Archive for Guatemala
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!
Happy Independence Day Guatemala!
Posted by: | CommentsMonday we celebrated Guatemala’s Independence Day. The celebration was extra special since it was our very first celebration since moving into the children’s home in February. And what a day we had. There was music, dance, presentations, typica food, cake and we ended the day with the kids carrying the torch from the park in Parramos all the way back to the children’s home. The joy on the faces of the children was priceless as we honored their country. It has been a very rough 20+ months for us at Semillas. Financial hardships, harassment by the Guatemalan government, facing an uncertain future. However, the independence day celebration brought us all together. Those of us, “still left standing”, are the ones committed to the kids and the work.
Without the support of all of you out there we would have closed our children’s home months ago. To keep us going, to keep the kids thriving, if you so desire, you can make a tax deductible donation HERE
The video is dedicated to all of you, “out there” who believe in our work and care about our kids and their futures. Thank you from all of us.
Dia de la independencia Guatemala, Semillas de Amor from Nancy Bailey on Vimeo.
Monday Morning at Semillas de Amor
Posted by: | CommentsMonday 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.
