Youth Muscle and Our Gardens

We have had so much youth muscle this last week. Seven kids from VA, five girls from Utah and 38 kids from CO. They have helped so much. They hauled rocks to stabilize our well that was thinking about sinking into an Agatha sinkhole. They delivered food to the homeless and distributed it. They also double dug 4 by 10 foot beds for the beginnings of our veggie gardens. The CO team gave us $800.00 to use to buy 100 poulets [ chickens just starting to lay eggs]. We will put them in our new 100 bird chicken house. The veggies and 100 eggs a day will do tremendous good in terms of our nutrition programs. Four of our garden beds got planted with brocolli, squash and onions. Corn was also planted.Here are a few pictures of the garden and the VA team and the Utah girls. They are on their way to deliver the food Mark's group gave us and the truck took a dive into a ditch. I was on the phone with Debbie at the time talking about the distribution when I heard all this horrible screaming and shrieking. I was glad to learn 10 minutes later that is no worse than this.

Initial Report From the Pediatrician

Our pediatricina and her family



The pediatrician. Jerrilyn, spent last week in Guate working with the people to improve their health. We are so grateful to her and her family for all they do. They saw many people and lots of babies, preschoolers and older children. We had them do check ups for an orphanage of 20 children. Here is her intitial report.



"we are just getting home so I will try to write a longer note tomorrow.
We saw the twins who generally looked really healthy. The girl Lillian said had colic-she cries a lot. Her stools are really watery-just soaks into the diaper and that is likely a sign she is having trouble digesting the formula. We gave her several cans of soy formula. When you are an infant your intestines aren't mature and so you absorb the proteins whole without breaking them down as you grow this changes so many infants grow out of milk intolerances. I told her to save the formula she had and she would likely be able to go back to that. Nobody really uses the term colic anymore. The thinking is that if babies are that fussy there must be a reason and while they do grow out of it you should try to find the reason. I hope she is doing better.
We saw a woman Marta Martin who had the complaint of fatigue. She had a really loud heart murmur 3-4/6. She had never seen a doctor so we don't know if this is new, getting louder or not. She should get an ECHO to see if her heart is structurally normal. In talking to people it sounds like they don't have that equipment in Solala but she would need to go to a larger city. I don't think an ECG would give her the information she needs. You don't know until you know what is wrong how to treat her.
Quickly some good things-many of the children looked better. Their heart rates overall were lower and that is a sign their anemia is improving and so the vitamins are helping. We brought some more for Dominga. Also Dominga knows Marta Martin and a bit about what is going on.
We bought textbooks for Gil for grades k-6. He was really happy for them.
We saw several babies back who had basically been starving eating just 6-8 oz of formula a day and often mixing the formula incorrectly. We had given them formula and showed them how to make the formula. The babies who came back were all doing well and their mom's were proud to show them to us who were now eating 24-30 oz a day and thriving.
The Sandbergs said the cleft palate baby is also doing much better now that they are mixing the formula correctly. He is growing and set to have surgery next month.
I'll give you a more detailed note later.
We saw close to 300 people in Pana. The branch president stayed most of the day with us and said he knew about half the people. Lots of people suffering. It didn't seem that many we saw had more resources than the others.
We also did incaparina and milk."


I have been vacationing with my family. we had arranged months ago to visit our oldest daughter and her husband and four kids in Rochester, MN. When all the mudslides hit with Agatha, we thought about changing our plans and flying down. We have a scheduled trip in Aug to go to Guate. I had very competent volunteers down there to handle everything. Plus Ryan, my sil, just finished his first year of residency at the Mayo and this was the only time he had free to visit with us. So we kept to our original plans. It has been a little harder to send blogs and emails, but not impossible. We start home today and will sepnd the next two nights on the road. It is 17 hours of being in the car driving between here and there. We have our 6 youngest with us, so we only try and do 6 or 7 hours a day. Plus we have visited Kirtland, OH and Nauvoo, IL. We visited the Mississippi and an Eagles rescue center. Have had much fun.

Vicki
Director of http://www.safehomesforchildren.org
where 100% of your donation goes to our projects not into our pockets

Pictures
the cleft palate baby she was talking about
the grandkids we are visiting
the baby of this family
our pediatrician and her family
some of the people helped at the clinics.

Food Donated

We had more food donated to some of the homeless families.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints donated a one month supply to each of 60 families.
So that leaves us only 40 more to think about food for this month.
The tents from Shelter Box have arrived and will be set up for 41 families tomorrow.
I will have many more pictures soon to show.
Gmail is getting upset about me sending out the blog to our email group that now numbers over 550 people. They are sometimes not sending it out. Can someone out there tell me what to do about it?
Thanks
Vicki
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org

Pics of Agatha damage to our porperty

Our property did not escape damage from hurricane Agatha. You can see from these pictures that our well is in danger of falling into a sink hole. The biggest problem is that we are getting lots of run off water from the next door neighbors. And the rainy season has just begun. Anyway here are the pics. Luckily we have had lots of teens shoveling dirt, hauling rocks [ Big Rocks ] and generally helping to save the well.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org

Forgot the Pics

We got 50 5 gal buckets of a variety of food items and 34 [ I think] of blankets and soaps, etc, All fitted in and on top of a Forerunner. Three people in the front and Debbie got the middle. Ouch

Donated Food items

We received a wonderful donation of food items. The same day I posted about the tents I received an email from a friend on this list saying he had just been called and asked if he knew anyone who needed food. Dick wrote me and I called
Mark and Debbie, a volunteer and Debbie another volunteer in Guate went and got the food. Here are a few pictures of what we got and a list. Mark said it was all donated to him from the Rotary. We were able to give it out yesterday. I will have pictures of it soon. Oh did I tell everyone we have 17 more families living directly in the path of the river. They have no where esle to go and sleep up on higher ground at night. Our team was meeting with the mayor yesterday to help get them some land. They received food from us yesterday. WE WILL NEED MORE FOOD FOR THESE 100 FAMILIES SOON SO CLICK DONATE IF YOU WANT TO SAVE LIVES.
We are so blessed with volunteers this month. Debbie, in the states, sent me 6 boxes of new clothes and shoes. Melanie is down there now taking professional photos for me. Jerrilyn and her family arrive today to do clinics in Los Robles and San Andres and Pana. We have a youth team from Richmond there doing amazing digging to repair the damage done by Hurricane Agatha and another youth team coming in today to dig and work with kids. And we have Zeke a long term volunteer there helping with the repair efforts. The hurricane did a number on our property and we are trying to save the well from falling into a sink hole. I will have pictures of this next blog. And I forgot the volunteer team of two Debbies and five teen girls. And the EMT team we had last week.
Here is the list of food items and personal care items we got from Mark's group.
LIST OF FOOD ITEMS GIVEN BY MARK RICHARD /Hope Haven: Rec’vd - 47 buckets

65 Bags of Masa De Maiz

12 Bags of spaghetti noodles (small)

36 Bags of sugar (small)

43 Bottles of cooking oil

115 Bags of Black Beans

32 Bags of ceral (mush)

58 Bags of pasta (small)

39 Packages of soup

20 Boxes of matches

5 Bags of Soda crackers

48 pks -2 slices of toasted bread

9 small bottles of hot sauce

10 Cans of Chocolate milk mix

3 Cans of refried beans – 20 oz

4 Cans of refried beans – 16 oz

5 Cans of refried beans – 10 oz

1 Can of refried beans – 5 oz

38 cups of soup

131 Bags of rice (small)

63 Bags of sugar (small)

112 Bags of Incaparina

16 Instant oatmeal in a cup

13 Liquid Incaparina sippy cups

3 bags of cake sprinkles

16 bags of sugar (large)

68 white long candles

20 boxes (small) matches

LIST OF ITEMS GIVEN BY MARK RICHARD/Hope Haven:

Items in ½ gallon black bucket: Rcv’d 36 buckets


1 large 64 x 84 fleece blanket

1 medium size fleece child’s blanket

1 towel

2 rolls of toilet paper

1 bar of body soap

2 boxes of matches

5 bandaides

1 bag of laundry soap or bar of soap to do laundry ( two types of soap)

1 tube of tooth paste

1 white t-shirt

1 – Information packet/coloring book – King’s Kids Good Life Guide

Totally awesome, isn't it.
Vicki
http://www.safehomesforkids.org
http://www.casadesion.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/casadesion

TENTS

I worked really hard the last couple of days and was able to procure 56 shelter box tents. They provide so much more than just tents. here is a picture.

http://www.youngshelterbox.org/inside.php

Pics from the bottom up
1] the road leading to the 56 families and where they live
2] how would you like to cook for 350 plus on this
3] the grounds that the families live on; at least it is flat
4] this is your living room not a picnic and then go home to comfort
5] the storage room and kitchen area
6] one of the sad eyed starving children
7] Debbie told me this little boy kept scraping the bowl for one last drop of black beans; it never came
8]How would you like to live here
9]HOME SWEET HOME

Well I had a hard time sleeping last night because I could not stop thinking of what it would be like to sleep in a tent like this. Not for just one night or even two but indefinitely. What do you do if there is a downpour like there has been for the last week. What if you have an infant or a sick 3 year old or a elderly mother with pneumonia.? No blanket, dirt floor and rain pouring in. No food to keep you going. What about the picture of the little boy who keeps licking the bowl trying to find enough black beans to keep his stomach from hurting. or the little girl whose eyes show the despair she feels at such a young age.
this is how over 350 people have been living since hurricane Agatha caused enough dirt and water to destroy their village. A kind man has given them this land to live on indefinitely and is supplying them with wood to cook with and try to stay a little bit warm. CAN YOU HELP WITH THE REST/ JUST PUSH THE DONATE BUTTON. AND REMEMBER 100% GOES TO THE PROJECTS.

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

24 families from Chutinamit homeless because of Hurricane Agatha

We finally have an official report on the 24 families that the mayor of San Andres asked us to help. Safe Homes volunteer Debbie and her volunteer team of one woman and 5 teens visited on Weds. and went back on Thurs. with donations. Here is what they found.
Image , if you will, that you are in your 10 by 10 home that, if you are lucky, has a cement floor, if you are not. it has a dirt floor. It is maybe made of cement or maybe of corn stalks. It starts raining and it does not stop. You remember Hurricane Stan from 2005 and you start to worry. You are already worrying because you can't keep your children dry with all this rain. Then the mud and dirt start moving into your home. Gullies start forming outside and then gorges. Big holes start forming in your house from the rocks that are falling with the mud and soon the mud is coming in in torrents. At some point your terror gets deep and dark enough you know you have to leave. Soon the whole community of 24 families is moving into the school. When the rains stop and you look out the pueblo is destroyed. The houses are too beat up and full of mud to live in, but worse so much of the mountain behind you has fallen that you know it is impossible to live there any longer. The school is nice for a while. It is new and has something of a kitchen for cooking and dry floors to sleep on. It has a small courtyard for the children to play in. But it has one major flaw. There is a big sinkhole that has formed behind it due to the massive rain from the storm. It is a matter of days before the school falls into the sinkhole. The mayor sends up beans and a little rice to feed you, but that is all you get for 101 men, women and children.
That was the state of affairs when Safe Homes' team visited on Weds. They went back that night feeling fortunate for their nice dry place to stay and that they were the ones fortunate enough to be able to help. The pueblo is reachable only by 4 wheel truck and so the San Andres police loaned us a truck and driver for both trips. The teachers from the school were wonderful to help with all the coordination. Here are some pictures of the families receiving aid. Our team bought rice, oil, potatoes, instant soup, soap, cookies, water, incaparina and milk.. Enough food for each family to eat for 3 days. That cost $300.00. They took clothes from our donation room as the families did not have time to gather anything as they left their homes for safety. And now it is covered in mud. The teens palyed games with all the children wile the women distributed what they brought. Safe Homes has $500 more to donate towards food that will be used ofr the very basics like big bags of rice and amseca and beans, but after that WE NEED YOUR HELP. PLEASE PASS THE WORD AND PUSH OUR NEW DONATE BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.
These pictures are of passing out donations. later i will post more pictures of the devastation.

thanks
Vicki
http://www.facebook.com/casadesion

SAMUEL AND THE WALKER AND OUR PRENATAL GROUP

We had five pregnant ladies come to our first prenatal group.One of them was Samuel's mom who was due to deliver any day [ she has delivered but I have not heard whether boy or girl ]. One of the community midwives was there. Her name is Lillian. She has more education than most as she finished 8th grade. She is also very interested in the women becoming educated.We gave out beautiful baby blankets made by a woman and her mother in the states to each woman at the meeting. They were so thrilled to have something new for their babies. None of them had been to the doctor. They were scared of delivery because the closest hospital is an hour away by car and they do not have a car. At least in our birthing room , it is clean and we provide needed supplies as well as baby items. They don't have the excitement American women have over the new baby items and cute little clothes that offset some of the fear of delivery.
I got a donated child's walker from a PT that works with a friend's children. Sherrie picked it up, put it in the mail. Safe Homes paid shipping and I hauled it to Guatemala and out to Los Robles. Te first children's playgroup, I had the walker ready. Samuel crawled over to it, pulled himself up and then walked with it for the next 3 hours. We have another child who is using it also. It is Angel. He is 6 and has never walked. He looks normal and no one has any idea why he has not walked. He also loved the walker and we paid to start Angel in rehab. My cook Dominga is taking him.

SOME OF THE CHILDREN THAT COME TO OUR PLAYGROUP

Here are some of the children that we serve at our once a week playgroup. My daughter Scotia is holding one of the babies. My son , Caleb and daughter, Scotia, helped serve the 150 meals. It was such a great experience for them. What a blessing youth can be. All that enthusiam and energy channeled into positive projects. This child development/prenatal class and playgroup is funded by a group of teen boys. They fundraise in the US so these mamas and kids in Guatemala can learn and eat. They raised $2500 for Safe Homes by holding children's clothing sales.You could do your own version of fundraising and help us move this program to other communities or increase the days we do it in this one or fund the day to day operations of the orphanage that will open in 3 months. We have a new donate button at the top.
thanks
Vicki Dalia
http://www.casadesion.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/casadesion
20.vicki@gmail.com