Archive for children’s home
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!
It Is a Good Day When I find Worm Fertilizer
Posted by: | CommentsLast week I ran into a friend who asked me how my day was. I responded with, “it was a GREAT day!” My friend was so amazed by my positive response she thought something major had happened. Perhaps a BIG donation. She asked me, “what made it such a great day?” I smiled and with such enthusiasm said, “I found worm fertilizer!” At that point we both started to laugh. I realized how silly I must have sounded and my friend laughed at my excitement at finding worm fertilizer.
Guatemala is an agricultural country. The soil, in most of Guatemala, is rich and just about anything grows when stuck in the ground. Sadly, Guatemala also depends heavily on toxic pesticides to grow these crops. Most people who spray the pesticides do not wear protective gear. Pregnant women spray pesticides and work in the fields and this can cause birth defects. The bottom line is that pesticides are dangerous and there are other alternatives. Changing that belief system is not an easy one.
Semillas de Amor has an excellent gardener but he has worked with pesticides his entire gardening career. I, on the other hand, am adamant that our vegetable garden and flower gardens will be organic. So off we went to find worm fertilizer and anything that was the least bit organic.
What a wonderful surprise to find company that sells worm and chicken fertilizers only 10 minutes from the children’s home. This place had mountains of chicken fertilizer. The owner of the business came in as we were paying for our fertilizer and never missing an opportunity to tell someone about the children’s home, or getting a discount, proceeded to tell him about our garden, the home, the kids and our future. We left with our worm fertilizer and hundreds of vegetable seedlings donated by the owner of the fertilizer business. They were thrilled we wanted to have an organic garden and spent lots of time with us explaining different organic methods. We were also directed to an agricultural partnership between Taiwan and Guatemala that is developing fruit trees. We left that project with peach, lemon and orange trees. So yes, it is a good day when I can find worm fertilizer because, if nothing else, the kids will eat healthy veggies. Next stop, the chicken coop and eggs.
