Orphan’s Hope Project Blog

Take a look. We just posted pictures from the January 2010 trip to the orphanage. Check the website for all the photo albums, including these latest photos.
We hope you enjoy the pictures of the kids, the colors of Guatemala and the activities.
Thanks.

Yes, it’s hard to believe that it’s 2010 already. Hogar Miguel Magone celebrated their 13 year anniversary in January 2010. So many changes have been made since the opening of the orphanage. Wonderful changes continue to take place each year and it is truly a great place for the children.

I was able to spend the month of January at the orphanage. We had some cold days and nights, as low as 48 degrees (F) in my room sometimes. No, none of the rooms have heat or heaters. When the wind is blowing in through the spaces, those sweatpants and jackets sure feel good. January usually is the coldest month in Guatemala but this January was really cold.

The kids finally started back to school on the last Friday in January. Normally, they return to school in mid January, which is the start of a brand new school year. This year, the public school teachers went on strike so the kids got a longer vacation. The private school and instituto kids started while I was there. I always look forward to walking the kids to school in the morning. Many days, we still walked to Satelite, for the exercise, and to get the kids out of the orphanage. I love those walks.

A couple of times, I took large groups of boys on adventure hikes. The first hike was about 6 miles long and the boys ended up playing in a creek. Some got wet up to mid chest but it was ok. I was the only adult on this hike ….with 31 boys. They had fun, we had snacks and everyone enjoyed the diversity of hiking to a new place. But we did ask them to wash out their own clothes when they got back to the orphanage. Those were some muddy, wet kids!

The last adventure hike that we took in January was through the woods, up and down dusty hills & terraced farm land and we ended up at a waterfall. That was a great hike, the weather was warm and we were gone for hours and hours. We ran into some locals that were at the pila, washing up. Luckily, we had enough incaparina (a protein drink) and energy bars to share with the 10 locals, some adult men and some children. Our boys had the same snacks and they also ate sandwiches, but not until we left the locals and started on our way back. I had to almost fight with the dogs a few times. The dogs wanted the ham sandwiches. It was a great adventure. The kids wore shorts this time and we were prepared for the water. They climbed the waterfall, played around in the pool and enjoyed it thoroughly. I hope to have a photo album posted on the web site by March 10th. Look for it and you’ll see some of the pictures of the boys in their bright blue Nike shorts, compliments of Richmond Hilltop YMCA. Oh yes, the boys loved getting new Nike shorts.

More news soon…. I promise.

Diane

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2009 has been a wonderfully productive year for Orphan’s Hope Project and for the orphanage. In 2009, Orphan’s Hope Project, Inc. was able to wire $20,000 US, directly to the orphanage account in Guatemala, for salaries, utility bills, supplies, improvements, repairs, etc. $20,000 goes a long way in Guatemala. Our water bill at the orphanage is usually about $600 a month. We use gas for cooking so there’s always a bill to be paid, for filling up the gas tanks. The electrical bill is sky high… kids are afraid of the dark and for security, we leave lights on. Staff needs to get paid, school uniforms need to be purchased, we need gas for the vehicles, there are car & van repair costs, construction and on going maintenance is a constant & on and on. I know you understand. When it’s for 60 kids, plus staff, the costs escalate. Just imagine running an orphanage with about a dozen large buildings, lots of classrooms, play areas, bathrooms, a bakery, a carpenter shop, a church and all on a big, uphill parcel of land. You can just imagine how grateful they are to receive approximately $1675 a month from Orphan’s Hope Project, Inc. to pay some of these bills and salaries.

Well, we don’t stop there. In addition to the quarterly wires to the Guatemalan bank account, we provide many other things for the orphanage. We bought shoes for all the kids this year….three times! And, we’re buying their school uniform shoes again in January. We shipped lots and lots of shirts (over 600 shirts this year), underwear, over 75 blankets, binders, other shirts, backpacks, thousands of heavy duty plastic bags, a new heavy duty 42 qt. pressure cooker, school supplies, notebooks, hundreds of pens, Rosetta Stone language programs, 100 new cloth (and reversible) sling bags, post it note notepads, high lighter pens, flash lights, lanyards, calculators, picture frames, hats, pajamas, jackets, Nike shorts, Nike sweat pants, 4 laptop computers and a lot of other items. The items were all new… and were donated by various businesses and individuals. 96 new Oakland Raiders backpacks arrive at the orphanage on January 4, 2010.

In addition, Orphan’s Hope Project buys the ink for the computer printers, we buy lots of paper for the orphanage, we bought a new printer this year, we buy office supplies, storage containers, various food items, kitchen utensils and supplies & more. Orphan’s Hope Project upgraded the internet service at the hogar this year. We also pay for the internet service and we pay it six months in advance. We are now allowing some of our older boys to have Facebook accounts. They are learning how to use the computer!

The boys love getting special food made for them when our workers are there…pizza, ice cream, oatmeal with raisins, pancakes on Sundays, cornbread, special soups, special salads, etc. If if needs to be bought or replenished, we buy it. We are giving them a better life.

In early January 2010, we are ordering new mattresses for all of the beds. Orphan’s Hope Project has budgeted $8,000 for the purchase of 60 new mattresses, fitted quilted mattress pads, new pillows for everyone and new blankets. This will be a big improvement and all the old mattresses and pillows will be given away to families in the local village who don’t have beds. If the old mattresses are too nasty, they will be thrown out. We have a work team coming in February and we’ll scour the dorm rooms, paint them if necessary and then bring in all the new mattresses, mattress pads, pillows and blankets.

The new chapel was finished this year…complete with a beautiful metal door, chandeliers, stained glass windows and beautiful wrought iron seating outside.

We have an ozone water filtration system now and that means purified drinking water for all of us. We have a gym on the orphanage property, which is used by the older boys. We have more musical instruments and a few older boys have formed a band. We have broken ground for another classroom. A new chicken coop will be built soon.

We had a medical and vision clinic in January 2009. The local villagers came to the orphanage in droves, for 3 days, and got free medical care, check ups, prescription medicines, eye exams
and new glasses, if they needed them. Of course our children got the same services.

The kids went on various outings this year. The outings break up the monotony of orphanage life and the outings broaden their horizons, show them more of the city, farms, botanical gardens, swimming pools and other educational field trips. We went out in the evening a couple of times…with the older boys, to dances. Those nights were a hit. Some of the better behaved boys got to see the Harlem Globetrotters perform in Guatemala City. The boys saw movies, they visited an agricultural school, some got to go on overnights to Antigua, the old capital of Guatemala, and more. Some kids spent a couple of days with families for Christmas…families who take them in for a few days to show them family life.

There is just so much than still needs to be done. We are a work in progress but the orphanage is very much improved over the past 3 years since we have been involved.

We have a few new gung ho volunteers…who return again and again. I am thankful for all the work groups and volunteers that visit and work at the orphanage. You know who you are!

We broke ground for a new house, for girls, just outside our security wall. We are hoping to obtain funding for this 4 bedroom house so that the construction can continue. The budget for the construction of the house is about $70,000.

We are planning a 2nd Christmas celebration for mid January. We have 159 kids on our list. Airline Ambassadors International and Global Legacy have teamed up with Julian Roberts and plans are in the works for that.

We’ll be headed to Guatemala on the 31st of December, arriving on January 1st. What a great way to start out the new year! There’s so much to do. Two big boxes (crate size) have already been shipped and they’ll arrive on January 4th.

We have a new power point presentation/update on the first page of our web site. We hope you’ll take a moment to look at it. The link is in the middle of the text on the first page. Look for Hogar Miguel Magone Update on that page.

Thanks for your support in the past and in the future. Thank you for your good wishes and prayers and remember….all your donations are tax deductible. We have no overhead so this is one non-profit foundation that maximizes every single dollar that is donated. Donations can be made on line through PayPal….e-check is very easy to do, it’s safe and there’s no stamp to find, no envelope to address and before you know it, we will be using your donation for something good. If you can’t make a donation, that’s ok too. I did want you to read about our project and what we are accomplishing. Every $, every new shirt, every donation helps.

Thanks for your time, thanks for caring and thanks for you.

Próspero Año Nuevo!.

Diane Springer
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Founder
Orphan’s Hope Project, Inc.

Well, just because we haven’t blogged lately doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy. The end of the year is always a busy time at the orphanage. Groups come and go, Christmas presents get bought and wrapped and the excitement of the kids is evident in their eyes, their activities and in the air. It’s a magical time. Celebrating Christmas will be a new experience for some of our kids. In addition to our own kids, we have many poor families in the nearby village that we want to provide gifts for. Our Christmas list, just for the kids, has 159 names on it. How would you like to have to shop for 159 kids?

January will be another busy month. The children start their new school year on January 15th. We will be buying school supplies, shoes, uniforms and we’ll be filling their new backpacks with those supplies very soon.

Another project that is coming to a beautiful finish is the mattress project. In January 2010, Orphan’s Hope Project will be ordering new beds for all of the boys. The mattresses will be custom made, with vinyl covers on them to protect them. We are also getting mattress pads for all of the boys’ beds and new pillows. Yes, we are making progress, making improvements and have lots to do.

Two boxes were shipped to the orphanage this past Friday. They will arrive January 3rd or 5th. Inside one of the boxes are the new backpacks (96 of them), which were donated again by the Oakland Raiders. The boxes have many other things in them… don’t want to tell all in case one of our kids is reading this blog!

Yes, I will be there very soon and I’m excited to be going again. Please have a wonderful holiday and to all of our donors, thanks for making it a special time for our children.

You can’t see it here in this picture but there is a Dell laptop in this UPS box.

This is Dominic Silvestri, manager of the Concord, CA. office of Prospect Mortgage. Dominic answered the call to obtain a computer for one of our boys and this computer was shipped to him from Earl in the Irvine, CA. office of Prospect Mortgage.

It’s been a long time since I have taken the time to blog. The August trip was full of surprises, volunteers, good things, good activities and lots of emotions…both good and bad. It is just so difficult to put it all into words….so, I haven’t blogged. I’m sorry if you’ve missed seeing updates on the blog.

We did post a new update on the orphanage. It’s now on the web site. It is also a Power Point presentation that I can e-mail to you if you would like. You can help us spread the word about what we’re doing at the orphanage. The presentation may help us recruit new volunteers and it may also help us bring in donations. Please contact us if you would like it to be e-mailed to you. It will be in a slightly different format than what you see on the web site. When you look at the web site, you’ll see a link to the new presentation/update right on the first page…in the middle of the page.

January is the month when the kids start back to school. We received 96 new Oakland Raider backpacks and those will be shipped to the orphanage for the start of their new school year. The kids will need school uniforms, school supplies, school shoes and more. If you want to help, come to Guatemala in January. We’ll find a bed for you and put you to work.

Thanks for taking the time to read about us today… and don’t forget to check out the new presentation.

Diane

Hello from Guatemala!

We arrived on Tuesday morning and all is well here in Guatemala. There´s really no time to blog…. we are enjoying the kids, the work, the activities… everything. They had pancakes today. We made about 230 pancakes. They gobbled them up. Yum!

We took the older kids to a dance last night in Satelite, complete with a professional DJ. It was held in a large hall….. almost two miles from here. That’s certainly something that they don´t ever do. It was a blast. Great fun for all. And we walked back at 11 pm… in the dark, with flashlights. The views of Guatemala City were incredible and we saw lightening flashes in the distance. So fun!

I may not be blogging much for a while….too many other things to do and accomplish here. But we are taking lots of pictures for later blogs.

Our job this weekend is to set up a gym for the older boys. Yes… Exercise! And… they´re even taking my Zumba classes and loving it. They keep asking when we´re going to have the next class. It’s difficult to schedule everything in that we want to do.

Life is good.

Diane

We are on our way in a few hours. Four of us will arrive tomorrow morning, Tuesday, in Guatemala. Estuardo, the on-site administrator, is picking us up. Thank goodness no one has luggage to check. We can get out of the airport in Guatemala rather quickly. We’ll have a 30 minute ride to the orphanage (if the traffic cooperates) and we should be at the orphanage when the kids come home from school, hungry for their lunch. My arms and heart will be ready for all their hugs.

We’ll update the blog from Guatemala when we can.

It’s a good day! I just found out that the two shipped boxes arrived at the orphanage last night. They’re safely in my room, practically bursting at the seams with all the goodies that are inside them. They are awaiting our team’s arrival on Tuesday.

………….. Sunrise at Hogar Miguel Magone.

Yes, it’s certainly good to know that the boxes have arrived. Thank you Transportes de Leon.

How do I even begin? It’s been too long and I should have posted this blog a while back. I recently got additional pictures and now I can finish the blog.

This is a story of two young women, who at 15 years of age, had an idea. They saw an article about Orphan’s Hope Project in a July 2008 Bay Area newspaper. Yes, one year ago. The article made them think. They came up with an idea of a Girl Scout Gold Award Project that they might possibly do. This project would be a direct benefit to the kids at Hogar Miguel Magone. The two girls, Ellen and Casey got in touch with me and we set up a meeting. They saw my Guatemala display in my office, the posters, the pictures, the Guatemalan artifacts and they also spent considerable time looking at the web site. They wanted to do something to help. So, we came up with a plan and it was a 10 month long project.

They decided to host a festival and that festival was called Chicos Latinos. It was held in May 2009. And yes, it was wildly successful. The festival highlighted the customs, foods, family life, geography and other information about Central American countries. Their booth was on Guatemala. They also needed a way to raise money to cover costs of the festival and to raise money for the orphanage. So… they made tie dyed t-shirts and sold them to the attendees at the festival.

Colorful shirts, aren’t they?

Here are the two girls, getting ready for the festival… counting organizing, sorting and thinking!

The day of the festival finally arrived and the May weather cooperated. Lots and lots of people attended the educational event.

The next picture is a shot of Ellen and Casey’s booth area.

Do you notice the words Pressure Cooker on the sign? There was a reason for that. With the money that they raised, it was hoped that we could buy a large, restaurant quality pressure cooker for the orphanage. We’ve been wanting a pressure cooker at the orphanage for over a year now. We just couldn’t find one in Guatemala that was large enough or sturdy enough for us at the hogar. We spend a lot of time cooking black beans for our meals… not to mention the gas that’s used to cook all those pots of beans.

This is another picture of their display area. There’s a sign on the table showing pictures of beans and rice. Yep, that’s one of our staple foods in Guatemala… and at the orphanage. We eat beans all the time and the pressure cooker would really be handy to have.

Did Casey and Ellen clear enough to help us get a new pressure cooker? They sure did!

Here they are, sitting proudly with the new pressure cooker.

I found a restaurant supply store in the South Bay that had a 41 qt. pressure cooker. The store put a hold on it for me, I drove to see it and I returned with this beauty. It is heavy, shiny and so sturdy. It makes me want to cook beans in it as soon as I get to the orphanage. The directions are only in English so we’re translating them into Spanish. Our cook does not know any English so she’ll need some help with the first batch or two of beans that we cook. We’re having a special shelf built… just for this pressure cooker. We want to take care of this jewel!

Gorgeous!

I also decided to buy a couple more serving spoons as the quality of them was superb. I couldn’t resist.

So.. the pressure cooker was shipped a couple of weeks ago and we expect the shipment to arrive at the orphanage in the next couple of days. The shipped boxes will be waiting for me when I arrive next week.

But… does the story end there? No, it doesn’t.
The girls also asked for donations of other items for the boys of Hogar Miguel Magone. I don’t want to share too much right now… in case one of our older boys reads the blog. Later, there will be another blog about the other things that Casey and Ellen are providing to the kids.

We are lucky that the girls decided that their hearts were big enough to take on this Gold Award Project and that the boys and the orphanage will be the recipients of their hard work. I can bet you that Casey and Ellen’s hearts are even bigger now.

Stay tuned for more exciting news soon.

Diane