NEED ORPHANAGE

baby karla

Well we are home from Guatemala and I have a ton of stories to tell. Uploading pictures for a blog is difficult down there so not many got done, but a tremendous amount of work got done. I will start with one that continues to impress upon my mind. This is Carla. She was abandoned by her mama and papa and is being cared for in the room of her grandmother. She does not receive much care. Safe Homes For Children provides all her formula and clothing. When I saw her in January she could not turn her head as she has not been held much. When I brought her to my house to bath her and cuddle her, it was obvious she had not had a bath in her 4 short months.
There is a tremendous shortage of quality orphanages in Guatemala now with adoptions shut down completely. Many children are being abandoned or severely neglected. Ones like Carla. This weighed heavily on my mind. I had a dream down there that we opened an orphanage. Two days later, my husband had a dream that we opened an orphaange. I have talked with other orphanage owners who are also from the USA and they have told me the government is much more supportive of their efforts now. We have met with our attorney and he says our paperwork is in order for us to open an orphanage. The next step is twofold: hiring Edy Tum, the top social worker in the country, and the one other USA  orphanage owners work with. He will get everything done that needs to be done before we open our doors. It will take 6-8 months and cost $6000.00. Edy wants $3000.00 of it up front, but he is worth his weight in gold in this area. Then we need to add a third floor to Casa de Sion.
We bring in money from our volunteer teams and want to build the third floor for them. The first floor would be for 24 orphans and the middle for the Director and bodega.. This will cost about $50,000.00. Then I figure about $70,000.00 a year for the day to day running of it. Our business is improving and we will donate part of that profit, but we want partners to do this with us.

PLEASE HELP CARLA AND OTHER CHILDREN LIKE HER TO HAVE A HOME WHERE SHE WILL BE LOVED, PLAYED WITH AND EDUCATED. WRITE ME AT 20.vicki@gmail.com today and we can talk about your involvement or agree to sponsor a child for $300 a year or just donate for the building or bring a team down to build. But do something.

thanks
Vicki Dalia
PS. we are not abandoning any of our other projects, just adding another badly needed one