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