Orphan’s Hope Project Blog

Happy Sunday ! Can you believe that summer is over and autumn is here? Neither can I. That means changes in the weather, the hours of daylight, the amount of outdoor time and many other things. At Hogar Miguel Magone, it means Brian is on his way back. Yep, Brian is just about ready to get on an airplane and fly from Vermont to Guatemala. He’ll be at the orphanage in less than a week.

You may remember that Brian is the volunteer that came in April 2007 while I was there. He was planning on staying for a couple of weeks and he ended up staying for 3 months ! The needs of the orphanage and of the boys will do that to you. After those 3 months, Brain went back to Vermont. He took care of business and personal things, worked in Vermont and then on Long Island. He even tells me that he harvested and extracted 240 lbs. of honey in Vermont since his return. But now, he’s ready for Guatemala. As it happens with many of us who live and work there, our lives change and we leave our hearts in Guatemala with the boys. And that’s the case with Brian as well.

Brian is a master carpenter by trade and his skills were very handy to have for the 3 months that he lived and worked at the orphanage. When you look around the orphanage, you’ll see his work in many places. The office has a computer table and a bookshelf. There’s also a locking cabinet above the computer desk. Those improvements are used constantly. Brian made a utensil holder for the kitchen wall and it now hangs next to the stove. It holds all the long handled wooden spoons. We had fun hanging it up on a Sunday afternoon, knowing it would be a nice surprise for the cook when she came in on Monday morning. The kitchen also has a new serving table and the cook and the volunteers are appreciative. The volunteer bedroom in the peques building now has a real closet, complete with shelf, hanging bar and a locking cabinet. All of these things make a difference and are appreciated.

The most dramatic change is the conversion of the old chapel to the new storage building and store. About 70 % of the old chapel now has floor to ceiling shelves. Brian cut all this plywood in the shop. The July mission team and Brian installed the shelves and it is such a good use of the space. The shelves allow us to sort and fold the clothing donations that we receive at the orphanage. Many of these items are for men, women and girls and those items are now being sold. Three days a week, Juana opens up the front part of the old chapel and there’s a clothing sale that takes place for about 7 or 8 hours each day. We call it the vende room… the selling room. Can you come up with a better name for it? We don’t make that much money from the sale but it helps the villagers clothe their families for a reasonable cost.

As I understand it, Brian may be able to stay for a longer period of time. We sure hope so. And by being in the mild Guatemala climate, he also escapes the cold Vermont winter. Hey ! I’d want to leave Vermont in the winter as well. But it is so important for Brian to be at the hogar. The boys are out of school for the summer vacation from mid October to mid January. And that means the boys are in the home all day and need activities to keep them busy. We hope to be able to organize, upgrade and improve the shop. Brian will be able to give the boys carpentry classes and teach them valuable skills. Soon, we hope to sell wooden crosses and wooden fishes that the boys will be making again. And maybe we’ll be selling them in the USA as well!

So, welcome home Brian. I know you left part of yourself in Guate when you left in July. Now you’re coming home to Guate and the boys to reclaim the rest of your heart. And what could be better than that?

Well, the gathering of school supplies has begun. I’ll tell you about that in just a bit.

Did you know that the kids in Guatemala are going to be out of school for their summer vacation very soon? Yep, it’s the opposite of our school system. They have their summer break from mid October until January 14, 2008. And it will be complete chaos the week before school starts.

The teachers in each school in Guatemala give parents/guardians/orphanages a list of required supplies about a week before the start of the new school year. So, right after New Year’s, we get these long, long lists of things that need to be purchased. Each child has to have their items by the end of the first week of school. And every teacher requires different things. For example: 1/2 inch masking tape, 4 blue Bic pens, 2 red Bic pens, dry erase pens, erasers, tissue paper, colored pencils, Jumbo crayons, a specific dictionary, Elmer’s Glue, 50 sheets of graph paper, 12 # 2 pencils, 4 rolls of toilet paper, China paper, craft sticks, 100 sheets of bond paper, 4 subject note books, etc. There might be 20-30 items on each child’s list. It is chaos. Everyone in Guatemala goes to the stores during that one week period and you search for all the items. And talk about waiting in long lines! Just think if you had to prepare bags of school supplies for about 60 kids, like we do.

I will be back in Guatemala for the start of the school year. That means I will be there to help with the making of the school supply bags for each boy. And… we now have people donating items to Orphan’s Hope Project and I will be able to ship a huge box for a late December arrival in Guatemala.

It is essential for each boy to have a backpack. During the school year, their backpacks really get beaten up. The kids walk to school each day with their heavy backpacks and they just don’t stay in good shape for very long. Orphan’s Hope Project donors gave all the boys backpacks in January 2007 but most of those backpacks have deteriorated and have definitely seen better days.

But, have no fear. The boys will be getting new backpacks, along with about 20 needy children in the local village. And donors are doing a great job. CASA of Contra Costa County donated 20 backpacks for this coming school year and those were picked up this past Saturday. Whew… thanks CASA. And today, UPS delivered two boxes to me at the office. These two boxes were from the Oakland Raiders and guess what was inside? 36 Oakland Raider backpacks. Oh, the medianos and grandes boys are going to be very happy young men. The Raiders have donated items for the boys each of the other 4 times that I have been to the orphanage. And now they have done it again.

So… thanks to everyone we know that these boys will have a good start to the school year. Other individuals and service clubs are planning on other donations and that’s just great. We will make their lives better. And that’s a wonderful thing.

Signing off with a big, big thank you to CASA and to the Oakland Raiders. You both rock!!!!

Diane

What do you do when you get a big, fat envelope from the IRS… the Internal Revenue Service? Do you put it aside because you’re afraid to open it? Do you hold it up to the light in hopes of seeing what’s in the envelope before you actually open it? Does your heart beat faster? Do you get a sinking feeling in your stomach? Well…. those are some of the things I felt last week when I brought in the mail. There it was. A letter from the IRS ! What would be in the envelope? Good news or bad? Would I be shouting for joy or would I be exasperated and unhappy? Would I….. oh, never mind… enough drama and commentary!

The fact of the matter is, Orphan’s Hope Project, Inc. is officially a 501(c)(3) non profit corporation. All the paperwork has been processed and we have been approved for non-profit status. The contents of that fat envelope from the IRS was our official determination letter. I even picked up the phone and called IRS to make sure I understood it correctly. Yep… that’s what it meant. So, as of April 2, 2007, we are officially a non-profit corporation. That means donations to Orphan’s Hope Project are a legitimate tax write off on your federal tax returns.

And that makes me very happy. It has given me the push to go out and ask for more donations….clothing, socks, t-shirts, $, backpacks, school supplies, etc. I posted an ad on Craig’s List and there’s a blurb in our chamber newsletter. And it’s working. Donations are coming in.

And that makes me very, very happy.

Diane

Yep, that’s me. Bad ! And what I mean is that I have neglected this blog for too long. It’s mid September and I haven’t updated this in a while.

OK…. yes, I was in the hogar in August. Yes, I was there for two weeks. Yes, it was hectic, busy, frantic and wonderful. Yes, I have tickets already for my next trip. Yes, there is so much to tell.

The three volunteer rooms now have brand new beds. I bought 7 orthopedic beds for the rooms. The volunteer’s rooms in the pequenos building and in the medianos/grandes building both got painted. They both got new curtains. The beds now have new mattress covers, bed skirts, matching sheets, new pillows and matching comforters. They look great. They are bright and welcoming. Brian’s little house also got a new bed with all the trimmings.

These are before and after pictures of the volunteer rooms.

We took the boys shopping for new shoes at Deportes 2000. They all got to pick out the shoes that they wanted and we had some happy boys that day. We bought shoes for 4 girls and also for Flory, the cook. Flory didn’t go with us (she was cooking) so I had her draw out the outline of her feet on a piece of paper. I cut out her paper feet, took them with me and then put them inside the shoes that I thought she would like. That’s how I figured out her shoe size and it worked. She loved her new shoes.

One of the highlights of the trip was the visit to the San Cristobal fire station. It’s huge. The firefighters gave us a Power Point presentation on safety, burns, broken bones, fires, etc. And in Spanish, of course. We had about 50 people in the classroom. All of us had on Coldwell Banker Bartels/Guatemala t-shirts that my company had custom made for all the adults and the boys. So… we all looked alike (well… our shirts did….not our faces). The fire chief, the assistant fire chief and the three engineers that took all their time with us all got shirts as well. After the educational talk, they took us on a tour of the facilities. We then watched a firefighter put on his equipment….complete with turn outs and his air pack. Then they let the boys touch, see and wear the equipment. Hector and Gustavo were two of the boys that managed to get the firefighter’s shirt and put it on. And some boys were wearing helmets too. The big event of the day was a ride on the engine. It took two trips to give us all a ride (I went twice) but we all rode around the city, perhaps 10 blocks, on the engine and with the lights flashing, the siren wailing and the horn blowing. The kids loved it. You should have seen their smiles. And I loved it too.

There’s so much more to tell…. do you have a few hours? Just know that the kids are wonderful, it was an exciting two weeks and they got lots of new items that I had shipped to the orphanage. The huge box was waiting for me when I arrived. The Pinole Youth Council wrote letters to all the boys and the boys answered their individual letters while I was there. The return letters have been delivered to the PYC students here in Pinole. The boys all got socks, underwear, t-shirts, washcloths, new shirts, hand made blankets, power bars, Oakland Raiders notebooks, Hot Wheel cars and more. I wired money to the orphanage account just before I got there and that money will pay for the tile that will be installed in the new chapel under construction.

So… there’s always much to do while I’m there and there’s always something going on. I wish all of you could have the experience of working there for a couple of weeks or more. It will change your life. It certainly changed mine.

Til next time……

Diane