Orphan´s Hope Project Blog

Yesterday, I was lucky to be able to pick up more shirts for the boys and girls at the orphanage. This time, they were from the Tri-Valley YMCA. The design is the same as the ones I got last week but these shirts are more of a kelly green. The others are lime green. 92. Yep, I got 92 new shirts yesterday. All new, all folded and already sorted by size.

The shirts in the middle are the lime green ones. The new shirts surround the lime green ones. This picture describes it so much better than I can.

So, from the two YMCA’s, we now have 297 new shirts for the kids. And they will love these shirts. I know it and you know it. Thanks YMCAs of the East Bay. You are the best.

Good day to all!

I’m please to say that Orphan’s Hope Project wired $2000 more to the orphanage account yesterday. This money will be used to put windows in the new chapel at the orphanage. We need to raise more money to complete the purchase and installation of the windows (and the front door) but this is an excellent start. Every dollar helps and if you contributed, we thank you.

There have been some security concerns at the orphanage for the past couple of months. So, a decision was made to undertake a very expensive project. As some of you know, we have quite a bit of land surrounded by a cinder block wall. That’s to keep the kids in and others out. But, we have realized that as we’ve grown and made improvements, the orphanage is at risk from outsiders who see our improvements. That makes us less secure. So, the decision is to install razor wire on top of the cinder block wall and around the entire perimiter of the orphanage. This will not be an easy job. It will be labor intensive and expensive. But it is something that needs to be done.

This is what the razor wire looks like. In this sample picture, it’s attached on top of another fence.

If you are interested in helping out with either of these two projects (windows and security), please let us know. We could use the help. It’s for the children. It’s always about the children.

Thank you.

Diane

Yep, this weekend I’m picking up another batch of shirts for the kids in the hogar. I’ll let you know what they look like…. I might even take a picture. I know they’ll be good looking shirts!

As I promised earlier, here’s a picture of Monica.

Monica left the hogar a couple of weeks ago to take a job as a veterinarian. She is busy in her new position and she loves it. (for more information, take a look at the August 21, 2008 blog). Yes, she still has paperwork to do and she is getting used to that. Ah… if we just didn’t have to do paperwork. But, it is necessary.

Congrats Monica. We will stay in touch.

I just can’t help it… I love these new shirts. I just had to take more pictures of these new shirts. Here they are all sorted and stacked by size. Aren’t they cool?

And, I promised a little more detail on the bus design so here’s a close up shot.

They are eye catching and cool. I love em.

Diane

Hi all and Happy Labor Day weekend !

YMCAs in this area have donated their unused Y Camp shirts in the past and our kids at the orphanage love the colorful shirts. Now that children in the Bay Area are back in school, summer camp is over. So, my first batch of shirts was picked up today. The shirts that I got today came from the Fremont/Newark YMCA.

I was lucky enough to pick them up while the executive directors were having a staff meeting. So I saw some familiar faces and met a couple of new directors. Aren’t these shirts great?

I was excited about this donation so I had to, yes, I had to empty the boxes and count the shirts when I got back to the office. Guess how many there are? …..

Did you come close to the correct amount?

There are 205 brand new shirts for the boys and girls of the orphanage. There are two styles, as seen above, but most of them are the cute, very colorful camp bus design. I’ll have to take another picture to show you a little more detail.

I can visualize the sea of green shirts at the orphanage. These would be good shirts for all the kids to wear when we go buy their new school shoes in January. That way we can easily spot them in the crowd and know which kids are ours.

Thanks YMCA of Fremont/Newark. The shirts are great.

Hi there!

Another unique donation was delivered to me today. It seems that Lemoyne W. likes to work in his shop. Here’s a picture that I took of Lemoyne today in the office (let’s see if you can spot the Guatemalan things in the background).

And in his shop, he likes to make wooden spinning tops for children. What does he do with these tops? Well, he finds individuals who are visiting other countries and donates his tops so that the spinning tops will find their way into the hands of children across the world. He showed me pictures of kids with tops in Thailand, other spots and he even had a photo of a child in Guatemala. Yes, the boy was spinning one of his tops. Now…. thanks to Lemoyne and his skills, there will be about 110 children at the orphanage that will be spinning his tops soon. Leymoyne gave me 110 tops to give to the kids. We even had a practice session to make sure I knew how to correctly spin the tops (I did).

Here they are. Aren’t they colorful?

I was lucky enough to visit a while with Lemoyne, his wife Betty and his adult daughter Ginger. Of course I talked about the kids, I showed them the Guatemalan corner here in the office, and we shared stories of the kids. It was a pleasure to meet them and as they were leaving, they also made a $200 donation. Now this was a REALLY great day.

So thanks to people like Lemoyne and his family, we’re constantly improving the lives of the children in the orphanage.

Diane

The folks in Sharon, MA are busy raising $ again. This time they’re sending donations for the windows for the new capilla, the new chapel at the top of our hill at the orphanage. So far, we’re close to raising $2000 for the windows. Some of the windows will be clear glass and some will be stained glass.

Thanks for the contributions. They are certainly appreciated.

Yes, more changes. Monica is gone. Monica has been our on site administrator for a little over a year. She is a veterinarian and took the job when she resigned her last position in the field of veterinary medicine. Actually, she was the teacher for the pequenos for a while and then she become the administrator.

We knew she would one day go back to her chosen field. Over the past months, she had been interviewing and trying to find the right position, the right fit. She was offered positions that were hours and hours away from her mom and that just wouldn’t work. She wanted to stay close to where her mom lives and now, she is able to do that. Monica’s mom is Gloria and Gloria loves to come to the hogar to help out. Gloria can often be seen with Karen, running errands, talking to boys, helping where she can. Gloria lives next door to Colegio Americano, the private school in Guatemala City, where 9 of our children are students. That’s certainly convenient.

So, as of Monday, Monica is working at a veternarian again. She will be using her skills and education by working with animals. But, she is not abandoning the hogar. She still plans to work at the orphanage when she can, perhaps one day a week. The transition might be difficult and others will have to take on her tasks. But, we’ll adapt. The boys and girls will certainly miss her but they will continue to see her as she intends to remain in their lives.

Monica…. best wishes. Good luck in your new position, enjoy it and I’ll see you soon.

Yes, it’s very possible to fall in love when you visit the home, the kids and the country of Guatemala.

I heard from one of the women who helped put in the new water filtration system. Their entire family fell in love… with the kids, the home, the country, the experience, etc. I knew it would happen. It quite often does.

Guatemala just keeps calling to those of us who have worked and lived in the home. It becomes our second home. Many of us do leave part of our hearts with the kids. And that is a good thing.