Summertime....And the living is easy

Summertime....And the living is easy........................

One of my favorite songs. But this was not the case around our house this summer.
We arrived in the USA on April 17th after 3 months in Guatemala. We had a 14 hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale, FL where we flew from and saved about $4000.00, and the time in the car helped us decompress because life in Guatemala is so different---so much slower.
We needed this time because we were immediately immersed in the pressure cooker.While we were gone, our son Bryan had many , many problems between him and his wife and they split up. He needed help with his 1.5 and 3 year old sons.[ see a picture of them and 2 more grandkids sitting on the steps} We took the boys for a month the day after we arrived. They are fun boys and we love them, but needed extra care because they are normal tot boys.

Then the first of May, our daughter Hannah[ she is the pretty girl in pink with the bride] came home from college for the summer. She had cold turkeyed off an anti-depressant and was having a hard time. I took her to an alternative doctor I had been hearing really good things about. He started her right off on neurofeedback and after a couple of months and 20 treatments she became her old fiesty, mostly happy self. It was fantastic. I also had him do an extensive physical on me and he found some arterial blockage so I started on chelation therapy. I need 25 sessions. They take 6 hours of time each time I do one. I am half way thru. I am also doing the neurofeedback for my PTSD. They are using it with many war vets.

Our first weekend home was Easter and many of the kids and grandkids[ see the 3 pictures of couples and their kids] that live close came up . We had a picnic and, of course, the boys were playing football--even sixty year old Jody. Making a monumental play [ Jody wrote this] he was pushed out of bounds and cracked a rib, tore his hand to pieces and got reacquainted with hemorrhoids. It took 3 months to repair.

Somewhere in here Gabby had a birthday [ now 6 and in the pic with her new bike ], Scotia turned 17 and Johnny 19 and Emmie 12 , Madeline 8, Katie 5,and Karleigh 7. That is just the kid birthdays. There were also many adult kid birthdays: Jenn, Sarah, Erin, Flossie, Crystal, Rhonda and I am sure I forgot some.

We then helped our 19 year old graduate from high school and get ready for his mission. It was enough to drive us crazy and put a strain on our wallets with all the current dental and medical requirements. He finally got his call to OK City, OK. [ he is in the picture by himself and a suit on].

In mid-June we went North to MN for the baptism of our oldest grandchild [ Madeline turned 8 ][ picture of her and her family of 6 on the couch]. She has the most wonderful singing voice, perfect pitch, rhythm, good memory and played a perfect violin solo at her baptism.

Less than 2 weeks after returning we were off to Guate. Hannah burned out babysitting the 2 weeks we were gone. While there we found a house to buy giving us and other volunteers a permanent place to stay. Makes going down so much easier. Flossie, daughter no. 4 [ in picture with her hubby and 2 boys]refinanced a loan on her property that she had bought from us. The money from this allowed us to buy this house. It is 15 minutes from our projects and 15 minutes from Panajachel in a safe, gated community. All the profits from volunteer visits here will go directly to our projects.

Two weeks later we were in Washington, DC for the wedding of daughter no. 5, Bethany. More fun and stress. She is in the pictures of the bride and groom, duh. bethany and new hubby eric spent part of their honeymoon in Guate working in our projects there. And there is one of our 11 daughters all together and all but 5 of our grandchildren next to the bride and groom. Along with the wedding went bridal parties and kids and grandkids staying at our house. You can see a picture of the homemade water slide all the grandkids and our younger kids loved.

When we got home, school was starting. We homeschool our 5 youngest so we can live in Guate part-time, but it consumes time and persistance.

And those are just the highlights. We are currently getting ready for a couple of more weeks in Guatemala. We want to start the renovations on the house we bought and give some more supervision to our programs. And that's what we wanted to talk about. The school year is winding down in Guate and we have many more students who need scholarships--at least 30 more. And the infant and tots formula program is turning away mothers [ at least 60 in the last 2 months ]. We would like to add 100 more mothers and their babies. Erin will soon be posting the photos and bios of the students who are asking for help. Think and pray about how you can help. And with the formula program, the formula itself is the major cost. Thanks to WIC there are many loose cans of dried formula in this country. If you can collect it, we will figure out a way to get it down.

Remember all your donations are tax deductible and 100% goes to our programs. We pay our own travel and living expenses. The house was bought with our personal money. There is literally no overhead. We are planning our expansion for the coming year. Let us know how you want to help.

The final picture is of my daughter Erin who many of you communicate with. She is with her oldest daughter Katie.

Vicki and Jody and family

http://www.safehomesforchildren.org

20.vicki@gmail.com

Emergency help for Maria

A few days ago friend was visiting the village of Nueva Victoria and found a little girl named Maria. She has not be brought to any of our feeding programs so we did not know she was there. She was born without the use of her legs and she crawls where ever she goes. The friend gave her a wheelchair. They went to check on her yesterday and found her very sick. I am pasting some of the email we were sent...
"she needs medical assistance urgently in Guatemala City, her condition can make her loose her foot or her life, she is just 11 years old, she is taking some antibiotic from their clinic, but this wont be enough, I don't have a car able to reach the community, actually yesterday we got there on a chicken bus, so we need to pay somebody to provide transportation, so we need some kind of help to get that service and the expenses for Maria and her mum, who is a widow, to go to the city where my friend got the professional medical assistance for free."

See pictures below.

We want to help her, we need to get her medical care tomorrow. Anyway that feels like they can help please donate.

Your challenge

Vicki and Jody head to Guatemala in a few weeks.  Your challenge is to fill the 4 suitcases they are taking down.  Right now, Casa de Sion is badly in need of 2 things

1. Infant formula.  

Remember this formula is for babies whose mothers CANNOT breastfeed them.  So if they do not get formula they do not eat.

2. School supplies.

We need anything and everything. (except, go light on the notebooks because the schools there require special notebooks, so our notebooks only get used in our tutoring sessions.) But we need pencils, colored pencils, rulers, sharpeners, calculators, protractors, markers, crayons (if your kid needed it we need it).  And BACKPACKS!  We really need backpacks.  Used ones are fine as long as they are is good condition.  

Please mail everything to Vicki Dalia @ 3303 Pond Mtn Ln, Whitetop, VA 24292
BY
Sept 30, 2011

If you can afford something big--go big

If you can afford something small--go grab some crayons and pencils and put them in the mail

If you don't have time to shop or mail-- then donate the money and tell me what to buy and I will go shopping for you.

And just so you can see who you are helping...

Some of our students

AND

Some of our babies

AND

Some of both

 

 

Thank you for caring and much as we do and helping us help these amazing people!

Manuel's family

We first met Manuel and his his younger sister Rosa and his two younger brothers Rolando and Carlos, when they were 6, 8, 9 and 14. They came with their parents who could not afford to feed or educate them and their younger sibs. The parents put them in our orphanage. The kids were great. Manuel won art awards and Rosa was top in her classes at the school. Carlos and Rolando were just 6 and 8 year old boys. Then the orphanage closed and the kids went back to their parents. We rediscovered them last year and haved tried to help with food, etc. since then. These pictures are where they have been living. The lamina and beds were donated by the LDS church. The floors are dirt and there is a stream of sewage that runs thru their house. There are 4 younger children now. Carolina,8, Victor, 6, a 4 year old boy whose name slips me and the baby Joseph, 2. The last time I visited these children, I knew we needed to take better care of them. I fear for the girls, Rosa and Carolina, as they are so vulnerable to sexual predators. I want all the children educated and other simple things like fed. Rosa cries every time she sees me. So you get the picture. Anyway, I talked the boss [ my husband] into letting me move the whole family, dad, mom and 8 kids into the new chicken guardian house and the dad being the guardian there. We will move them in Oct. when their school gets out. In the meantime, the dad and Manuel are fixing the house up for them to live in and since they are getting paid, the family now has food. I am thrilled to have this sweet family back in our lives. I love those kids and will enjoy seeing them more and knowing they are being taken care of. The mom has major disabilities, the result of stunting as a child. [caused by malnutrition ]. The dad was an alcholic who is supposed to not be drinking. Joel has supervised him for 3 weeks now and it seems to be true. Both parents have no education and the kids are seriously behind with their schooling. Anyone who wants to help and be part of this families life, just let me know. They need everything. If you notice on the right hand side of our blog there is a link to twitter travel. Joel's blog. Click on it and you can see Manuel and his dad Tomas working on their new house. Has a cement floor, bathroom, and no sewage running thru. Has plenty of fresh air and grass for the children to play in and , of course, they will be able to be in all our feeding and tutorial programs.

Vicki

20.vicki@gmail.com

http://www.safehomesforchildren.org

More Mothers and Toddlers

This week we had a great family from Utah come visit. They decided to do an one-time infant and formula distribution at Nueva Victoria. Right now because of lack of funding the only program we have going on in Nueva Victoria is the tutoring/student lunch program. When the Chase family showed up with formula for the infants and encaperina for the toddlers/preschoolers they were greeted by 38 moms, almost all of whom had 3-4 kids under the age of 5. The mom's were so grateful to have something to feed their kids.

THANK YOU CHASE FAMILY!

We would love to be able to start the mother/toddler program in Nueva Victoria. We just need more help to be able to do so.


Our program in Los Robles is going so well. Every Tues we have 66 moms and 111 kids 5 and under and on Thurs we have 41 moms and 76 kids 5 and under.

The moms are doing a great job helping Dominga in the kitchen and really trying to make the program less about charity and more about self reliance.

For class this week they had someone show them how to make handmade beaded belts to sell. Everyone was pretty excited.


But for everyone that we are helping, there is someone else who needs help. We had to turn away more moms this week. We have 20 moms from Chuti-Estancia that come every week and this week we had 5 more; we also have 15 moms from a pueblo called Pacaman ask to be part of the program. We had to turn away all these 20 new moms and their 50+ kids.

All these women are great people, just trying to feed their children. Unfortunately they did not have the same resources and opportunities we do.


If you want to help these mothers feed their children please let us know. It only takes $20/month to feed one mom and provide the formula/encaparina for her children. I will send you a picture and some details on the family you are supporting.

(Pictures courtesy of Joel-thanks!)

School kids

Just wanted to show you some pictures of some of our school kids.
When school lets out everyday they run to visit us. As you might know, we tutor them everyday after their few hours of regular school and 3 days a week we provide a healthy and hearty lunch since many of these kids have so little to eat.

It is important to us that the kids know they need to work for what they have in life. So we have them help out. They take turns helping cook.

They also all help wash their dishes. The greatest thing is they are happy doing it.

I thought this picture was funny. Joel pulled the washing machine out of storage to wash a pile of clothes. The kids were so intrigued.

Enjoying dessert after their lessons

Last week, following the advice of the doctor in Guatemala City, Joel took our two Down Syndrome kids into Panajachel to have their TSH tested. TSH refers to one part of the thyroid. Making sure we have their thyroid under control will be a major step in helping these sweeties live a healthy life. We should have the results in a couple days.

Here they are with their moms, 8 mths (one of the twins) and 4 1/2 yrs old.

Let us know if you would like to help with feeding our school kids or help with the medical bills of our sweet babies.

Vicki and Jody are in Guatemala right now. A big thank you to everyone who provided formula for them to take down. The babies are drinking it now.

(Note: Pictures courtesy of Joel)

Mama/Tot program, Rain and New Veggie Garden and Guardian House

Joel is in Guatemala right now doing a great job of making things happen. He writes a wonderful blog everyday with great pictures so if you go to http://casadesion.blogpsot.com and click on the twitter travel link on the right you can see them all. I pulled off a few pictures to show you what is happening.

At the top are our new guardian house and new veggie gardens. Thanks to an awesome team, we now have a guardian house and will soon have a guardian in it. Joel is interviewing candidates now. Then we will have chickens . Now we have raised beds planted of all kinds of veggies. All this will help us feed the children we now feed [ over 400 plus 100 mamas ] and enable us to add more. In the picture is our guardian Juan. He is also in the picture of the rocks. He is the one making the rock enclosed structures called gaviones. They hopefully will protect our land from the mudslides that come thru every rainy season. It is quite an art to make a gavione and Juan seems to have it. We took in Juan because he and his boys [ 8 and 12 ] were homeless. So we gave him the job of guardian and they live on the property. We think Juan is autistic, but he sure makes a great gavione and raised bed garden.

The last picture makes me cry every time I see it. For they are all my mamas and all my children. These women had to walk a long way to get there and a long way back. But they get formula, incaparina and a meal and it is all they can do to make sure their kids get food as they have no education and can not make the money to provide it. This picture is of 38 mamas and 75 children. We now have a total of 90 mamas and over 200 children.I cry because we have 1000s more children who need to be in our programs that we can not take as we do not have the funding. PLease help us with this. For $20.00 a month, you can sponsor one mama and her children and we can take one more into our program.

thanks

Vicki

20.vicki@gmail.com

SO MUCH GOING ON

Sorry I have not written in so long. Excuses are poor health for me. I had a physical and had some minor heart blockage so am devoting a day each week to do chelation. Then we had some personal family problems that needed attention and our house that we abandoned for 4 months needed our help. Plus we raise a lot of our food here in the states.Then Joel has not been there and I lost enthusiasm. But thanks to Dominga and Gil the porgrams kept going. We have tons more mamas and infants and tots who want to join our programs. Their kids are starving and they do what all mamas do when their kids are hurting. Anything they can to help. We have more and more handicapped kids who need us to help with their medicals. And then a bunch more kids who can't go to school next year without sponsors. They have finished 6th grade, but want to move further than that and break the poverty cycle. SO THESE ARE ALL THE PROGRAMS WE NEED YOUR HELP WITH AND THE ONES YOUR DONATIONS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE WITH. My enthusiasm is back and I will be in Guate in July to take more pictures.

Now for the things we are making progress with.Kent and Jeff and their team have almost finished the guardian house for the middle land. It is right next to the chicken house and as soon as we move in a guardian we can buy chickens and not have them stolen. Juan, our community building guardian has been working on our gardens and soon we will have chickens and veggies for our programs. Debbie and Daniel and Richard have negotiated with the men from Nueva Victoria and Los Robles. In exchange for these 50 men clearing the 14 cuardas[ 3.5 to 4 acres ] on our third level property and preparing it for the planting of black beans, Nueva Victoria will get $1000.00 worth of fertilizer for their corn and and Los Robles will get $500.00 to pay off their electric bill so the school will have electricity. They were helped by a team of 14 college girls who make it a summer habit to go from country to country doing good. This will definitely increase our ability to be self-sufficient. Pictures will follow soon.

We have finished updating our website so take a look. www.safehomesforchildren.org

thanks

Vicki

Realities

I stole this blog from Joel (our Twitter Travel guy), I felt like everyone should read it.

"Reality: 56% of Guatemalans live below the poverty line; 80% of the Maya population are below that line

Reality: Guatemala suffers the highest rate of malnutrition in the Western Hemisphere; 55% of Maya children

Reality: Guatemala has the highest murder rate in the Western Hemisphere; 53 per 100K compared to 17 in Mexico and 35 in Colombia

Reality: Most of the indigenous poor in Guatemala earn less than $1 per day

Reality: 38% of the Maya population receive no education while another 50% attend less than 6 years

Reality: In Guatemala, 1.8% GDP goes to health care, 1.8% towards health care compared to 7.1% and 6.7% in US

Reality: 50% of Guatemalans have piped drinking water and fully 98% of all water sources are contaminated

Reality: Over 50% of Maya children experience growth stunting as a result of malnutrition

Reality: Less than 20% of the Maya population will ever see a doctor resulting in high infant mortality. One in 5 won't make it to their 5th birthday."

We have had lots going on in Guatemala

even tho I have been in the states for the last two weeks. Joel has been there supervising. We have had two medical teams. One a group of opticians who helped correct everyone's eyes and then a group of dentists who helped get people"s teeth in order. Check out Joel's blog at twitter travel to see pictures of all this. One of the older women we gave glasses to is in the pictures above.

And then a really big thing for us is our new guardian building being built down near the chickens coop. Twitter travel has a bunch of pictures on this. Kent , the man in the above picture, has a physical therapy clinic in Guate City. He collected a group who paid for the materials and donated their labor. And much labor it was. We will be so helped by this as it will give a family a home, give us a guardian so we can finally buy our chickens and start using the eggs and eventually chickens in our programs to eat and get our veggie gardens going and even some fruit trees.

While we are talking about medical stuff, here is one of the children we need money for to do further testing. He can not talk or hear and something wrong with his eyes. A sweet little 2 year old.

To see Joel's blog and all the wonderful pictures and stories, go to www.casadesion.blogspot.com and click on the Twiiter trale link on the right hand side.

Vicki

20.vicki@gmail.com

In honor of mother's--giveaway

As I am sure you notice, we have a new look!

Thanks Jane (and Meredith), you are both amazing!!!

In honor of our new look and Mother's Day we are going to have a little fun.

First we have a great gift idea...

Give the women in your life the best "Mother's Day" present you can give them. For $20 a month, you can give them the gift of life. Your loved one will be assigned a mother and her little children. This family will be provided with life giving food and nutrients. For many of these children it will mean the difference between growth and development or stunting and malnourishment. The person you are honoring will receive a picture of the women and children they are supporting as well as updates and a e-card telling them how you have honored them.
Write Erin at erin.casadesion@gmail.com to sign up for Mother's day.

One of our mom's that needs a sponsor; Aura with her 2 kids Kedi 1 and Cindi 3

Also, we are going to do a Mother's Day giveaway.
Your chance to win a handmade purse from Guatemala. It is the perfect gift (other then sponsoring one of our mom's)!

Modeled by my beautiful sister Emmie

There are several ways you can enter our giveaway:
1. Follow us
2. Link this post to your facebook
3. Tweet about us and this giveaway
4. Blog about us and the giveaway
5. Sponsor one of our mom's

Rules: You may enter up to 5 times (one of each listed above), for each item, leave a comment below (if you already follow us, or sponsor a mom, leave a comment below) with a link and your email address.

Giveaway ends Sunday-Mother's Day, May 8th, 2011. If you are the winner and you want to give it as a gift, I can send an email with a picture to that special 'mom' in your life.

Visiting the Twins

We decided to visit one of our families that receives formula and incaparina so we would have a better idea of where they and their 8 kids live. here are some of the pictures of their home. This is the home of my little downs baby and the dad made them hanging bassinets. There are 8 children and the family struggles to feed them.