families

I have chosen as my theme for this blog families. Because that is what it is all about. Whether you are a "normal" family with bio children or a large multi-generational and transracial family like mine or a put together family like our orphanage children, we all want love and a sense of belonging.
The first picture is of two of my daughters, Scotia and Emmie. I am lucky enough to have 11 daughters ranging in age from 4 to 32. Did I mention I have 7 sons, ages 42 to 8. I started young. The next is of my daughter Erin's children, my grandchildren. Erin helps us with our projects in Guatemala and last year this time she and Katie [ the little blond ] started our elementary school children's lunch and tutorial program. Mark , her husband, kept Addie and Marcus, the twins.
The next pictures are of Brenda and her family and her home. Brenda was one of our children at the orphanage. She is now 14 and we have a person on this group, Bill T. I am talking about you, who is providing the funding for her to go to school. Her teacher is a friend of Pedro's and tells him she is doing well and making good grades. Brenda is living back with her mom, her older brother and two younger sisters. The mom has no income and they are very poor. There is a picture of her home. The mom is in the picture with the pink tank top. She has a large growth on her arm [ you can see it in the picture]. She needed treatment but can't afford it. The other day she passed out on the floor wile trying to cook and Brenda called Pedro hysterical. Pedro had someone come get her and take her to the hospital. We agreed to pay the expense. She has been treated and is now home. Anyone who would like to contribute to this woman's medical bills as she needs more treatments or to the other two children's school scholarships, let me know as we need more help to be able to help this family.

Finding the Kids

Pedro had a very interesting week-end. He did undercover work with the police in Guate City until 3am Sat and 4am Sun. They found some more kids being used in sex trafficking. He also found a woman who told him the Fernanda was being used like this. He has not been able to check it out or find her. On the way home form the city, he went thru Cocales as we have been trying to locate Luis. Well guess who was selling drinks to people in the raod? LUIS. So he is going on Thurs. to talk with Luis and his mom who has him selling the drinks.
Herardo called and wants to come back, but he is 18 now so don't know what we will do about him. Juliana, who is 16, is marrying some lowlife.nother
Still working on our papers and they are still coming. We have a big medical clinic next week.
I have a woman in the states, Wendy that's you, who is interested in fundraising for a safe house for kids involved in sex trafficking. I have located a place in a small pueblo that would hold 20 kids.It is located so the kids would not be found. It would cost around $400.00 for rent and utilities. Another $750.00 for caregivers and security. Another $750 for food and water. that is per month and for 20 kids. Does anyone want to help with this project?

Thanks
Vicki

I had a heart Until I became a Missionary

I loved this quote by some unknown person. And I think you have to be doing service oriented work in a third world country to truly be able to relate to it. But since that is what I am doing and since I lived in a third world country for 3 years, I can totally relate. I am going to quote the following from a woman whose blog I read who is doing humanitarian work in Haiti. She and I understand each other. Seh is responding to hearing this quote for the first time.

"At the time, it seemed an odd statement. Seemed a bit backwards. But the longer I'm here, the more it rings true. Don't get me wrong. I love it here. In so many ways, it is life-giving. It is EXACTLY where I want to be and EXACTLY what I want to be doing. BUT... I totally get that statement. At times it must appear to others that I really do not have a heart. When I pass begging street kids in Port and just don't even make eye contact anymore. When I don't feel obligated to take in a kid or find a solution for school. When I feel like, "yeah, that's not my problem."

It's interesting because I don't think it's me becoming "jaded." I don't think my heart is calloused. I don't think I'm becoming desensitized. In fact, I think it's the opposite. I think it's that my heart is so incredibly OVER sensitive and overstimulated by the UNENDING need. I think my heart simply realizes that if I am going to be able to survive here for the long run, it needs to protect itself. It's simply a survival mechanism."

I too wonder sometimes about my heart. It used to be different when all I did was dream of opening an orphanage or feeding the poor or running a clinic for people who never have medical care. But that was before I actually did all those things.But that was before my daughter and son were held up by 6 men with AK47s. Before we were run out of our lakeside home by banditoes that felt it was no longer convenient for us to live there as we would see them when they robbed the second homes of wealthy Guatemalans. That was before a government official who does not like the fact that we educate and love the Mayan children decided to shut us down and throw them back into the streets. That was before it has taken us months to get paperwork that we have been told 50 times we have already been approved for. That was before Fernanda hugged me and told me she could not wait to come back to us where she was safe. That was before her dad put her in the hospital and then she ran to the streets. That was before we almost saw her dead body in a morgue. That was before the Mayan mothers we give free milk to rioted because they wanted more than we had. That was before I had faced the reality of running an orphanage and feeding programs in a third world where the goverment is corrupt and the people so desperate for simple things like giving their babies milk so they don't die.

Have all these things and many more I can't think of right now changed how I feel about working and being in Guatemala. No I just love it and the people more and more and dream and plan and try to raise money to help more and more of them. My heart is their heart and sometimes I feel I am more there than on this snow covered mountain. I know I am supposed to live in the states at this point in my life and I would miss my grandchildren terribly if I weren't. Just this last week-end we had 15 of our 18 children and 5 of the 7 spouses and 12 of the 17 grandchildren together for two baptisms and two baby blessings and celebrated 6 birthdays. No way I would have missed that. But as I was going to a 3 year old granddaughters birthday party, I was waiting to hear from Pedro about Fernanda and the morgue. I am glad my life is so rich. I would not have missed the family life or the work in Guatemala for anything. I love them both. And feel richly blessed for the opportunity of both in my life.
Does this amke sense. Hope so.
Vicki

It's not Fernanda

Well the morgue visit is over. It was not Fernanda, but another 14 year old girl. She had been stabbed many times and had one breast cut off. Pedro then went with the police and found two 12 year olds and two 13 year old being forced to do prostitution. They took the girls with them and the courts will assign them to an orphanage.

Fernanda and child trafficking

I posted on my blogs about Fernanda being sent home to her abusive dad when the Pgn Atty. shut us down. Then about how I saw her in Oct. and she begged me to let her come back and live with us. I told her absolutely as soon as I had the stupid piece of paper we needed. Then she went home to her evil father who beat the crap out of her and she had to be hospitalized for a week. After that she ran. Pedro and I started giving the police some extra cash for gas and bullets [ yes they have to buy their own ] for them to hunt for her in Guatemala City where her dad lives.
I started getting a hankering to broaden the base of what Safe Homes For Children does and include working against child trafficking. I did not know which direction I wanted to go in. I had not mentioned any of this to Pedro. But as I was child who was used in porn and prostitution and I know the horrors of it, I wanted to do something. Well we jumped into it today. Pedro just called me and said the police had called him to come into the city; they had found something. He is there now. What they found was a dead girl who has all the same looks as Fernanda. She is at the morgue and he gets the delightful job of going and deciding if it is her. If is not, they told him there are four groups that are using 13 to 15 year old girls for prostitution. When they turn 15, they get them pregnant and send them to another country and sell the baby. He is going with the police to see if Fernanada is among them. If he finds her, she will go with him to a safe house.I love Pedro; wish he had been there in my childhood.

The above pictures are of Fernanda. One of her and one of her being overjoyed seeing Eva her former nanny.
Vicki

thank you

We are being so blessed with volunteers and donations. I was so afraid with Haiti needing so much that no one would be able to give to us, but one day I realized that HF can take care of everyone and quit worrying. The next day I got a call from a group wanting to take us on as their yearly project. This project includes a $20,000
building project. Plus a field trip in June for the kids and the next day a community party. This on top of the new clinic we are building with the donations from another group. We had the ground breaking ceremony last week. I hope to send pictures soon. Then another call from a CO youth group wanting to come down and do 2 days of building raised beds for our gardens. Then a FL youth group coming down to do the same, then a UT youth group coming down to do the same. Then a UT Spanish class that collected donations and $100.00 in change for our feeding program and wants to raise more. Then a couple of UT men who have been helping in another country and want to help us. They are going to buy the meds that our pediatrician who is coming in Mar. will need for her clinics. I spoke with her yesterday and was so impressed with her concern and due dilligence in finding out what the people will need. Then there was $400.00 from paypal on my yahoo acct. this morning from two different people. That does not include the two other adult groups coming in Mar. and April who will do medical clinics and construction and donate $2500.00 to each project. Or the regular payments that another group give to our feeding programs or the other people who give and have given faithfully for several years. Or the second hand store that gives nice clothing and other things every month. Or my new volunteer coordinator who is going down in Mar. with volunteers of her own to help or the WWOOF volunteers who go down and do alot of grunt work. Thanks everyone. Also my daughter who will keep the stats on our ever growing feeding program and student sponsorships. My other daughter who does the thank you notes. My other daughter who helps with the accounting and my other one who takes some of the donation calls. Plus all four of those daughters run our business so we can donate our time to this. because of that, we have no need to take a salary . So 100% of what you give goes to our programs.
I was so worried because our situtation in rural Guatemala can be as bad as haiti without the earthquake. People starve to death and kids are permanently damaged because of malnutrition on a regular basis. i won't worry any more and want ot say a big THANK YOU.
Vicki

our Guatemala trip

This last Jan. trip we had the pleasure of seeing one of the babies that had been at our orphanage. If you have been following my blogs for a couple of years, you will remember him. His name is Edwin. We first heard about him one evening as my family was sitting down to dinner. Pedro called me and said there was a new one day old baby on the way to the orphanage. He had been found on the side of the road on the way to Chichicastenago. My family got to vote on the name for him. The kids suggested Landon and several others I can't remember. I had named the last one so I did not vote. My husband suggested Edwin and I went along with him. Edwin it was. As soon as we finished eating, I rushed over to the orphanage with my 13 year old daughter and left my husband to do homework with our kids. The baby was adorable and soon our family started keeping him along with Noe during the day. We found out that his paperwork that was on the side of the road said that his name truly was Edwin. His bio mom had given him that name. My husband's spiritual ability shot up in my eyes. Edwin and Noe were very much a part of our lives for the next 4 months until we returned to the states. Then the government did their thing and the kids that were adoptable were tossed into the government orphanages, Edwin and Noe among them. Edwin stayed there for a year until the woman in the picture holding him stepped in with her husband and adopted him. They took possession of him in Aug, 2009. She said he was so sick he had to be immediately hospitalized. He had so little calcium, translated formula, that his teeth have not come in altho he is almost two and he has scars all over his body where the doc says boiling water or maybe oil was spilled on him. His parents run two second hand stores in Pana where they sell clothes from the USA. They love him very much and he loves them. I am anxious to get Noe back with us. But at least Edwin's story ends happily. We got to visit with them for a couple of hours while there.
The other pictures are of our volunteer house that you can rent if you come to Pana and work with us. it is nice and safe. We loved staying there. The last one is of my 5 youngest adopted children. They were adopted from the USA at birth. We took them with us this last visit so we could stay longer. They loved being there. We paid their airfare and their expenses out of our personal money as we do all our expenses while there. 100% of your donations goes to the programs in Guatemala.

What Does Safe Homes For Children Do

Someone requested to know what we do and how we do it. They made a good point; that alot of people do not know.
We work primarily in Guatemala. We own 17 acres of farmland there. On it we have a 2500 sq. ft. building that is used for our orphanage. It can house 64 children. We take street children as well as children whose parents can not afford to feed or clothe them. In addition to the orphanage, we work with the Mayan Indians around Lake Atitlan. There are 1. 5 million of them. So we will never run out of work. We offer a lunch program 3 days a week to the elementary school children next door. There are 75 of them. After lunch they study with a teacher we provide for 3 hours learning the basics. We also do student scholarships for children in the community who would not be able to go to school if we did not. We have a formula program for 30 starving infants and and an Incaparina program for 275 starving children. We have many more children that want and need to be on our feeding program, but we had to limit it because of finances. We just received almost $20,000.00 to build a clinic and we broke ground for it last Wedsnesday.
100% of all donations go to our programs. We take no money for administrative overhead, plane tickets or anything esle. Our family business has donated the bulk of our financial needs in the past. As we move forward , tho, we are having more and more groups and people help. We get many, many material donations each year from kind, generous peole. We have many people who support our student sponsorship programs and infant/child feeding programs. We are having more and more individual and group volunteers come and do work and donate money and bring many valualbe donations with them. We are having fundraisers that are bringing in enough money to build things like clinics. We are having medical teams and indiviual doctors donate their time for clinics run from our faclilties.
We love the work we do and will continue to increase and improve them as finances permit. we are a 501c3 non-profit which means we can give our donors a tax receipt for their donations. Thanks for everyone continued interest.
Vicki Dalia
20.vicki@gmail.com

Here are pictures of the house we have acquired for volunteer teams to stay in. We rent it for $20.00 a night per bed. This includes a simple breakfast and lunch up at our projects in Los Robles. It has 5 bedrooms and 6 baths plus an American style kitchen, dining room and living room. It also has a laundry room with washer and dryer. It is in a safe area of Panajachel and has a high courtyard fence all the way around. The yard is nice and the wrap around porch is wonderful. We stayed in it when we went to Guate two weeks ago and we loved it. It comes with a gardner . There is a maid you can hire to do clean up, cooking and laundry. If you want to book it for your team or your family when you are here doing volunteer work for our projects, let me know as it is becoming popular.
I also figured out how people that are on a budget could pay for their airline tickets. We found a wonderful and skilled dentist who charges $25.00 for an adult cleaning and $12.00 for a childs. He charged $12.00 each to fill the 3 cavities that two of my children had. My husband had a crown done for $30.00. He was as good as our USA dnetist.
We still need sponsors for our formula/incaparina program.
We still have not found Fernanda. Please pray [ or your spiritual equivalent ] that she is found soon and comes back into our safe keeping.
Bill T., I hope you don't mind, but I switched your student sponsorship from Fernanda to Brenda. Many of you will remember Brenda. She was the young teenage girl who was at our orphanage . She looked like a gringa. She has been released from the government orphanage and is living with her mother and younger sisters in very poor circumstances. They could not afford to send her to school and since she is such a good and dedicated student, I thought you would be okay with her getting your student sponsorship. If we find Fernanda, then I will find one for her. Brenda's house is made on corn stalks and has a dirt floor. Next year all 3 girls will probably come live with us. The mom has a bad growth on her shoulder that is so large she can not lift her arm. We are trying to figure out how to get her medical care.
I have attached a couple of pictures of Fernanda. The first is of her the day Pedro brought her out to our facilities the first of Oct. We were having a party for Children's day. She asked me if she could come back to live with us as her father was abusvie to her. I said as soon as I have our opening papers in hand [ supposed to get those on Weds. ] The second is of her hugging Eva who was one of our nannies when Fernanda lived with us. The third is of the two of them talking. Eva, whose 4 year old has cancer , is the maid, cook and laundry person at our volunteer house. Anyway, Fernanda went back to her dad's house and he beat her so badly, she had to be hospitalized for a week. She ran away from the nospital to the streets.
Vicki
Director of http://www.safehomesforc.hildren.org



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Guate Realty

Date: Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: bed and breakfast house for rent in Pana

- Show

Giving out formula and milk

Our trip to Guatemala was very interesting. The Sat. after we arrived we had a milk distribution where we invited families from two pueblos. To receive milk or formula they had to have an income of less than $2.50 a day. Food costs more in Guatemala than in the states even if they only make $2.50 a day.We made a list of the children we distributed to. The total from Sat. and the ones who staggered in thru the next week was 275 children for incaparina and 30 infants for formula. Sat. we had over 300 women and children. One of our major donors for the formula/incaparina program was visiting the country and we wanted them to see where their money was going. They bought oranges and rolls to give out to the people who came and all the people there ate them like they were not getting much to eat at home.
Incaparina is a mix of soy and corn and a little sweetner. The kids drink it and it is very nutritious. We are giving a bag of incaparina twice a month to each child in the family. This gives them 1.5 cups a day for the whole month. The infants get a large can of formula. The program costs $550.00 for the incaparina monthly and $600.00 for the formula monthly. We don't have that much in our budget so we need donors to keep the program going. It is the only thing of nutrition the kids get. Usually they have a couple of tortillas and if lucky some beans.
We have had to cut off the numbers we can help as we are having Mayans from other pueblos coming to us for formula or incaparina. Until we get enough donors to satisfy the first 275 kids, we can't add more.

DO YOU WANT TO HELP WITH THIS PROGRAM/ FOR $20.00 a month you can give an infant a large can of formula. For $20.00 a month you can give 10 children incaparina for a month. HELP US TO KEEP THIS PROGRAM GOING AND TO BE ABLE TO ADD MORE CHILDREN. Write me at 20.vicki@gmail.com if you want to help.

While I was in Guate at Los Robles back the first of Oct., we celebrated children's day. We had two pinatas with lots of candy and hot dogs and a drink and invited the whole community. Eva, one of my nannies from the old orphanage, got to see Fernanda, one of our teens from the old orphanage, for the first time in a year.
We had about 200 people there with lots of kids. The kids had a ball when the pinatas brooke. Just like all kids. I was so happy that dads came and grandparents and teen boys.The kids love having their picture made with the gringoas. That's me. At the end they presented me with a wonderful gift. Mt friedn Evelyn was there with me and made me give a speech.

our toddler feeding program

When I was in Guate the first of October, I started our toddler feeding program. Here are some pictures of the tots we feed. We had about 20 show up that first day.
Food and nourishment is such a challenage for the 1.5 million Mayans who live in our area.
I heard last night that the wife of the man we are hiring as a driver had her in utero baby die. She was 8 months pregnant. They attributed the death to malnourishment of the mom. She had to have a c-section and is now in intensive care.
How grateful I am for food.
We now have two medical teams coming to do clinics and two construction teams coming to do building projects. If you have a team and want to book our volunteer housing write me. I will send pictures of it the next blog. We also have family coming to help with Christmas. One volunteer group gave out 56 food baskets on Tues. and left 300 toys for the kids to get on Christmas Eve. The volunteer family will provide a lunch for the community on that day. They also will visit each household in Los Robles and get a picture of them and their dwelling. Also info that willl help us better help the families.

thanks everyone
Vicki

Some miraculous happenings part 2

Well I can not seem to get the pictures to come up so I will just write the story. So anyway the couple who helps all over the world checks what we are doing with the Mayans out and decides to work with us. Then my daughter Erin , who went to Guate in March with her blond headed 2 year old and started our first feeding program, flies out to California to do a presentation to that group. She and one of the ladies from California did it together.It was so successful. They raised $800.00 that night for a nice yard with flowers, grass and tables to be put in between the big building and the dining/kitchen one. We got a sponsor for Nelson so he can continue his schooling. We also got a $2500.00, a $500.00 and many smaller donations. AND WE GOT THE $15,000.00 we need to build the small clinic. My husband will design it, but we think it can have 3 rooms, definitely one outfitted for moms to give birth and stay for a few days before they go back to their drafty, smoke filled homes. The midwives will deliver routinely, but the medical teams will when they are there. The medical teams can also train the midwives so there will be more sanitary births. Then we will also have a clinic room and bathroom to see all the million people who have never had medical care. I am so psyched. When we go for a month during the holidays, we will start building.
NOW WE NEED TO SEND A CONTAINER DOWN WITH THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR THE CLINIC. aNY TAKERS ON ORGANIZING THIS.

UPDATE ON THE ORPHANAGE KIDS: Pedro and the attorney met with the CNA and they said???? all they need now is letters from all the staff we have hired saying they are hired. So Pedro is hiring the doctor, nurse, social worker, psychologist and nannies and getting the list to them. They will be hired on paper and actually start when we have kids, which hopefully will be soon.

Many. many people have sent boxes of donations and we have sponsors for Fernanda for high school. We have them also for Claudia and Alex. The same family who helped them last year. Thank all of you who are so faithful. We had a high school girl send me 6 hugh boxes of last years' soccer equipment that she collected and paid the shipping for. We have also had financial donations to be used we we see fit. THANK ALL OF YOU FOR HELPING THESE KIDS.

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

Some miraculous financial happenings

Many of you know how I have been praying and working towards a clinic/birthing room for the Mayan ladies. I have given birth 10 times and can not imagine doing it on a nasty dirt floor so this has been a priority for me, albeit one I could not afford.
WELL, several things happened to make this dream come true.
First when my husband and I were in Guatemala the end of Sept. we met with four people who played a significant part in it. Two were from a group who have helped send medical and construction teams to places all over the world building things like clinics and sending medical temas dwon to serve the people. The other two were women from California who wanted to help us. One has been a long time supporter of our work and the other came to see what we were doing and how she could help.
Here is a picture of the couple who sends teams and another one of the woman who has been a long time supporter. She is with me and we are both laughing. My ocmputer is messing up so I am going to try and publish this and write another one rhight after oit of the continuing story.

the amazing new road

We had a group, Isa Mundo, pay to have our road carved out thru half our property so the 17 acres is more useful. It was an amazing job done by our guardian and his dad and his uncle and two cousins. It provided much needed money for 3 or 4 families. I had to get a new computer so am going to try now to pull up some pictures for you of our hand carved road. THANK YOU ISA MUNDO FOR YOUR HELP AND DEVOTION.
The top picture shows you the next level of our property where we need the next section of the road to start. When done the road will connect all 3 levels of our 17 acres making it possible to use the whole property. The next pictures are of the road as it was literally hacked out by machete and pickax and shovel. The men did an amazing job working from 6 in the morning until dark. They all desperately needed the money to feed their families. The final picture is of Jose. our faithful guardian, who along with his relatvies dug our raod.
The second and final phase will cost about $3000.00.

Vicki Dalia
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org

Infant feeding program

While we were in Guatemala, we started our toddler feeding program. I will show you some pictures of it next blog. Some of the same moms with toddlers come to our infant feeding program. We have about 25 moms now getting formula for their babies and want to offer this in another community we know of that is struggling with starving infants. Here are 3 of the moms that get the infant formula and 3 of the precious babies.

My family is spending Christmas in Guatemala. We leave on the 15th and will be there for a month. While there we will give a Christmas Party for the kids. If you want to send donations, send them now so you don't have to do priority mail.
We have rented a small former bed and breakfast house to use for volunteer teams. It has 5 bedrooms and 6 baths and nice yard and American LR, DR and kitchen. It sleeps 16 and we will charge $20 a bed per night. It will include a simple breakfast and lunch at our projects in Los Robles. Book your team now for 2010.

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

Los Robles community meeting for medical help

Our second day in Guatemala was quite busy. We had one of our board members visit our property with his wife and 4 children. Ryan brought Antonio with him. Antonio is close to my age and has retired from his money job to run a humanitarian project. He brings in medical and dental teams from the USA to help the needy people of Guatemala. As soon as we have a clinic on premises the teams can come to our place. In the meantime our people need to go to them. Antonio told us that the Latter day Saint Church has built and furnished a dental and medical clinic in zone 2 in the City that orphans can use for free so we now have a place to take our orphans. He also made arrangements for Edit to go to a pediatric clinic in Guate City and for Dominga to go to a clinic for people with eye problems. The pictures are of Antonio and Pedro telling the community group of people about the medical help we were working to get them. Another picture is of the gathered crowd. One picture is of Jose's new baby, the one that was born on the dirt floor of his house. The baby is now 2 months. The last picture is of Dominga ,the lady with the syphilus. We had to take some pictures of her so Antonio could show the doctors. She has a one month old baby who will also need to be treated and a husband. We are paying her way to Huehuetenango where the clinic is and Edit and her mother's [ the 3 year old blind child ]way to Guate City. The lady with syphilus started crying as we took her picture. She is so ashamed of her facial blemishes as well as loosing her eyesight from it. One more picture, the one in the middle. If you look closely you see a tall woman dressed less modestly than the others. She was so wanton looking compared to the other women that I asked Pedro afterwards who she was. He said she was a prostitute that lived out there and went after the young boys. I asked how young and he said the 10, 11 and 12 year old boys. She was a prostitute in the city and I have heard that they all are HIV positive.
Over 100 people were at this meeting and Pedro and Antonio promised them that we would get free clinics started out there for them. We will be the only clinics on this side of the lake so will be able to serve at least 3/4 million people. PLEASE HELP US RAISE THE FUNDS FOR THIS. When Antonio heard that we would be hosting the people from Mercy Ships on Wed. thru Sat. he asked if he could come back to meet with them. We, of course welcomed him.
On our way to this meeting, we stopped and visited a small [ 15 child ] orphanage. There place was old, but clean. Our looks a hundred times better.
I also looked at a property that has two houses for rent in a gated safe neighborhood. it is the same neighborhood my husband and I are staying in. We are going to rent and furnish the houses for volunteers. We will charge $20 a night for a bed with meals included. Hopefully this will make it easier for teams to come down.
More from our trip later,
Vicki
Director of http://safehomesforchildren.org
20.vicki@gmail.com

We are home. We accomplished so much. Here are some pictures of the kids from the tutorial program. They had a welcome time for us when we first got there on Fri. They had a bunch of pictures and sang us some songs. They love us and appreciate the help we are giving them. They are such sweet children; at least when I am around. We were tired that day so only stayed an hour. There is also a picture of the wonderful cabinets that GCP made for us. They are full of the donations they gave us. If I had not had kids here in states that I love and precious grandchildren, I would have stayed down there.
Vicki
Director of http://www.safehomesforchildren.org
20.vicki@gmail.com

Arrival at the Guate Projects

We flew or drove all day Friday and arrived at our property in Guatemala around 4 pm. Gosh it looked good. The big house was all set to receive children as soon as the certification comes from the CNA. All of the nice sheets and blankets that some of you have donated were on the beds and the beds were set up and the cabinets were in place and the donations all organized. This is all of your work and it looked wonderful. The new kitchen/dining /bodega is built and the children from the the tutorial were their waiting for us. They had made lots of cute welcome signs and sang several songs to us. They were sitting at tables and benches that some of you had made.I am trying to learn their names. There is one little chunky boy named Adolfo who is so cute and you can tell he is the trouble maker because the teacher kept saying his name every time he got near me.
The hand dug road is amazing and almost finished. I will tell more about it in another blog. I can't write long as I have limited use of this computer. But suffice it to say, I am so busy and it is so worthwhile. Pedro has accomplished much and we are accompishing more.I will write an email of each day and what is happening. Friday ended early and we went to our rental place and went to bed a 8 Guate time. I did get my cell phone and call home. All my kids were great thanks to the wonderful care they are receiving from the adult sisters.
Vicki
20.vicki@gmail.com

Miracles are already happening

We are on our week long trip to visit our projects and meet with people in Guatemala. It was hard to get off. Wed. we came home to absolutely no water. That is a major thing in a household where eight children and two adults live. I also knew my daughter Erin would not come babysit with her husband and kids if there was no water. So after my husband decided he had no idea what was going on, we called a specialist. He came that night, diagnosed the problem and came the next morning and with my husband and a helper pulled a 300 pound pump from a 300 ft. well that is 8 inches in diameter. New pump, new wiring and much money and we had water. The next night my son's wife had an emergency hospital stay and I had a one month old and a toddler for the day and night. But things smoothed out and we are on our way.
The first miracle is we found out we will be meeting on Sat. with a man who brings in medical and dental and nutrtion teams into Guatemala. He wants to start working with our facility. Then the wonderful couple from Mercy Ships will be with us starting on Weds. I asked Sylvia, a labor and delivery room nurse for 30 years, about doing a mini clinic for the pregnant and lactating and non-lactating women in our community and she graciously agreed. This so exciting for me. She is going to round up supplies for the midwives also. One of my other dream jobs, which will not be pursued in this life, was to be a labor and delivery room nurse or a midwife so just being an attendant at the clinic will be thrilling for me.
I will try and do reports each day and when I get home post pictures.
Thanks to all who are helping make this possible.
Vicki Dalia
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org
20.vicki@gmail.com

Pictures

This is Claudia. She is 14 and in the 6th grade. She has 2 brothers 15 and 7 and 2 sisters 10 and 5. She probably will not get to go to school next year unless she has a sponsor because she will be in the middle school and it is too expensive.

The girl in the blog above is Joselin and also in 6th grade. She also will not go next year without a sponsor. She has one sister and 3 brothers.

Anyone want to sponsor them. probably about $600. for the year will include school supplies and black shoes and transportation.

Pictures [I Hope]

if you need to contact me write to 20.vicki@gmail.com

We are moving forward

If you need to reach me or want to be added to the email group, write me at 20.vicki@gmail.com

Some pretty exciting things are happening. When my husband and I are in Guatemala in a couple of weeks, we are meeting with several groups/families and individuals.
here is a list of most of them:
1] Mercy Ships is meeting with us to discuss how they can help to get construction, dental, and medical teams to us thru 2010. They have very succesfully helped an orphanage and clinic and community programs in Honduras and we hope they will help us.
2] Pan en la Boca is meeting with us to see what we have accomplished since they sent a group of 30 people down in the summer of 2008. They were a tremendous help at that time and we hope they will want to help in the future.
3] An photojournalist for the US Airforce is coming to do a photojounal of what we are doing with our projects and the orphanage. This will be used for fundraising presentations.
4]We have a new full time volunteer for the next month who has many computer skills and also teaches karate. We hope to have him do files on all the families we are helping. Also he will teach karate at our afterschool program.
5] I have appts. with several individuals who live in Guatemala and are helping the poor. I will brainstorm with them on ideas that have been most effective.
6]Hope For Home visited us on Thurs. to look over our property and projects as a possible location for their home for disabled children. They have also promised to help send construction and doctor and dental teams.
7] My husband and I will meet with Anselmo's family whose son Alex is being sponsored by one of our families for a a middle school scholarship. We have been contacted by Anselmo, who has asked for work as he has no way of buying food for his 7 children. We will give the family a hugh food basket as well as some of the clothes and shoes that have been donated. We will also meet with the family of Anna, Diego and Abram, our beloved children from the orphanage. They will be given a hugh food basket as well as donated clothes and shoes. We hope to have them back with us soon.
8] One of the members of our email family has arranged for Luis to possibly come to the states as an exchange student. I will meet with Luis and his mom to see if she will give permission. They will also be given food and clothes.
9] I will hold a meeting with the women again and assess their needs. They now have an official name. It is the Relief Society. I hope to help them to help give relief to their neighbors in need. Our cook will provide food as it is probably the only treat they have had since the last time we met the end of June.
10] We will also have a big community party with lots of food and dedicate the house and dining room/ kitchen. I am sure this does not happen often.
11] Heart 4 children is collecting $30.00 times 56 to give a food basket to every family in our Los Robles community. They will give them out at a Christmas Party in Dec.

We have three groups doing fundraisers between now and Christmas. This is a great time of the year to get folks to do charitable donations.
1] Pan en la Boca is doing a dinner presentation in CA. My daughter Erin, who started the first feeding program back in March, will do the presentation.
2] Another group is putting a dinner presentation together in the Washington, DC area
3] I am initiating our "Pennies para Pan" program at A.B.Combs school. This school has been the leader and the example for Steven Covey's book " The Leader in Me " . This school has embraced the Seven Habits that Mr. Covey is so famous for. They have had wonderful success and been named the top US Elementary school. Part of the program involves them doing charitable work that all the students participate in. The school was named for my grandfather so I am very proud of it. Their 800 plus students will help us collect pennies for our feeding programs. If you want more info on the " Pennies para Pan " program to have schools you know do it, just write me.
that's all for now folks
Vicki
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org

WE PASSED

I can be reached at 20.vicki@gmail.com if you want to help or be on the email group.
The government finally sent the people to do our final supervision. It was quite a small crew. The head of the Central Salud, a nurse and a restaurant inspection person. They passed everything and liked what we are doing. Now they just send their report to the CNA and then they send it to someone and then we start taking kids. Hope it moves thru the channels fast.

Okay well the pictures did not show up. You will have to get on our email group to see them. Write me at 20.vicki@gmail.com and I will add you.

Pictures of the construction of our new road. We were given $2000.00 by Iso Mundo for the construciton of a road to connect the 3 levels of our property. We hired local men to dig it as we got more for our money this way and we gave work to families who desperately needed it. Hope the pictures show up.
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Starving Children in Guatemala

Many of you have probably seen the news reports on the starvation of people in Guatemala. I could write my own report on it as we witness it first hand in our village of Los Robles. We started out with a feeding/tutorial program for the 70 K thru 6th grade children in the school next to our orphanage building. As we feed and tutored the children, we met their moms and siblings. We learned that these children only got tortillas and maybe some beans or rice once or twice a day , if they were lucky. This program is 3 days a week and we would like to increase it to everyday. The children get a vegetable soup with a little meat and a piece of fruit. We then found out that a baby had died because the mom had no breast milk, so the next time we were in Guatemala, we met with the women of the community. A bunch had infants and no breast milk and no baby will die for lack of formula if I can do anything about it. Now we have 20 infants on formula. And more moms coming to us everyday. Now the moms want to know if we can feed their toddlers, so thru the generous donation of two women who are each giving a $100.00 a month, we have started our toddler feeding program. We need to increase the numbers on all the programs and reach more communities. But we need help. can you give anything? We are traveling to Guate the end of this month and if you send it this week, I will take it down with me. Read the news article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/09/09/guatemala.calamity/

Hunger of Children in Guatemala

The following is an excellent article on the hunger of the Mayan children in Guatemala. We have increased our food programs and need more sponsors to keep them going. Right now we do lunch 3 times a week for 70 K to 6th graders, formula for about 20 infants whose mothers have no breast milk. We just started an incaparina program for 2 to 6 year olds. Gosh do we need sponsors. as the word spreads more and more people come to us. Read the article and then if you want to be on our Guatemalan email group email me at 20.vicki@gmail.com and I will gladly add you. I have pictures of all our programs I send to the email groups.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200908u/guatemala-hunger