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DONATIONS I NEED ASAP

Well I have booked our tickets and hubby and I are traveling June 10th to Guatemala for 2 weeks. I want to start my welfare program for the community while we are there and will give out needed donations one day a week as well as do a social/medical history on the family to see what ways they need help. Can you tell my degree is in social work? SO...... If you can send me donations to arrive by that date I can take them down with me. I especially want infant formula and over the counter meds for colds and flus. This is the rainy season and it is chilly and wet in an 8 by 8 room with a dirt floor and corncob or recycled tin walls. Also the kids need shoes really bad. We have a family of four boys who have lived in the orphanage and whose mother testified for us in court and who is sending the boys back to us as soon as we reopen. In the meantime, she has no clothes for them. I think we have clothes down there and will get them to her, but she has no shoes. There are not shoes there Pedro has already looked. She also needs money for food and for them to be enrolled in school.
Pedro has painted all the bunkbeds and now we need to buy the mattresses the courts want us to have. They are $20.00 each. We still need to build a kitchen/dining outside room. A friend is doing a online book sale that will give donated books to the elementary school we help. If you need her site let me know. And don't forget buying from ...shoptoearn.net/safehomesforchildren. It saves you wear and tear and earns us money. Any boys that want to do us as an Eagle Scout project write me and I will give you ideas of needed items to collect.
Sometimes I wonder if any one read these blogs because i don't get alot of immediate feedback. And I have a million other things I could be doing. But yesterday I had two great emails. One is from a young woman who has been on the blog for a while and has organized a group to come for a month and build us a building. the other is from a group that has almost [ they are $500.00 short ] raised the money to put a road in to connect the upper property with our lower property. Any way I hate to ask for your help, but need to to be able to help the children. Thanks so much for all you do.
thanks Vicki

Here is what Pedro sent me concerning what the courts want done before we reopen. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I think with the attorneys help we will get all our kids back except the ones who went home to their parents. And maybe some of them as Luis and Anna, Diego and Abram were awarded to us until 18 years old.Please pray about what part you may be able to do.

HI BOS THIS IS THE LIST OF THE JUDGE WANTH WE MAKE IN THE HOGAR THIS IS PRIORITY TO OPENED

BUILDING THE KITCHEN
BUILDING THE DINING ROOM
SECURITY ALL WINDOWS OF THE SECOND FLOOR
MATTRESSES NOT SPONGES
PILLOWS AND BEDDING
MORE LIGHT EXTERIOR

THIS IS THE LIS TO THE STAF WE NEED BEFORE TO APENED
ONE BABYSITTING
ONE COOK
ONE WASHERWOMAN
ONE NURSE
ONE PSYCHOLOGIST
ONE DOCTOR
ONE PROFESSOR
THIS IS FOR THE NUMBER THE CHILDRENS WE HAVE IN THE HOGAR IF WE HAVE A MANY WE NEED MORE STAF
THE CHILDRENS WE HAVE BEFORE CAN NOT GO BACK BECAUSE THE HALF BACK WITH THE FAMILY AND OTHERS GO TO OTHERS ORPHANAGE
THE ATTORNEY WANTH TO SALARI Q 5,000.00 AT MONTH AND HE TAKE THE LEGALY JOB
ANY QUESTION CALL ME

A picture from our new facility and our tutorial program.

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Word From Pedro on yesterday's court

Well looks like we can reopen after we have met many requirements. Most of these we knew;they just all cost money. But this is the next phase. Getting done what they want and bringing back the kids. We could also take some of the infants who are being left in cardboard boxes on the streets to die. Pedro is sending me the list today and I will forward it for everyone to see so you can see what you want to help with. If anyone could organise a work team to go down asap, it would be most helpful.We need to build the outside kitchen. Not hard to do. You would not need experience. Guatemala has only had one case in the City of swine flu so it is not a concern.
Pedro saw alot of the children yesterday. He saw three of the babies who are in the government orphanage Casa Alegria. Two are up for adoption. He was in court from 8 to 5 and called me at 7 his time on the way home. It was pouring down rain and we lost connection. So I missed which two. Luis was returned to his mother. Luis was very upset about this and fought with the judge until Pedro talked to him and told him as soon as we reopen he would try and get him to us. This is the same mom who left him when he was one and he was subsequently raped by all his male relatives. The same mom who never came to visit him in the 3 years he lived with us. I can see why he did not wish to return to her. I guess she could have changed. Anna, Diego and Abram were turned over to their grandparents. I happen to know the grandparents. We went to church with them in Santiago. They seemed concerned about the kids and loving towards them. But they were so poor and so frail, I do not know how they will be able to feed them, much less keep them safe from their dad who sells them to other people and the mom who is a major druggy and prostitute. They also had nothing to do with Abram. I will visit them when I go next month and see how we can help. I just remember when they came to us and Abram was a year and could not even sit up. His head was so flat from always laying. He had been hospitalized many times for malnutrition. And anytime anyone came near him he screamed. Two years later he could walk and talk and loved to be picked up and smiled at everyone. I woke this morning at 4am with a nightmare about those kids. The rest went back to their government orphanages.
Now the time has come to get working to get the things done so we can receive the kids back I will send the list, but know that we personally can not afford to do it all. So please see how you can help.
I will post a list of fundraising ideas, but if everyone earned a $100 it would go so far towards what we need. Or gave $25 each. Write me directly if you wish to help at 20.vicki@gmail.com instead of the comments page.
I need to make a retraction. Apparently I misheard JCICS saying they could help us if we paid part of the airfare. They do not work that way. So please overlook what I thought I heard.
Please do the shoptoearn. I found things I needed on there and it was cheaper than the store and the orphanage earned money. For instance I wanted some landscaping fabric. A 3 by 50 foot roll at Lowe's was $14.50. If I ordered it on ShopToEarn from Ace Hardware, it was $12.00 and they shipped free to any Ace store. The link again
is www.shoptoearn.net/safehomesforchildren.org. thanks for any and all help.

News Flash News Alert

Last week several significant things happened surrounding the issue of reopening and the kids coming back. Tuesday Pedro and our attorney go to the head court to meet with the judge and are grilled by her for 1.5 hours. He could not read her and did not know whether she was in favor or not.There he saw all the kids from our orphanage except the babies. As some of you have asked about Luis, he was there and is in the orphanage in Xela. Abram, Diego and Anna, Anna Esquit, Fernanda, Juan and his fam and all the others. I guess the judge was quizzing them also. Friday she asked for an appointment with Pedro and our attorney. She spoke with them for 7 hours. Some of her comments were: "We should have never been shut down in the first place. There absolutely no evidence of any wrong doing. It was criminal what was done to us." She asked Pedro to get affadavits for her as to people we bought food from and paid rent to and bought other things from. She told him some of the things we needed to change when we reopen such as having meat on the menu everyday. We will do this as we want the kids, but here in the states we don't have meat but a couple of times a week because we think it is healthier so we were trying to feed those kids like we do ours. Anyway that will be done. She wants a kitchen outside the residence building so we will do that. She wants doors on the upstairs rooms. Already in the works. And she said she will have the list of other things when he comes to court on WEDNESDAY the 13th of May. The kids will be there also. I think things will be settled and we are praying, hoping for the best. Please pray and think positive for us. Those kids are in such rotten circumstances. I fear for them. Pedro's brother is the chief of police in Chimaltenango and he told Pedro he is investigating a child trafficking thing going on there. I know what that is like for the child as it was part of my childhood.
We need help so much. I had two people volunteer with the website and am going to try and coordinate their efforts this week to get us more visible. I truly appreciate that.
I also need the funds to build the outside kitchen/dining area. It will be a cement slab with cinder block walls part way up. My husband figures if we have to have someone build it, it will run about $5000.00, but if I can get a team down there asap we can do it for just the materials. Either way, cash donations and work teams are much needed.
They want us to have a playground for the kids. That is another work team project.
My husband and I are going down for two weeks in June and can take donations. I would really like formula and newborn kits as I want to do a new mother day for the community of Mayan ladies while I am there.
Also dental and doctor teams and alternative health people. We need simple medical examining equipment and over the counter meds bad. I have an EMT young man who is volunteering for 6 weeks who could help the community alot with those simple things. I will take them when I go if you will send them to me.
I was at a Time Out For Women's conf. this past week end and got a big name musician to agree to do a concert which will be combined with a dinner for us if we do it in Utah where he lives. I need people to help organise this and put it together, but I believe we can make enough from this to build the next building.
Well enough of your time for now. Let me know if you feel prompted to help with any of these things and please pray for the outcome on Wednesday. And remember 100% of your donations go to Guate to take the children. My time and my husbands is totally volunteered. We only pay our in country staff.
Vicki

Mother's Day if you are an orphan

This is the first Mother's day I have been in the states in 4 years. The last four I have been in Guatemala running the orphanage. Mother's Day is even bigger in Guatemala than it is here. It is celebrated all week long and on Thursday of the week all the mothers attend school with their children and receive their presents. Our little children at the orphanage had either me, Olympia [ the social worker ], or Emma [ the cook ] to go with them to school. Don't get me wrong. we loved them, but every child wants a real mom there with them. Then they have to deal with the question, who do I give all this stuff I made to? I got alot of it and I loved all of it. But every time I shared the sorrow they had that there was not a real mom to give it to. And now this year with them all scattered to the wind at different orphanages, on the street, with abusive families, who do they take to school with them or are they even in school and if they are who do they trust enough to give their little paper crafts to? It makes me sad to ponder their fate.
My Mother's Day was great here in the states with kids and grandkids and a wonderful weekend off while my hubby watched the kids. But Mother's Day was hard for some of the people of the world like the little orphans.

Things are moving forward

Things seem to moving in a forward direction. We have had alot of positives.
1] We have had a former volunteer contact us about bringing a doctor group in Aug. so we can do a clinic.
2]The police have contacted us about putting a substation on our land so they can better protect the road. We have agreed. A perk of this will be better protection for our property and the people there.
3]A former volunteer has agreed to provide Christmas for the 70 kids we do lunch and tutorials for. I hope she will do it for the orphanage kids too when they return.
4]A large Christian organization is going to work with us providing work teams to help with construction projects. We are working on the details of this now.
5]We have two volunteers that each want to stay a month that are involved with medical stuff so I am hoping we can have clinics during July and Aug.
6] We had a member of this group send $500.00 for educational support for Pedro's children. Pedro was so moved that he started crying when I told him. Anselmo's children were able to enroll in school and attend because of the school support of another group member.
7] Another volunteer has paid the fee for Safe Homes to be on Shop To Earn. You can go on www.shoptoearn.net/safehomesforchildren and do all your shopping. Alot of the products are shipped free. There are tons of stores on here and everything you buy gives a financial return to Safe Homes. Wendy has volunteered to walk you thru shopping or if you want to sign up for your own store. SHFC gets $100.00 for everyone who signs up for their own store. Let me know and I will put you in contact with Wendy.
Here are some other things we can use volunteers for
a. website construction
b. construction,doctor and dental teams
c. people to just come work and love the kids.

The authority people came on Weds. A day early; I am sure to show power. Pedro called me and said there were 19 people there. He was so nervous. They liked the land and the house. Some were very pleased and obviously caught our vision for the orphaned children. Others he said were normal. Others wanted to know where the seperate building for the kitchen was and the playground. We promised them as soon as we got word we were reopened we would build them asap. No sense in spending the money otherwise as it can go into more feeding/ tutorial programs.

Which brings me to money to build those things. Please would you consider us for a financial donation. Any size is great. or organize a car wash, a bake sale, a golf tournament. Or a dinner at your church. Some groups have raised as much as $10,000.00 from this. If it is close enough I will come speak or find a volunteer near you who has been on site to come speak. My dad used me in child prostitution and pornography so I know first hand what some of these childrens' lives are like. I am unable to turn my back on them. I can't do it without you. 100% of all donations go to the children of Guatemala.

thanks so much for everyone's help
Vicki

GREAT NEWS

Monday Pedro and our attorney met with the judge for Solola who I guess will make the decision on us reopening. He said he saw no reason for us not to open that everything looked good. That he needed to talk with the PGN attorney and the judge in Panajachel.
Then today the judge in Solola called the attorney and wants to visit our facility next Thurs. in terms of us reopening. What a blessing if we could offer a safe homes to our children again. We have much work to do. Please pray, give money or send positive thoughts our way.
Plus if anyone can connect us to a doctor or dentist tema who is willing to come do community service; our Mayan community could sure use it.
Vicki

Children in Need

We received some upsetting news from Pedro. All the charges against us have been dropped and since we were only closed temporarily we should be able to reopen. In an effort to make this happen , Pedro visited one of our children Fernanda. She will testify to the courts in favor of us reopening. If you volunteers remember her, she is 15 and was one of my daughter 's good friends. We were paying for her to go to a private basico [ middle school ] and she was doing well. Her mom had been in prison and then shot by her drug gang and killed. We had to do suicide watch on Fernanda, but she handled it well. When the children were removed from our home, Fernanda went back to her grandfather. But then her father came and got her. When she was younger and lived with him, he had broken both her legs. When Pedro saw her a few days ago, she was covered with burns and said her dad had poured boiling oil on her. She wants to come home to us so bad and all we need to do it is to reopen. All the government orps will be closed at the end of this week and the children are being tossed to the wind. Some homeless, some abusive homes some other orps. Pedro is trying to keep track of them. The following is a report by the Joint Council on International Children Services. It explains the desperate straits of Guatemala's unwanted children. JCICS is willing to travel to Guatemala and plead our case for reopening asap if we pay their expenses.[ they are going thru a difficlut time financially right now ] Please help in anyway you can. Prayer, money, important contacts.
here is the report
http://www.jcics.org/Guatemala.pdf

thanks
Vicki

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.