Archive for orphanage
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.
Please keep Semillas de Amor alive and the children thriving by donating to our children’s village SAVE SEMILLAS
Guatemala 900 Marches on Washington DC
Posted by: | CommentsMany of you know that when Guatemala closed adoptions it left hundreds of children in limbo. The Guatemalan government, along with the United States promised to “grandfather” in the cases still in process. Now, after many broken promises by both governments, in process adoptive families, adoptive families with their children already home and supporters of both have had enough and marched on Washington DC to be heard! The story in the Washington Post says it all.
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Finally, Our Move to the Children’s Village
Posted by: | CommentsFinally, after months and months of waiting, on February 19th, 2009 we began our move to Parramos and our new home. Still no electricity and running on a new propane generator and solar we made the big move. One can only imagine, and now there are a lot of us with first hand experience, in moving 50 children and all their stuff. Truck load after truck load and nobody, that is anyone who was of walking age, got away without helping. The work was exhausting and back breaking and took days and days to get things organized. We are still working on getting things put away but the home is beautiful.
The kids are happy. Running and playing on our 3 1/2 acres. Total freedom. They get very, very dirty but I have never seen them so happy and having so much fun. There is still lots to do, painting, gardens, fencing and more but we have time.
A huge thank you to everyone who helped fund this new home for our kids and to those who worked so very, very hard to make the move happen and in many ways against all odds!