Archive for children’s home
Day 2 of the Guatemala900 Campaign to UNICEF–Phone Calls!
Posted by: | CommentsOn Wednesday, December 2nd:
Please call all Ann Veneman at 212-326-7000 with the following message:
“I am calling Ann Veneman today in support of the Guatemala 900 initiative. I respectfully request UNICEF’s direct intervention with the Guatemalan government on behalf of the hundreds of children whose grandfathered adoptions have been in process since 2007. Please end the victimization of these children and support their basic right to a family.”
Call all day long from 9am to 5pm
If you get a busy signal it means it is working! Call back as many times as you possibly can that day.
Please forward this to everyone who can help. Post it on your social networks (facebook, twitter, etc). Our goal is to shut the phone lines down and we will need everyone to join forces to work together to make a difference!
For more information please visit the Guatemala900 website.
Friday Morning Hike in the Mountains
Posted by: | CommentsFriday morning we left for a two hour hike, up the mountain near our home, with 14 kids, five dogs and six adults. This was the first hike on this trail which is steep going up and not much easier going down. Our youngest hikers were three years old and the oldest was me (but you won’t get my age). What a gorgeous morning. We have had some rain, so everything was green. There were lots of little buggies out, which made the kids very happy. On the entire two hour walk, no matter how steep it was, not one child whined about being tired, thirsty or wanted to go home. In fact they wanted to keep climbing. The kids have lots of space to run at the children’s home but our Friday afternoon hikes take them out from behind our big wall and into the countryside. It is isolated and rarely do we see anyone on the hikes. And the best part, it is free.
The kids filled my pockets with treasures, as you will see in the photos. Our gardener, Juan José, identified all the seeds and plants the kids brought back. The children are going to plant some of the seeds to watch their treasurers grow.
Our hikes give the children an opportunity to “talk while we walk”. Most of the kids have a zillion questions about the world around them. This time gives us the opportunity to spend quality time with our oldest kids and is invaluable to them. We can never replace a family for these children but we can try and get as close as possible to being their family until they are able to have their own. Enough love, attention, food and education is costly but the investment is well worth it.
It is always nice that we can find things to do for free, since running our children’s home is expensive. We continue to need your support in every way. If you would like to make a financial donation to our children’s home please click HERE.
Have a wonderful week, from all of us at Semillas de Amor!
Monday and Two Red Wagons
Posted by: | CommentsMonday morning greeted the kids with two new red wagons! It just seemed liked the kids were missing wagons. Every Friday we take long walks into the surrounding countryside so the wagons are perfect to pick up worn out stragglers. Maybe, if we are lucky, we can get some harnesses and have the dogs pull the kids. The wagons were a huge hit with the kids. Maybe not so much with the adults since they were pulling the kids around. We had lots of kids pushing, but they were actually hanging on a bit more than pushing. The wagons will give the kids a good chance to learn about waiting patiently in line for their turn. Something the kids really need to learn. The wagons are lots of fun and perfect for the kids (sturdy, unbreakable).
Despite the lack of rain our garden continues to thrive. Our tomatoes are growing fast and we are keeping our fingers crossed they don’t acquire the nasty black fungus that killed our last crop. Lots of broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, swiss chard, herbs and a crop of pumpkins. Our sunflowers are ready to harvest and soon we will have roasted and salted sunflower seeds to munch on.
Getting the electricity continues to be a huge problem. Some days it seems we are close and other days it seems like it will never happen. Not having electricity has put a huge stress on us but we function with our generator six hours a day. Soon we will have our solar perimeter lights (more on that when they arrive).
We continue to move forward with our preschool for the little ones in the children’s home and as funds become more solid we will invite some children from the surrounding community. We still depend on and count on your generosity to keep us moving forward and the kids thriving. Please click HERE if you would like to help the kids.
Have a wonderful week from all of us at Semillas de Amor!
