUNICIPALITY AND IS PICKING UP ALL THE TENTS TODAY. THEY WEIGH 110 POUNDS EACH AND COST 1000 US DOLLARS EACH. WE WILL BUY THE FOOD TOMORROW AND SPEND ALL DAY TOMORROW, FRIDAY AND SAT SETTING UP TETS AND GIVING OUT FOOD IN 3 COMMUNITIES. IW ILL BE SO HAPPY FOR THE CHILDREN TO GET OUT OF THE RAIN AND COLD. I HAVE SHOES FOR THE WORST OF THE CASES.either there is no caps or all caps. gosh i miss my computer . other organizations are beggin us for small neds tools. please go to all your doctor friends. we need the thing you look in the ear with. a stethascope and the thing you listen to the babies heart beat with.. we need them for several clinics. also many meds as the homeless people are all sick. also moey for food. and to ship our container that has many pairs of shoes. oh yeah we are out of formula.
yesterday at our mamas gorup we had 44 mamas adn 100 children. another crippled boy who can not walk, a two year old who had been hit on the arm so bad it was broken and the dad would not let us take him to the hospital. we have a 13, 9 and crippled 6 year old lving by themselves that need help. toms of malnourished and starving kids and moms. i will write more and send pictures when i return. but samuel has his new races and walked acroos the room to me with a hugh smile on his face. he walked perfectly. it was amazing. the 8 year old who came in yesterday and can not walk is named tony and is 8. my son at home is named tony and is 8 so i fell in love with him immediately. my twins were there anad they are so healty and cute thanks to the formula and clothing we give for them. i started teaching the mamas the steven covey 7 habits yesterday and they had no idea what being pproactive meant, but by the time i finished they said they knew and marie is going to work with them on the habits for the next year helping them grow in thier effectiveness in life. i love our new managers, russ and marie. they organized all our books and classified them ad we now have a genuine library, the only one for an hour around.

as far as our reunion here is what i was thinking. tripp comes in fri. he is at my house fri. jenn comes in sat to rental. her fam and tripps fam stay there til mon when tripp leaves. bets and hannah move in to rental cabin then. erin and fam stay with us in guest bedroom and bets and hannahs bedroom or emmies bedroom whichever is easier. sarah and fam stay with flossie. sunday we have a big fam dinner and a photograpeher. do not who that will be yet. any suggestions. monday, tues and weds, we do park and pcinic and hike, creeper trail and childrens barter theatre depending on weather. thurs just chill. bethany cooks italian with scotia and alisa as sous chefs and we all clean up. any takers for the other days. i will buy breakfast and lunch food for everything esle and will buy supper food if i have cooks.
well gotta to go meet with the managers..

love all of you and really miss you, but sure do realize how lucky you have it.
mom and vicki

Formula and Building a Communidad

I leave to go to Guatemala tomorrow for two weeks. We will be looking at all the homeless communidads and assesing needs. We have about $2000 donated dollars for food. We have a man trying to raise money for a water system for them. We also have a man that is talking about providing housing for 76 of the families. We will be working to aid in the accompishment of all of this. We will also be meeting and training our new directors and buying chickens for our completed 100 bird house. And checking out all our existing programs.
We got a call last night about the twins that we are helping with their support. They are two months old and can not tolerate any formula but Enfamil Supreme. It is not available in Guate so I went to Walmart and bought $275 worth of formula for the babies in our programs who need special formula. Thanks to one of our donors we had money for this.
So the pictures are of one of the twins and children from the communidad that will receive the homes.
Thanks to you our donors.
Also thanks to my two adult daughters who have come in babysit our kids still at home.
20.vicki@gmail.com

We had a man from TN go down to volunteer recently. I had told his story about a dream/vision he had of a young boy in a blue and yellow shirt a few blogs ago. After the dream, he had searched the internet until he found the boy from a picture I had posted on a blog that same day. So Bryson felt impressed to help us. He went by himself two weeks ago, but in Sept. wants to bring his wife and two young children down. Bryson helped with our projects in Los Robles while there putting in a cement wall on the third floor so that rain water would drain better up there. Then he visited the homeless villages. The 24 families in San Andres and the 76 families in Panamache. He was very impressed with their need for everything. He took incaparina to the children and clothes and shoes from our storehouse. He came back fired up to help the 76 families get water. They basically have none: to bath, to drink,etc. He wants to raise the funds to put a permanent water system in. The only problem. There is no electricity there so pumping it up from a hand dug well would take a generator and trying to collect rainwater would only work 6 months out of the year when there is rain. ANY IDEAS? WANT TO HELP? Push the donate button. The pictures are of the kids that belong to the homeless families. The one of the plastic bags is their makeshift shower. I would guess you would have to be pretty dirty to go do that.
I have been asked to supply the finances for 4 teachers to go to the 76 families to teach the children. There is no school there, but there are 120 elementary children who need the structure and learning supplied by school. CAN YOU HELP? To do this for the next 4 months will cost $4000.00.
Also we have enough donations to send a container down. I have a hospital and dentist willing to give us equipment when the container goes down. I can buy a container and send it for $10,000.00. The container will belong to us and can be used as a storage shed. With all the projects we are doing, we need a storage shed.. So we need money for this. We also would like to take our preschool program/lunch/elementary tutorials to Panamache. They will donate the land and do the building. We supply the materials and hire the cook and teacher. Can you help with this? Please pass this blog to everyone you know. We need some grant writers or just plain rich people. But we like the $10.00 a month people too and the praying ones. Put this blog on your facebook. Do what you have to to help us grow and help the people. 100% goes to the people to help them help themselves.

thanks
Vicki
20vicki@gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/casadesion

Our New In-Country Directors

Robert is no longer able to do all we need to have done as the Director of our projects. He has his own foundation and it needs more of his time.He will stay on to handle the finances. Russ and Marie Nielson have come on as our live-in in country directors. Marie is Guatemalan, but has been living in Utah going to school there. Russ is from the USA. He has been trained as a police officer. Marie is a certified Guatemalan teacher. They have worked with slow learners and are excited about working with us. The picture is on them.
Here is the blog excerpt that Russ wrote when he was in training with Robert last week.


"We left from San Lucas around 11:15 and started the trek to the center. About half way we stopped at a restaurant called “Tikal”. It is a fancy little restaurant along Pan-American Highway #1. After lunch we finished the trip to the center. When we got here, the doors were locked and I couldn’t get in. We called Jose, (the groundskeeper who happens to live 100 yards away from the center) to see if he had keys to the building. He didn’t have any keys, so we had to call Dominga (the cook) who had the keys. She lives in the town of Godinez, which is about 15 minutes away from where we were. She finally got there and unlocked the doors. I was finally able to unload all of my stuff from the back of my grandpa-in-laws SUV so they could leave.

I spent that night alone at the center; it was kind of strange to be sleeping in a new place in the middle of nowhere all alone. The next morning Robert, (the current director) came by around 7:15 and picked me up in a microbus. We had some errands to run in Panajachel and Solola. After our errands Robert showed me some of the sites around Pana.

Panajachel is a quaint little city, where there is the highest population of gringo’s and a place where basically everyone smokes marijuana haha.
We were told by the owner of the center to leave the microbus at the company rented house in pana, so we had to get back the ghetto way haha. What an experience…… the first leg of our almost 25 mile journey without a car was by Tuc Tuc. If you don’t know what a Tuc Tuc is, imagine a 3 wheeled motorcycle with an extra seat over the rear axle; add a little canvas ceiling, a windshield, and 14 year old driving it, and you finally have a Guatemalan style Tuc Tuc.

The next part of our journey was by pickup truck, we were luckily enough not to have to squeeze in the back with the other 20 passengers; we got to squeeze up with the driver in the front cab of the LITTLE tiny pickup truck. We finally got to a part of the trip called the durangee, It is a place where a giant mudslide has wiped out the road. The only way across the durangee is by foot. It is about a 400 yard section of thick sloppy Mud, that if you take even 1 misstep you’re going to sink to your hips in the nasty sludge.

We made it across the durangee without any major incidents minus a near miss with me, where I got mud up to my knee lol. After the durangee, we caught a microbus, which was literally packed with 24 people in the back of it. I had to ride standing up in the doorway with my butt sticking out in the rain for almost 15 minutes, before someone finally got out and I was able to actually get all of the way into the vehicle. We finally made it to Godinez, which like I said before is still like 15 minutes away. We got out of the microbus, and caught another Tuc Tuc back to the community center. We finally got back to the center at around 12:15.

When I finally got back to the center, I was able to check my cell phone which had been ringing off the hook. I had 4 missed calls from Marie, and when I finally returned the call I got some of the most stressful information of the week. She had been to the doctor that morning, and they did a new ultrasound, and her ovaries are on the verge of exploding. The doctor rescheduled the surgery for Tuesday at 1:00 PM.

As we were pulling in there was a whole host of kids entering the property for the afterschool feeding/study program that is free to any kids in the community. We had a delicious lunch that was prepared by Dominga, and then it was time for the study program. There is a teacher named Gil who runs the study program, Gil maybe 20 years old, and is a fantastic teacher from what I can tell. He can keep the attention of almost 45 little kids for almost an hour and a half while he helps teach them hygiene practices, manors, and helps them with homework. After the study program the kids play soccer for another hour before finally going to their homes.

Later that night, around 5:00 PM 2 volunteers showed up who had been in Antigua for the weekend. They are boyfriend/girlfriend, and about 25-26 years old. Mayra is the girl, she is from Lebanon, and is studying at a university in New York. The boyfriend’s name I can’t remember, however he grew up in Boston, and is recently graduated from college. They aren’t the most social people on earth, but it nice to be able to have a full conversation in English. (I can have full conversations in English with Marie, but it is nice to meet someone new and not need translation.) It had been a LONG day, and I fell asleep around 8:30 PM.

The next morning when I woke up Dominga had a delicious salsa covered ham and cheese omelet, with a big bowl of oatmeal waiting for me. After breakfast we began to prepare for a large group of moms, children, and pregnant women to arrive. Every Tuesday we offer basic parenting classes, and everyone who attends gets vitamins, and a free lunch. The kids they brought with them seemed to be starved. They ate their rice and Beef Stew with such vigor, that I honestly think that it is one of the only meals they would get today, and easily the best meal they will get all week. All of the pregnant women get a week’s supply of prenatal vitamins and 8 eggs a piece. Everyone else gets a single vitamin, and the free lunch, but no eggs.

It was really depressing, some of the moms that came were only children (literally) there were 3 or 4 that seemed to be no older than 13 or 14 years old. It was sad to see a pregnant 14 year old with 2 babies already. In the some of the Mayan cultures as soon as a girl gets her first period, she is considered a woman and is eligible to be married (most of the time to someone 2-3 times her age.) I don’t think I will ever understand some of the cultural changes here in this country. "