Guatemala 09/09

This past month's trip to Guatemala was short but action packed. First of all, our flight had issues. I spend a lot of time in airports and on planes, so I have grown very accostomed to waiting and sitting. I have adapted such that I fall asleep almost immediately after getting on a plane, and generally I may only wake up once or twice. Usually the jolt of landing will bring me out of the sleep and I am ready to go. In this case I got on the plane and accomodated myself to my routine set up and sleeping position. I awoke an hour later to realize I am still in Miami and we are deboarding the plane. Very dissapointing to say the least.

Anyway, we arrived late so the day's itinerary was a little rushed. First stop was San Francisco Xavier's boys home. The road up to this home is incredible. It is very narrow and the "best" spots are little distances where they have filled in the road with stones and paved strips to drive on. We played chicken with a large truck, and realized that we, as the smaller vehicle would finally just have to take the whole road in reverse until we found a small area to pull off to let this large truck pass.

We have completed an agricultural project in the home to produce mushrooms (hongo ostra). The shady, damp, cool, high altitude conditions of the home are perfect for cultivating this product and the home can use its harvest for general consumption as well as sale for profit. The project was incredible and I was very impressed with the Brothers and the boys for how well they understood and explained the details to me. It was obvious that they had gained a lot of information from the technical training sessions and have already become experts themselves. The project is already producing mushrooms and the boys all agreed when I asked if they enjoyed the new addition to their diet. The experts who assisted us in developing this project actually forecast that this project may be the most successful in the country due to the exact conditions of the surrounding environment and this home has the potential in the future to grow and develop it to the point of making a substancial sustainable income for the home.

During each home visited we celebrated the month of September being Child's Month. Each celebration included piñatas, a special meal, gifts, goody bags, prizes, and brand new baseball hats.

The following day started with an Inauguration ceremony for a wonderful project that we just completed in Ponte de Pie y Camina girls home. This home had been temporarily displaced as they were in need of adequate dormitory housing. Food For The Poor, in collaboration with Caritas, built a new dormitory for the home that cares for approximately 20 girls. The dormitory is complete with four large bedrooms for the girls, two bedrooms for the Sisters and two large storage/closets. Food For The Poor had already compelted a project previously to provide adequate sanitation at the home and the dormitory was constructed with a hallway to lead to those restroom facilities. The dormitory was beautifully constructed and all of the furniture has already been moved in. The only thing missing was this ceremony and blessing so that the girls could start moving in. The home had prepared a ceremony complete with dance and song presentations. I was very pleased with the project and it is very clear to see what a huge difference it will make for the home. The girls are currently housed in the space that should function as the dining room/multipurpose room. The home administrators expressed their gratitude and included the fact that they will gain that space back to better accomodate the girls with their mealtimes and studying.

A big part of our program is to show these children that they are special and loved. Whenever possible we try to celebration special days or give them extra attention so that they can feel God's love in their lives. Through their direct contact with our sponsors they gain a special bond with someone who cares for them and is interested in them. By celebrating Child's Month in each of the homes, we also took advantage of this small holiday to continue in this mission to boost their self esteem and self worth. One of the items that each child received was a baseball hat. These are original team hats from the professional baseball league of the US. Its may sound silly, but as we passed them out you could hear "ooohhhs" and "ahhhhhhs" and inevitably someone would yell "SON ORIGINALES!" The fact that they were new hats and still had the official league tags on them was a very big deal to these children. Simple as it may sound, these children rarely receive something brand new with the tags still connected. The boys, being sports lovers, talked A LOT about them and asked me about the teams and where they were located in the country. It was fun to watch the kids get so overjoyed about these great items that we are able to acquire and distribute to them through the generosity of our donors.

Guyana 08/2009

I LOVE GUYANA!

While visiting Bright Horizons Children's Home we had the opportunity to play a little Cricket with the kids. Cricket is the most popular sport in Guyana, followed by soccer. The children use makeshift bats out of wooden boards with whittled handles. After enjoying our time here playing in the rain, we made sure to send a full set of Cricket equipment out to the home in their next distribution. I wish I could have been there when they received it!

I spent the week on the road, visiting the different homes participating in the program. Along with the Guyanese coordinators for the program we met with the different home directors and discussed everything from our support and potential future projects, to the current school year and the silly things the children do from time to time. The above picture is our FFP Driver Mr. Marks playing with the kids while we sitting with the house mothers and other children. Many of the children lack an appropriate father figure in their lives, and Mr. Marks gets lots of attention when he comes to the homes. The children know him very well and they all compete for his attention when he accompanies the AOH coordinators on their monthly visits.

One of our donors blesses us a couple times a year with a donation of beautiful hand-made outfits for the children.

The trip was wonderful and we were able to accomplish a full itinerary of visits and meetings. We also celebrated a Day of Celebration event with all the homes where the children went home loaded with gifts, candies and prizes. Each home had various children participating in the cultural presentations and it is always so incredible to watch children present to a large group of people. You can see the child gaining confidence and maturity when they complete the presentation and they are so happy that they had the courage to stand up and participate. One of the girls from Mahaica Children's Home ran up to me and gave me a big hug because she was so proud of herself for singing a solo to the group of 500 people. These children are extremely talented and it is wonderful to provide them with the opportunity to showcase themselves.

This is the exterior of a beautiful buildling addition that we completed at Joshua House. This large project gives the home the needed space to seperate the girls and boys dorms and provides a spacious breezy multi-purpose room/dining room on the bottom floor.

Here is a short video of the boys of St John Bosco's Boys Home's steel pan band.

They were practicing for a presentacion the following day to a gathering of all the homes of Angels of Hope.

The children of Guyana are so beautiful! Look at this beautiful face!

Nicaragua 07/09

"Thank you for your support"

When I visit Nicaragua, there is never enough time. We support 23 orphanages in the country and with our time and distance limitations, it seems I can never do as much as I would like.

July's trip included many computer lab inaugurations. One of our initiatives this year 2009 is to distribute computer labs to ALL of the 93 homes in the Angels of Hope program. These computers are distributed in sets of 6. With our Ncomputing technology that we have been fortunate to acquire, we are able to operate 6 independent systems off of only one CPU. This is perfect for the orphanages because they do not have the resources to maitain so many individual computers with the repairs that will inevitably be required in the future. With these systems the homes have only one CPU to maintain and they get the benefit of 6 computer stations with internet capabilities.

New Computer Lab in NPH, complete with Desks!

During this trip we were able to inaugurate 5 computer labs that were already installed and functioning. Some of the larger homes received larger labs that included more than one set (12 or 18 computers). It is incredible to be part of the process that provides these incredible benefits and opportunities to the homes and the children. It provides our children with the opportunity to compete academically at the same level or maybe even a higher level that other children in the education system, rather than be a step behind.

Here is a little example of the process that happens when an orphanage submits a "wish list" to me. When I travel I always request that the homes present me with a letter and a "wish list" of their biggest needs when I am visiting. I receive the list and I go through the home to see the different needs that they are describing. I ask a LOT of questions and I take pictures. Here for example, I visited Hogar de Ninos Siervas del Divino Rostro. They care for over 20 children under the age of 4. The labor required to maintain the facility is intensive given that they have so many babies under their care. They submitted a list that included a prioritized need for a new stove. This stove that you can see here is the only stove they have. Only two burners work and since the oven is broken they use it to store dishware.

Can you imagine preparing formula, baby food, and meals for 20 babies and toddlers three times a day with only 2 burners!

Also they requested a new Washing Machine. They have an old donated machine that no longer works. They wash all the babies and children's clothing, bedding, and DIAPERS every single day by HAND! Bedding is changed and washed every single day for the cribs and the nun estimated that they wash an average of 2.5 changes of clothes for each child every day.

When I returned to the office I reviewed the list again and prepared a request for our donations and purchasing departments. Within two weeks, we had approval and are now already in the process of shipping a new stove and a new washing machine down to this deserving children's home. What a blessing my job is!

One of the homes who had received a set of 12 computers for a new computer lab (complete with desks and chairs as well) had also received a complete dormitory make-over of new furniture.

Donated furniture from a generous University was supplied to them and all the boys (nearly 90) received a new bed and a personal dresser!

It has completely changed the face of the dormitories and you can see the pride the boys had to show me their rooms and the improved conditions. Previously the boys did not have any personal space to store their clothing and personal items and now they have the privacy and dignity they need and deserve.

The home also has an incredible music program in which nearly 50 boys voluntarily participate. I spoke with the music director regarding the instrucments and resources for the program and the home has already received a donation from us of a complete 40 piece Marching Band.

Once again, I get blessed with all sorts of beautiful presentations, dances, poetry, songs, speeches, etc by the children every time I visit. Here are a couple short videos to share that joy with you!

And, of course, we passed out stuffed animals and candy to all the homes we visited on the trip.