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Nancy
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Barbara Boxer’s letter asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene on the behalf of over 800 children stuck in a dysfunctional adoption system in Guatemala was signed by 52 US Congresspersons and Senators. These children, some who have US visas to travel to go home to their families have been in limbo for over 18 months. These same children were to be grandfathered under the former adoption laws but that has not happened. The Guatemala900 has worked tirelessly to obtain these 52 signatures. Today, both the Prensa Libre and the Siglo 21 had articles regarding the letter. Both articles were neutral and did not go in to any detail. The English translation of the Prensa Libre article. The Siglo 21 asked for a comment from the PGN but they were unwilling to comment. The new adoption central authority’s comment was that these children, these 800+ children, are not under the new law and they have nothing to do with their cases. It is too early to tell how the children will be impacted by this letter and if they will be allowed to go home. Click here to see the letter and all 52 signatures!
The photos below are from a photo shoot this morning. We made thank you cards for the Senators and Congressperson thanking them for their support in helping the kids get home. I had to post the photos because the kids are just way too cute.
Thank you to EVERYONE who worked so hard on this campaign to alert US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to what is happening to these children and asking for her support.
To help support Semillas de Amor please go to SaveSemillas for more information on donations. Thank you.
Posted by:
Nancy
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Monday greeted us with good news, a family in California, will be donating funds to pay the salaries of two new teachers. This is very exciting for us and comes at a crucial time, both in the children’s development and for the 6 week training our teachers will be involved in during October and November. Many of you know Luvia who works with Semillas de Amor, she is my right hand person. Well, Luvia loves kids and loves to teach so she will be attending the teacher training and working as a teacher, teaching the kids English beginning in late November.
In the next few weeks I will post more information on our new education program and a list of supplies we will be needing if anyone would like to help out. We really want to be able to open our school to children in the community but that takes resources and is our goal. It is exciting to open an “official” school.
For those of you who might be wondering if we ever got our electricity, the answer is no. The Empresa Electrica has made our lives a nightmare with requests for one document after another. They clearly do not want us to have the right of way. What they do want is for us to pay to bring posts all the way down the road from the nearest line. First, we don’t have the money for that and secondly why should we pay for everyone else’s electricity installment? We do not have that kind of money. It appears the that Empresa Electrica could care less and the legal department within that organization cares even less. If we had the funding we would have as much solar as possible but the upfront costs can be high. We have solar hot water heaters, we will have solar perimeter lighting (it will be here in a few weeks) and hopefully a solar pump that pumps water from the cistern to the home.
Our garden continues to grow and expand. The kids “polished off” 100 broccoli plants and continued to love broccoli. Our cabbage, cauliflower, peppers and lots of other veggies are sprouting up and getting ready for the kitchen. We are doing as much organic as possible. But it takes learning a new way in order to let go of the old ways. So as we search for new and better ways to grow our veggies we can let go of the toxic pesticides used so frequently in Guatemalan agriculture.
We are still in need of your support and appreciate the kindness and generosity of so many people. Without you, we would not be able to exist. To make a donation to Semillas de Amor please click on Save Semillas.
Thank you.
Posted by:
Nancy
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Thanks for your efforts! We’re seeing results!
Per Senator Boxer’s office, these are the confirmed Senator signatures as of today:
OH George Voinavich
MD Barbara Mukulski
LA Mary Landrieu
MI Carl Levin
CA Dianne Feinstein
These are the confirmed House signatures:
MN Michelle Bachman
MD Dutch Ruppersberger
We need maximum signatures to really get Dept of State’s attention – and to KEEP their attention, because we all know this is still going to be a long road.
If you have questions on how to respond to your Rep’s situation, please respond to this message. We’ll post advice on the website as specific questions come in.
Offices below have expressed interest and/or received contact, but have not confirmed. They may need more communication from yourselves, your friends or family. Many of your agencies have experience communicating with Congress and can provide additional contact.
SENATE
IL Dick Durbin
KY Jim Bunning
KY Mitch McConnell
IA Chuck Grassley
IA Tom Harkin
NV John Ensign
NV Harry Reid
HOUSE
CA Doris Matsui
CA Mike Thompson
OH Zach Space
IL Daniel Lipinski
NY Jerrold Nadler
GA Jack Kingston
CA Dan Lungren
CA Jerry McNerney
MI John Dingell
KY Ben Chandler
Please reply to let us know how it is going and if you’re getting additional confirmations. Future signature counts will be posted on the www.Guatemala900.org website
Your reps were elected to work for you. Contributing their siguature is a tangible, and easy, thing for them to do.
Thank you!