In addition to running the feeding/tutorial program, Pedro spends a ton of time running around and at meetings trying to get the orphanage kids back. He truly loves those kids. He was able to go to the government orphanage in Mixco a couple of weeks ago and see the kids that were there. Olmypia went with him. They and the kids cried many, many tears. The kids that were there begged him to get them out and back to us. They told him to tell Senora and Senor Dalia to not forget them and to keep working to bring them home. They said they hated it there and cried themselves to sleep every night.
A few days later Pedro read in the Pensa Libre that the government had not approved the budget for 2009 for the PGN attorneys. They are the one that rule over the orphanages. The one we have hates the Mayans and us because we take Mayan children and educate them. She has caused us all kinds of trouble with her lies. her latest is that whne she met with me 2 years ago I tried to give her a big bribe to leave us alone. What a lie. I have no clue how to bribe and would be scared to death to try. Plus we had to have a translator there so I would have had to manipulate a bribe thru a translator. No way I would even attempt that and it makes me mad she told such an outrageous lie. She is the same onemaverick0661@hotmail.com who said we sold the kids for sex to the volunteers. So hopefully her salary will be gone.
A few days ago Pedro and the atty. were called in and told all the charges had been legally dropped. The next day they went in and asked that the association papers be reinstated. They were told this PGN atty. is making all kinds of other complaints. They are fighting to get the kids back. Pedro and the atty. have a meeting Friday to rehash this. Pedro said it would help tremendously if you volunteers, who have been to the orphanage, could write letters telling the judge that the children were well-fed and well-cared for. This must be done immediately. Send the letter: To Whom it may concern. If you write Spanish well, write it in Spanish. Pedro's email address will follow. The emails must be sent by late Thursday so that he can get them for court. Here is his email maverick0661@hotmail.com or send it to mine at 20.vicki@gmail.com and I will forward it

thanks
Vicki

Erin's starts the feeding program

Here is a link to the story of my daughter's trip to Guatemala to start our feeding program there. There are pictures with it.

http://iflifewereeasyitwouldntbesomuchfun.blogspot.com/2009/03/guatemala.html

The feeding/tutorial program has started

Last Monday my daughter was able to oversee the first day of the feeding and tutorial program. We fed 70 children and their teachers K-6th grade and tutored 35 of the oldest. The program starts at 12:30 and ends at 4:30. We had a nutritious soup with lots of veggies and some meat and a fruit. The kids brought tortillas from home. If we were to make the tortillas we would have to hire a second cook that we can not afford as they are so labor intensive. Tortillas are about the only thing besides beans that they get at home so we were not too worried about it. Thank you to all who donated silverware, bowls, cups and plates. My daughter helped to cook the soup to make sure the cook was not overwhelmed. She also shopped with the cook for a couple of days helping her see the best foods both for health and economics. The older children helped distribute everything and all the children washed up their utensils afterwards. They ate it all but were thrilled about getting a banana. You would think that in a country that grows so many beautiful fruits and veggies, the poor children would get their fill. But the fruits and veggies are the most expensive and are grown to make money from the wealthier hispanics. The Mayans can not afford them. So we are focusing on that trying to improve the health of the children. Erin also interviewed the applicants for the teaching position and choose a 22 year old Mayan woman who has a teaching certificate. Erin met with many of the children's mothers to try and make sure they had input. They actually wanted this woman as she was Mayan and would not put them down like the hispanic teachers do. Erin liked her best also. The moms thanked us over and over for what we were doing as they did not feel the children learned alot in the regular school. Erin was very impressed with their concern for their children's education. I will try and get some of the many pictures Erin took up on this blog.
If you would like to be part of this program financially we can increase our lunch/ tutorial days from MON/WED/FRI to add TUES and THURS. We only have enough to do three days right now. Also we could start tutoring the younger children.
Erin also met with Anselmo who has the 16 and 17 that one of our donors is sponsoring in school. She met with the children also. She said Anselmo was so emotional about the help he was getting. They were all so thankful. We still need sponsors for many more children.
Our water maybe in. I need to ask Pedro. I know he has the toilets and sinks and showers in and it is almost hooked up because it got to that point while Erin was there.
We have had some great volunteers stay with us in Los Robles. Thank you so much for all your help. And mant thanks to Erin for taking a week off from her family and helping to get this going.
20.vicki@gmail.com
Vicki

Staus of orphanage kids and new feeding program

I hope alot of you watched the video I sent. It was so sad for my family to watch. We have loved some of those kids for many years and still do. I have a 14 year old daughter who has always seemed somewhat slow. This year she was really struggling with school and we had a bunch of tests done. Her IQ came back seriously low and she was put in a learning Resources classromm. I cried for days after. Well this child loves the orphanage kids. She would live at the orphanage if I let her. When she saw the video, she was sobbing and I put my arm around her. She said " That's my family mom". That has been so profound for me as it really sunk in how right she is. They are our family. We have loved them too long for them to be anything esle. Please pray we get them back soon. Also if you can contribute financially, we can get our attorney to do more.

Here is the status. One of our formers orp kids, Juliana, was reclaimed by her aunt and uncle last month after having spent 6 months in the government orphanage. She clued us into what happened to the kids. We are not allowed to ask questions so it is hard for us to find out anything. Juliana said the kids were divided between several government orphanages. She said they were made to work and not fed as much. She lost 30 pounds. She said the kids cried themselves to sleep ever night and wanted to go "home". She told us this when we were down there in Jan. That same week the Pensa Libre[ country newspaper ] announced that the President.'s wife was closing the government orphanages. We don't know where the kids are now and can't find out. We know the judges are frantic for places to put kids as several of them call us every week asking if we are reopened. The $10,000.00 we spent on attorney fees got all the false charges against us dropped. The next step is to get us reinstated. We were only temporarily closed. We all pray this will happen anyday. The attorney said the person who needs to do it told him he is so busy with all the other things he is doing for the Pres. wife that he has not had time to do the paperwork. But remember there were over 200 orphanages shut down in the last year, not just ours so something weird is happening.

In the meantime or rather especially because of all this, we have started a feeding/tutorial program in the local community. Kids are starving to death and their schooling is poor to say the least. We help the Mayans. Alot of people don't like that as some of the Hispanics use the Mayans as serf labor and an educated Mayan won't do serf labor. My daughter flew to Guatemala today. She will go to the market with our cook tomorrow and buy the food for a simple soup and a piece of fruit. On Monday we open the doors of our feeding/tutorial program. We will feed 35 children at the school next door lunch 5 days a week. There are 35 more who need to have this lunch, but we will have to get more donations to do the next 35. Then after lunch the kids will be tutored for 3 hours in subjects by our hired teacher. This will help them compete for jobs in the future. If this is successful we hope to take the program to more schools for the Mayans.
REMEMBER US FOR DONATIONS FOR ATTORNEY FEES, LUNCHES AND TUTORIALS FOR MORE KIDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS FOR KIDS ESP. PEDRO'S CHILDREN

From the blog site of one of our Casa de Sion supporters. I just found this neat video of the kids in the orphanage when we were at Cerro de Oro. Many of you will remember most of the children. It made me so sad to remember them and know where they are now. Please pray that they will soon be returned to us and the only home most of them have known.

http://www.blogryan.com/maya-jade-orphanage-slide-show/

Vicki

We are trying to help Pedro, our director, with school expenses for his children. So the following is a list of the expenses for his 12 year old son and 7 year old daughter. Pedro' salary has had to be cut because we just don't have as much money coming in to pay him with. He has remained a very loyal employee and we would like to help him out here. The expenses for the year total about $800.00 for each child. Any amount would be of help.
I know this is written in Spanish and calculated in Quetzales.
HI VICKI AND YODY THIS IS THE INFORMATION ABOUT OF MY CHILDRENSJOSE MUGUEL CARRANZA 6TO GRADO PRIMARIAINSCRISION Q. 160.00MENSUALIDAD Q. 1,600.00TRANSPORTE Q. 1,500.00UNIFORME Q. 400.00UNIFORME FISICA Q. 250.00ZAPATOS Q 150.00ZAPATOS TENIS Q. 175.00UNIFORME DE GALA Q 300.00CUADERNOS Q. 70.00LAPICEROS Q. 12.00CAJA DE CRAYONES Q. 15.00BORRADORES Q. 5.00ZACAPUNTAS Q. 10.00PAPEL BOND 80g CARTA Q. 25.00PAPEL BOND 80g OF. Q. 30.00TIGERAS Q. 7.00COMPAS Q. 10.00CALCULADORA Q. 70.00FLAUTA Q. 50.00CUADERNILLO Q. 15.00DICCIONARIO Q. 60.00MARCADORES Q. 15.00MOCHILA Q. 50.00MECANOGRAFIA Q. 450.00FOTOCOPIAS Q. 150.00 ============TOTAL DE GASTOS AL AÑO Q. 5,639.00 ============ANA LUCRECIA CARRANZA 2DO GRADO DE PRIMARIAINSCRIPCION Q. 160.00COLEGIATURA Q. 1,600.00TRANSPORTE Q. 1,500.00UNIFORME Q. 375.00UNIFORME DE FISICA Q. 250.00ZAPATOS Q. 150.00ZAPATOS DE FISICA Q. 150.00GABACHA Q. 75.00UNIFORME DE GALA Q. 225.00CUADERNOS Q. 70.00TEMPERAS Q. 50.00CUADERNO DE TEXTO IDIOMA Y MATE Q. 180.00PINCELES Q. 20.00DICCIONARIO Q. 60.00CRAYONES DE MADERA Q. 15.00LAPICES Q. 10.00LAPICEROS Q. 6.00ZACAPUNTAS Q. 3.00BORRADOR Q. 3.00REGLAS GEOMETRICAS Q. 15.00PAPEL BOND 80g CARTA Y OFICIO Q. 55.00FOLDERS CARTA Y OFICIO Q. 60.00TIGERAS Q. 7.00MANTA PARA COSTURA Q. 20.00LANA PARA COSTURA Q. 30.00MOCHILA Q. 50.00 ============TOTAL DE GASTOS DE TODO EL AÑO Q. 5,139.00 ============

Other happenings. We just about have water. we have had 3 males volunteers there digging diligently to get our water pipes in. The pump is now in so hopefully next week the water will be. My daughter Erin is traveling to Guatemala next week to get the feeding/tutorial program started.
thanks
Vicki

I am forwarding this newsletter I get from a friend of mine in Guatemala so everyone can see how great the need is. Dick does such wonderful work. Our little community of Los Robles where our facility is located has all these same needs. We need help with the malnutrition, but the only way I see to help is to leave the child in the family and provide the help directly to them. We need to help with the domastic violence. It is rampant. Many men have multiple common law wives and can be very abusive to both them and the children. There is much need for medical care. We can have teams of doctors and dentists come to our facility and set up clinics there. We can keep you busy for however long you want to work. Last January, we had a team of two dentists and their organizer come down. They did dental work for the whole orphanage [ 40 kids ], staff members families [ another 20 kids ] and the families of the church we were operating out of. They worked hard for 2 days and what a difference they made. We have the fields to grow food for the community as we have 17 acres of farmland. We need another well and a road put in to be able to grow year round. Now we can only grow during the rainy season. But we also need farmers and workers. Our feeding program starts Feb. 15th and we need volunteers with it. We have hired a cook and a school teacher, but I was unable to get the mothers of the children we are feeding to donate even 2 hours a week to chop veggies and pat tortillas. I don't know why; they are excited about the program. They said they have to work doing what their husbands tell them to do and work in the fields. Anyway I am doing this for the children so we will proceed. So I need volnteers. I need someone to do computer work and update our website so it shows the social welfare programs we are starting. We continue to need your materials donations and money donations. One volunteer has started a Change for Children and will be collecting change to contribute. We can also use grant writers. Well you can tell Dick inspires me. I, like Dick, have seen all those same needs [ a little different faces ] up close and personal. The starving child, the mother and children with no place to live, the funereals of infants who died from lack of milk or medical care, the families who live in one room with dirt floors, no bathroom, parasite infested water, etc. We believe strongly that the real way out of all this is education for all and education of the girls. The boys take priority with the family money, but it is the educated girl who feeds her family correctly, who avoids living in an abusive situation and improves hygiene and practices preventive medical care for the family. Our four children who need sponsorship areJose's two children, one boy, one girl. They are in first grade and need $20.00 each for school supplies, $15.00 each for black shoes, and a bookbag.Anselmo's two children Claudia who is starting 9th grade. Her total expenses are $850.00 for the year. This includes tuition at the private school [ they only have private schools for middle school and high school ], books, uniform, shoes, school supplies and transportation. Her brother Alex is in 8th grade and his total yearly expenses are $750.00 and goes for all the same things. Their expenses do not have to all be paid upfront.things.Anselmo has 5 younger children who need $20.00 each for school supplies and $15.00 each for black shoes.We will have Pedro pay all the fees for the children as we do not want to have to put the fathers in the postion of choosing food for his family over their educational fees.
Thanks for reading this and Thank you to all the families who give money so faithfully even in this tight economy.VickiDonations can be mailed to me and I will take them down. Write for the address20.vicki@gmail.com Pedro and our attorney contiue to work to free our orphanage kids and bring them home to us. The attorney turned in more paperwork last week and hopes to have a good report this week.

I promised I would write more about the kids from the orphanage and where some of them are. Juliana, one of the Mayan teenagers, went to court and was able to be returned to her aunt and uncles home. Pedro met with her on Monday before we flew home on Tues. and she was able to give him the following info.
1] she told him our orphanage was much better than the government one she was in. She had lost about 30 pounds, so we assume she had less to eat. There were 8 girls to a room and many fights. Most of the girls were drug users and prostitutes. She said Brenda cried everyday and swore she was going to run away the day Juliana left. These girls were at Casa Alianza in Mixco. Also there from our orphanage are Alicia, Selena, Josue, Gerardo, Rudy and Byron. We know this one closed last week and all staff were fired, so I have no idea where these kids are now. Juliana said the babies up to 4 years were all brought here at the beginning and then moved, so no one knows where they are now.
2] At the government orphanage in Zacapa there is Maria, Juan, Monica and Aura, as well as Jose Julian, Wendy, Alex, Ludwin and Romon
3] At the government orphanage in Xela are Manuel, Rosa, Rolando, Carlos, Anna, Diego and Abram.
4] Fernanado is home with her grandparents.

While we were there it was annnouced that the National Hospitals were closing because they could not afford to pay the doctors. These are the only medical care for the poor including most of the Mayans. Also the government orphanages were closoing. The Pensa Libre[ national newspaper ] had front page news that the schools were opening late with a deficit; there was not enough money for the desks and books. There was a two page article about all the families who could not afford any rent and were now living on the streets and under bridges. Food prices were 4 to 5 times higher than when we lived there in May.

Pedro is meeting today with the comite [ the community council ] and the parents for the school we are doing the feeding program for. They are excited their children are being given this chance. He had to pay $50.00 to the private school we sent Juliana to last year before they would send her papers to her new school. Wonder if Fernanda is even going to school this year since we have not heard form her family.
Vicki

What happened to the orphanage kids in Guate was so discouraging that I have not written on the blog in several months. However after much work and attorney money things seem to be turning around.
My husband and I just returned from a trip to Guate to assess our past and future programs down there. I will try and go over some of what we learned now and will fill everyone in on the rest as the week progresses. Suffice it to say we are back in business.
First we learned two of the " charges" against were 1]we allowed the volunteers to use the kids for sex. You volunteers know how horrendous and maddening that charge was. The other one was 2]we did not feed them meat with every meal. No evidence was be found to formally charge us and the charges were dropped after $10,000.00 was spent on an attorney. We think the reason the lady attorney who filed the charges hated us was we took Mayan children. They are very discriminated against as are the organizations who help them. We know where almost all the children are. They are either back with family or in one of 3 government orphanages. Some of them have run from the government orphanages as they are really bad places to be. While we were there the government orphanages closed and the staff was fired because there was no more money. The attoney told us things could change really quick and we could be reopened anyday. The woman attorney who gave us so much trouble has asked to move to another area as she is hated by the Mayans and feels threatened. I will tell everyone where each kids is or was last Thurs in the next email. Many have asked about Luis so I will tell you know that he and Anna, Diego and Abram and Manual and Rosa and Carlos and Rolando are at the gov orphanage in Xela. The courts call Pedro 3 or 4 times a week asking if we are reopened as they have tons of children they need to send him. The economy of the country is in horrible shape and I will go over that next email also.
Our building at Los Robles [ Godinez ] is almost complete. Everything is done except the water. We need $5000.00 more to get the water into the house and buy the toilets, sinks and showers.
The building looks great and all the donations including all the wonderful tables and shelving systems that Evelyn's group built are all stacked in there. Pedro and Jose will start organizing everything on Monday. Pedro is ever faithful. He put up a tent in one of the rooms and has been spending his time there working with Jose on digging the septic and dealing with the courts.
Briefly here are the new programs we are starting:
1] a feeding program at the school next door. everyday after school at 12 the 70 elementary kids will come to casa de Sion and have a soup and tortilla lunch. then grades 4, 5 and 6 will stay for tutorials for 3 hours. We start feeding kids on Feb 15th and really need the water in by then; otherwise we will buy a toilet and haul water.
2] a welfare program for the community. Jose told me that his sil had a baby 15 days ago. She had no breast milk and no money for formula and the baby died. I told him not to ever let that happen again. To come to us and we will help. 50% of the people in the community live in one room homes with dirt floors, no bathroom, no water and no electric. jose came to us the day we left with a woman whose husband beat her and kicked her out with the 4 kids under 10. he has 4 other common law wives. we are providing housing and food.
3] scholarships. I am sure many of you met Anselmo. his mom Juana was my maid for 3 years. Anselmo has 7 children. The two oldest are Claudia and Alex [ 8th and 9th grade ] They will be the first in the family to graduate . They want to be teachers. Anselmo and his mom and wife have no education. Anselmo can not afford to send them this year. It will cost $750.00 a piece for the year to send the two of them. That includes pickup transportation. Jose can not afford to send his kids to 1st grade because of costs. That will run about $100 for the year.

Well I will write more in a couple of days. lets just say we are back in business. We have volunteers starting to come in feb. and will have boy and girl bunkbed volunteer room.

Here are things we need
$$$ for the water system and to start a new building and for scholarships for kids. No amount is too small
school supplies and bookbags and educational toys, formula, children's shoes and alway clothes in good condition. can be shipped to my home.

Jody and I took 4 suitcases of your donations down when we went and my son hauled 15 buckets full to go down by container

We can't do this without you.
thanks
Vicki

As my teen daughter would say, I have had a very bad day. It started two weeks ago when Guatemala government raided our orphanage at 10pm and terrified the children and searched everything. When searching Pedro's office they asked about the money he keeps in a lock box. He told them it was the budget money for the month. He told them the truth. They said no it is not, it is money you made from selling the children for sexual purposes. Then they told us we feed the children pig food because we feed them fruits and veggies. Then they told us we needed to buy white sheets and blue coverlets so the beds matched and that is was criminally wrong for Aura [5] to have climbed into bed with Monica [ 7] and her sister. So we tried to change some of the things like adding much more meat to the diet and renting another house to spread the kids out more. They also interviewed every child who could talk 5 times in the last month asking didn't they want to go home to their families. The kids all said no thank you, we want to stay here and no we are not being abused, we love it here. Well yesterday morning at 6 am they bombarded us again and this time took all the children. Took them one month before they finished the school year. They will have to repeat this year. And made up ridiculous allegations of illegal adoptions and sexual abuse. We have done two adoptions in the 5 years we have operated. This charge seems to have stemmed from a missing file on one adoption. The sexual stuff is made up. I would bet my last dollar that my staff would never sexually abuse a child.
This is the 5th or 6th orphanage we know of that has had this same thing happen. The charges are always the same. The orphanages have all just recently bought land and built new buildings. There is talk that maybe the government wants to conviscate it. We have hired an attorney and will fight to get the kids back, but if we win we will be the first.
Well that's it.

Tonight I am writing to let everyone know that our precious Lydia died this morning. She choked during her morning feeding, the bomberos were called, but she died later at the hospital. The hospital doctor said given her cerebral palsy, fetal alcoholism and severe malnourishment, there was nothing anyone could have done. Lydia came to us last May weighing 8 pounds at 3 years of age. She gained 6 pounds during her stay with us.My staff is very upset and Olympia who received the body from the hospital and has dressed her for the funeral tomorrow is crying. My two teens here at home who had spent many hours holding and rocking Lydia are crying. I go between depression and joy that Lydia's spirit has been released from such a difficult body and that she is now free to move about at will. I would like to thank everyone on this list who spent time rocking, holding and loving Lydia and making her last 4 months in this life so much more loved than her first 3 years.
Anyone who would like to contribute to her coffin, flowers and candles, it would be much appreciated.
Vicki
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org/

We are so busy. But I know everyone wants to know what is happening. So here goes. One let me catch you up on the kids. We have had several teens leave and go home to parents. They were the kids from Xela who came to us when the orphanage they were in closed due to the owner being accused of sexual abuse. They have now gone to live with their parents. But we have had the government add to our orphanage a 5 and 12 year old. A mother brought her 1 month old and 1 year old to us as she could not take care of them. The courts want us to take a sib group. The mother is starting to use the 9 year old girl in prostitution and they want us to take her as well as her 7 and 2 year old sibs. And finally another orphanage has closed and is looking for places for their 20 children ages 8 months to 4 years. Don't know if we will take any of them. Our new building is almost done. They are stuccoing it now. The middle of this month we have a couple of ladies who are going to go and paint murals on the walls of the kids rooms.
We had a team that got about 1/3 of the septic dug and the builder is working on getting the electric in.
A couple of pieces of news. Good first. Edwin, or Josue as the staff calls him, has a family. A Guatemalan mom and dad who can't have children of their own are in the adoption process and come to visit him. He is the baby who was found on the side of the road in the bushes.
Now the bad. The same group who brought us the 5 and 12 year old decided to do a surprise visit at 10pm on a Fri. night. Their wanted to hassle us. One of their wants was that we have white sheets and blue bedspreads for all the beds. The judges that use us to send children too told them they were crazy that we had a good place and to leave us alone. Just one of the crazy things we have to deal with.
I forgot. The ones of you who know Alicia, well she is back. She left at age 18 with a woman who was going to train her in the craft business. Apparently it did work out, so she is now a new employee of ours and will live at the orphanage.
Have I told everyone of all the marvelous things that the work team of 32 did back in July. Beautiful tables, tons of shelving for the storage room and cubbies and shelves for all the rooms at the new orphanage. Plus they totally organized our storage room and worked with the children.
We alos just had another grop down here who helped some more with the storage room and got the septic 1/3 done.
Our biggest need now is CAsh to build more. I have brought back a lot of jewelry and craft items and if you are close to me can do an in home party where your guests can hear about what we are doing in Guate and what the needs are. Then they will be given the opportunity to buy any of the items I have or special order items, I can pick up when I go again in Oct. If you know of any grants or just want to do something esle, contact me and we will brainstorm.
We have an American couple who has made a year long commitment to help with the orphanage starting in Jan. We are very excited about this. He is Guatemalan and has family there.

Well we just returned from Guatemala and are spending the night in Charlotte at my daughter's house. I have a million blogs to write, but will only write a short one today as we need to get on the road and back home to our kids.
This is one that one of our donors has requested, but I know everyone on the group would like the info. So as of today here are the names and ages of the kids at the hogar.

1. Oliver-2 months [ arrived yesterday and will post his story soon ]
2. Noah- 4 months [ goes to court today; please say a prayer for him ]
3. Edwin- 3 months [ has a Guatemalan adoptive family ]
4. Lydia- 3 years but the size of a long skinny 6 month old
5. Carlos- 1 year
6. Abram- 3 years
7. Carlos- 2 years
8. Lilli- 5 years
9. Diego- 4 years
10. Ana esquit- 8 years
11. Jorge- 4 years
12. Ana Maria- 5 years
13.- jose Julian- 5 years
14. Aura- 6 years
15. Monica- 8 years
16. Wendy- 10 years
17. selena- 10 years
18. carlos- 8 years
19. Rolando- 9 years
20. Dillon- 7 years
21. Yubonni- 4 years
22. Alex- 6 years
23. pedro- 9 years
24. Manuel- 15 years
25. Rosa- 12 years
26. Lubin- 12 years
27. Byron- 14 years
28. Luis- 12 years
29. Maria- 12 years
30. Javre- 12 years
31. Juan- 13 years
32. Deciero- 15 years
33. Josue- 12 years
34. Rudy- 12 years
35. gerardo- 16 years
36. brenda- 13 years
37. fernanda- 14 years
38. juliana- 15 years
39. felician- 17 years
40. helica- 17 years
41 Marleny- 15 years

We have been told we will probably be getting an 8 month old whose mother just died and the father does not want to raise her, as well as a 3, 4, and 5 year old.
WE ARE INTERVIEWING NOW FOR A NANNY/TEACHER TO WORK WITH THE PRESCHOOL/KINDERGARTEN GANG.
We have bought a dehumidifier for the clothing room.

I want to say again how much I appreciate the volunteers. I will address shortly some of the concerns as they are my concerns also. i have had the advantage of dealing with the same issues for the last 5 years so have gained a little knowledge and will discuss it in an upcoming email.

Vicki
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org/

Jody and I head for Guatemala next week. The building is on hold until he can get down there and check to make sure all the plumbing and electrical systems are where they are supposed to be. We have been super busy here in the states. We married off child number 7 yesterday. Only 11 more to go. All my kids, their spouses and my grandkids were there and we got some awesome pictures.
Back to Guate. We are anxious to finish the new building for the children and have them move in as soon as the school year is over in October. They will have so much more room to play and be outside. Our next big project will be to raise the money to build the next building as it is desperately needed for space and kitchen and dining and volunteer rooms and staff rooms and classrooms. Our gardens are going with beans and potatoes and corn. We need to plant more as the food shortages all over the world scare me. I want to get chickens and more goats and pigs and maybe a cow out there as well as more fruits and veggies. We are having tremendous help from volunteers. Here is a quote from the leader of one of the groups that just got back.
"The volunteers there were helpful and pleasant and we were so glad to get to know them. We loved Tracey. What a marvelous girl. She has such a big heart and loves the children. I'm sure you are extremely anxious to get the kids out to the new site so there is more room both inside and out. Everyone wanted to be able to meet you and tell you and Jodi how they admire you for all your work and the heart-felt commitment you have to the children. Pedro was absolutely wonderful in helping us and being available for us.
Here's how our projects went:
Loren and his group made benches (I don't know how many), 5 kitchen tables, 4 study tables, 4 units of cubbies and shelves for the whole bodega.
Concerns: I was told there is a lot of wood left over but you should be able to put to good use. One of the tables buckled a little on top because it didn't have time to completely dry after the resin was put on so Jodi or Pedro will want to glue that down.
Kathy Bartlett and her group at the bodega pulled out everything, went through every item that was there on the shelves and in the suitcases. They sorted everything and put it all on the shelves that Loren built which they labeled by size and gender. They also bought additional plastic containers for the small items.
Rocking the babies was something we all enjoyed although the workers were upset that we were changing their routine and the routine of the babies. However, since you had told us to rock, we rocked. We also did activities and played with the older ones. They are all so dear. (I'm sure that's not true all the time -- no child is, but we loved them.)
Concerns: We need more $ to hire workers who will just rock, play with and nurture the children. Also, of course, more space which should be taken care of shortly. One of the women suggested that you inquire about a trained pre-school teacher to train the workers who will be working with the children and then stay there for a couple of months to get them going.
Planting the potatoes was accomplished without any difficulties and done in just a few hours.
Building the new orphanage seems to be coming along. Dave Anderson and his group did all they could with what Diego gave them to do. They built a retaining wall in front of the porch and perhaps a couple of other little jobs."
This group and what they did means so much to us. Not only for the help they provided, but the emotional support they give to us and the children. Things get very discouraging from time to time and we need the energy of others.
We receive two new children on Monday. They were in the adoption process and in a big fancy adoption orphanage, but were moved somewhere esle when they was a question about the birthmother. Now they are being moved to us. NEW ADOPTIONS ARE AT A STAND STILL SO NONE OF THE CHILRDEN IN OUR ORPHANAGE CAN BE ADOPTED AT THIS TIME. This is true all over the country. It makes it really hard. Alot of the orphanages have closed because of no adoption money to keep them running. Thankfully that is not what funds us. Anyway the two new ones are 2 and 3; a brother and sister. We are full except for a couple of more baby beds.
Noah, our precious 5 month old at the orphanage, goes to court Aug. 5 to see whether he stays with us. My 14 year old here at home just cried and cried at the possibility that he might go somewhere esle. It is hard to make kids understand that the government rules, we just pay the expenses and love them while they are there.
Well my last point is money. We need it to build the next building. I have gotten a $11,500 donation since I have been home and that will start the new building fund. I also have a donor who will match any money donated up to $10,000.00. So please give what you can. We had a little girl request money for the orphanage instead of birthday presents and she raised $500.00. Thanks to all of you who have sent donations. They are so helpful and needed. My husband met a man from American Airlines who is going to try and get us space to send donations down.
Well time for church. thanks everyone.
Vicki
http://www.safehomesforchildren.org/

This is some of what I have been doing here in the states. These pictures were from the name blessing of my oldest daughters 3rd child. And you can see 3 of my kids with 3 of my new grandkids. the fourth one could not make the festivities. The final pictures are of most of my grandchildren. two are missing. they are all so special to me.

We have had much help from volunteers last week. They built tables and shelves for the kitchen and the bedrooms and the stroehouse. They built a front patio for the new house. They helped plant potatoes. And they rocked little ones and played with bigger ones. And they brought much needed donations. Donations we will use all year long.

The new building is ready for the stucco. My husband and I travel to Guatemala as soon as we marry our 22 year old son this week-end. My husband needs to make sure the plumbing and electric go where they are supposed to. We have a volunteer team coming in August to dig for the septic system.

We had much trouble from four of the last eight teens we took. they had to be returned to the courts. They were using extortion to get the younger children to steal for them. Plus they were threatening violence and we feared for the younger ones.

We have been told we will be receiving 2 more children between the ages of 2 and 5 and then another 2 from another children's home that are 9 months and a very developmentally delayed 3 year old.

Well that is all for now. I will take pictures while i am ther and post them. Thanks also to those of you who have sent donations. they are so appreciated.

If you need my home address, write me privately via my email.

Vicki

20.vicki@gmail.com

We have had a bunch of wonderful things happen for the orphanage. I hope everyone on the email group list got the picture of Lydia as several people have been asking for it. I got a new digital for Mother's Day so hope to take lots of pics when we go Guate in the next few weeks.
We have a wonderful team there right now working hard to make thngs better for the children. Thirty two people who all brought donations. They have divided into work teams and some are building shelving and tables that we desperately need. Others are building a porch onto the new building, others doing landscaping and finally others who are helping at the orphanage with the kids. I heard from my daughter that they brought lots of bubbles and the kids were loving that.
We so appreciate the work teams.
Another blessing has been a new volunteer who is working with the kids, but also helping us with the farm. She and the kids and part of the work team put in a 100 pounds of potatoes yesterday to add to the black beans and corn that is already in.
The final blessing is I met with a couple yesterday who have an adopted 3 year old son from Guatemala. They had some money they had to donate to a charity and they picked us as one of the three they gave to. They gave me a check for about $11, 400 yesterday. I started crying. It is the first of the money we need to start the new building fund. 100% of it will go to the building fund. We take no personal expenses or administrative salaries from Safe Homes.We are turning down children until we can get into our new facilities. The first building is close to completion. He will start stuccoing in about 2 weeks. It is dorm space for 64 childlren, but we need the next building for the kitchen/dining area and volunteer rooms and tutorial classrooms
My daughter has been such a great help working down there and Pedro is doing a marvelous job.
thanks for all you do
Vicki

We had some good news about Lydia. She is the 3 year old who weighed 8 pounds. Well after 3 weeks she had a hospital visit to look at her health. She had gained 4 pounds. Pretty amazing. The hospital was so impressed they want us to take brothers 9 months, 1.5 years and 2,5 years.
To explain a little about the building I sent pictures out of today. It is 35 feet by 35 feet or almost 2500 sq. ft total both floors. Each floor has 4 bedrooms that has 2 bunkbeds in each, so a total of 32 sleeping spaces on each floor and then in the middle is a common room where the kids can study or just hang out. This building will house 64 children. It cost about $60,000.00 total and after it is stuccoed will look fairly nice. We need another $60,000.00 to build the next building which will have the kitchen dining area and classrooms for both orp kids and community classes. It can also house more kids if needed or have some volunteer rooms.
The kids in the garden are planting black beans.
Vicki

I know everyone thinks I dropped off the face of the earth, but I am still here. We arrived in the US 5 days after our passports had been unfrozen. I was so.... glad to touch US soil. I know we need to change alot in this country, but it sure looks good after having lived in a third world country. We had supper with several of our kids and grandkids when we flew in and then headed for our mountain and home. we got there at 1 in the morning.
We saw another son and his two daughters and then went to work getting our gardens planted. Our sil had planted alot of things and we planted more. I got to see my 6 goats and two great Pyrenees that I had gotten for a present for Mother's Day.
The next week-end we went to see our oldest son's son get dedicated. Jake was born in Jan.
Then we went to see our 2 month old grandson that we had not met yet. At that point we had seen all 10 of our grandbabies.
The next week i started again on orphanage work. Man you guys and gals did a great job on the donations. My whole living room and my upstairs den are stacked full of donations. i am spending some of each day sorting and packing buckets to go back to Guate with us. thank you so much for all your efforts. There are some great things here and will come in handy when we get them down there.
I got to be at my 4 year old grand daughters birthday on Sat. and had a homecoming barbeque on Sunday for my daughter who had spent a semester abroad in China. This next week-end we have the baby blessing of the two month old and all the kids and their kids will be there. I will get to see my 4 new grandsons together for the first time. it promises to be an awesome experience.
For orphanage news: things seem to be gong well. Lydia our 8 pound 3 year old went for a cat scan. She is alos CP and fetal alcohol. The babies are getting fatter. The government people visited us and said how pleased they were with the care of the babies. We had to turn down an 11 year old as there is no more room in our current facility.
The new residence home is progressing. The are pouring the floor for the second story.
We have a large, 32 people, group coming the second week in July who will build shelf units, a porch on the residence building and work with the kids.
Will try to write more.
Vicki

I just had the most wonderful spiritual experience. The reason I do this. We got a new little girl at the orphanage. She is 3, but severely malnourished. She weighs 8 pounds and has the muscle tone of a 4 month old. She has the sweetest smile ever. And the spirit that radiates from her is so awesome. Her name is Lydia. She came from the hospital in Xela and I shutter to think where she might have gone if we had not taken her. My staff is totally mesmerized with her; the reason I love my staff. Let me know if anyone wants to sponsor her; I am sure she comes with extra blessings.
The same court is sending us a 5 year old and 9 year old girls next week. And I have someone begging me to take 5 teens in a bad situation.
We have our passports back.YES................................
It will be hard to leave the kids tho. They are so cute.
Well my last blog until we get settled in the states sometime next week.
Vicki

One group member asked about the children we receive. She wanted to know where they came from and what the court system was like. (By the way, feel free to ask questions. Email them directly to 20.vicki@gmail.com)

Vicki mentioned last time about the eight children from Xela that we got because we offered to take a few, trying to help out. They are desperate for places to send children and we are one of the few places still taking them. They tried to send 13 and Pedro pled that we had no beds, only cribs left. We did not want to take too many teenagers at one time. When teenagers come from the courts they have usually been severely abused or out on the streets (probably doing prostitution). A 25% increase in unruly teenagers would have been disasterous but luckily these kids had all been in an orphanage and were well mannered and little trouble. They did , however, come with only the clothes on their backs. The other ones were left at the old orphanage and are unavailable. We have scurried all week to find clothes and shoes and rain gear for these kids. Not to mention the extra money for food.

We seem to be at a critical junction because there will be many, many more children in desperate need of our services as the economy winds down.
Pedro just told us the courts are sending us a malnoruished 3 year old girl tomorrow and a 5 year old girl who has been physically abused by her dad.
We have had rain for 5 days and are told it will contiue for 5 more. First it was tropical Storm Alma coming from the pacific. Now it is tropical Storm Arthur coming from the carribean and going inland. The mudslides have already started and we don't know where it will end. We are trying to increase our storable food supply so anyone who wants to donate grains, cans of meat, dried milk, or dehydrated fruits and veggies, they will be much appreciated.
For those of you who put stuff on the container from Utah, I have had word about it. It has arrived and Julio, the main recepient of the items is trying to gather the money to pay the taxes. They were like $4000.00.
Good news and thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts. The judge told our atty. today she would write the letter we need to unfreeze our passports. He will pick it up tomorrow.