I just can’t help it… I love these new shirts. I just had to take more pictures of these new shirts. Here they are all sorted and stacked by size. Aren’t they cool?
And, I promised a little more detail on the bus design so here’s a close up shot.
They are eye catching and cool. I love em.
Diane
Hi all and Happy Labor Day weekend !
YMCAs in this area have donated their unused Y Camp shirts in the past and our kids at the orphanage love the colorful shirts. Now that children in the Bay Area are back in school, summer camp is over. So, my first batch of shirts was picked up today. The shirts that I got today came from the Fremont/Newark YMCA.
I was lucky enough to pick them up while the executive directors were having a staff meeting. So I saw some familiar faces and met a couple of new directors. Aren’t these shirts great?
I was excited about this donation so I had to, yes, I had to empty the boxes and count the shirts when I got back to the office. Guess how many there are? …..
Did you come close to the correct amount?
There are 205 brand new shirts for the boys and girls of the orphanage. There are two styles, as seen above, but most of them are the cute, very colorful camp bus design. I’ll have to take another picture to show you a little more detail.
I can visualize the sea of green shirts at the orphanage. These would be good shirts for all the kids to wear when we go buy their new school shoes in January. That way we can easily spot them in the crowd and know which kids are ours.
Thanks YMCA of Fremont/Newark. The shirts are great.
Hi there!
Another unique donation was delivered to me today. It seems that Lemoyne W. likes to work in his shop. Here’s a picture that I took of Lemoyne today in the office (let’s see if you can spot the Guatemalan things in the background).
And in his shop, he likes to make wooden spinning tops for children. What does he do with these tops? Well, he finds individuals who are visiting other countries and donates his tops so that the spinning tops will find their way into the hands of children across the world. He showed me pictures of kids with tops in Thailand, other spots and he even had a photo of a child in Guatemala. Yes, the boy was spinning one of his tops. Now…. thanks to Lemoyne and his skills, there will be about 110 children at the orphanage that will be spinning his tops soon. Leymoyne gave me 110 tops to give to the kids. We even had a practice session to make sure I knew how to correctly spin the tops (I did).
Here they are. Aren’t they colorful?
I was lucky enough to visit a while with Lemoyne, his wife Betty and his adult daughter Ginger. Of course I talked about the kids, I showed them the Guatemalan corner here in the office, and we shared stories of the kids. It was a pleasure to meet them and as they were leaving, they also made a $200 donation. Now this was a REALLY great day.
So thanks to people like Lemoyne and his family, we’re constantly improving the lives of the children in the orphanage.
Diane
The folks in Sharon, MA are busy raising $ again. This time they’re sending donations for the windows for the new capilla, the new chapel at the top of our hill at the orphanage. So far, we’re close to raising $2000 for the windows. Some of the windows will be clear glass and some will be stained glass.
Thanks for the contributions. They are certainly appreciated.
Yes, more changes. Monica is gone. Monica has been our on site administrator for a little over a year. She is a veterinarian and took the job when she resigned her last position in the field of veterinary medicine. Actually, she was the teacher for the pequenos for a while and then she become the administrator.
We knew she would one day go back to her chosen field. Over the past months, she had been interviewing and trying to find the right position, the right fit. She was offered positions that were hours and hours away from her mom and that just wouldn’t work. She wanted to stay close to where her mom lives and now, she is able to do that. Monica’s mom is Gloria and Gloria loves to come to the hogar to help out. Gloria can often be seen with Karen, running errands, talking to boys, helping where she can. Gloria lives next door to Colegio Americano, the private school in Guatemala City, where 9 of our children are students. That’s certainly convenient.
So, as of Monday, Monica is working at a veternarian again. She will be using her skills and education by working with animals. But, she is not abandoning the hogar. She still plans to work at the orphanage when she can, perhaps one day a week. The transition might be difficult and others will have to take on her tasks. But, we’ll adapt. The boys and girls will certainly miss her but they will continue to see her as she intends to remain in their lives.
Monica…. best wishes. Good luck in your new position, enjoy it and I’ll see you soon.
Yes, it’s very possible to fall in love when you visit the home, the kids and the country of Guatemala.
I heard from one of the women who helped put in the new water filtration system. Their entire family fell in love… with the kids, the home, the country, the experience, etc. I knew it would happen. It quite often does.
Guatemala just keeps calling to those of us who have worked and lived in the home. It becomes our second home. Many of us do leave part of our hearts with the kids. And that is a good thing.
Hey everyone! We’re trying to update the web site a little bit. We’ve been making some changes. In the next day or two, we will have some new videos uploaded. Some are of the kids… they are short videos. Look for the red tab that says ‘New’. I hope you like them.
We do have cool weather at the orphanage… mostly at night and in the mornings. The children need coats and sweatshirts. Guess what? I got a great donation from Paula K. on Saturday. Paula donated 107 sweatshirts and coats. And they are so nice. There’s a variety of styles, colors and sizes. Some are for girls and some are for boys. These will all be shipped to the orphanage and they will certainly come in handy. In addition, there were a couple of pairs of sweatpants and about 15 shirts in the bags. So, that means all of our kids will have new sweatshirts and coats to wear. And that’s a good thing. They are all quality name brands and I know that the kids will love them. How will I decide who gets what? It will all work out and I certainly do appreciate the donation. Thanks Paula!
Happy Friday… the end of another week.
The response to the July 28th newspaper article has been very positive. I have been getting e-mails, phone calls, letters in the mail, congratulations at stores and businesses, $ donations, clothing donations, crayons, blankets, promises of future donations and more. So… it’s been an uplifting 11 days since the article came out. Most people did not see the TV spot but we hope to have it on line in a couple of weeks. If you want to read the article, it is posted on the website.
Karen, a volunteer from London, has been at the orphanage for almost 4 weeks. She is busy working, playing, walking the kids to school, learning more Spanish, cleaning, sorting and more. She will be leaving on Sunday and I know the children will miss her. Thanks Karen. Thanks for all your work and time.
Roger is at the orphanage right now. He’s been walking the kids to school, helping them with homework (that’s the teacher in him), taking them to the campo to play futbol, helping with meals and all the other various things that we all do while we’re there. We NEVER know what’s going to happen from day to day. He even spent the night in the hospital one night. One of our boys had surgery and Roger was there with him from start to finish. Hey Roger ! Your pizza nights are becoming legendary. Are you going to have another one before you leave next week?
Nico ! Yes, Nicoline, resident of the Netherlands and former administrator of Hogar Miguel Magone is in Guatemala for two weeks. She’s traveling some, visiting and is enjoying the nice weather. Today is her midway point and she is visiting the orphanage today. I’m sure she’ll be taking some pictures too.
I received a lovely donation to pay for the door for the new chapel. That was very much appreciated.
See… if you think positive, good things happen.
Til next time, think positive thoughts and only wish for good things to happen to our boys and girls at the hogar.
Diane
Now this is new !
What is it? It’s part of the ozone water filtration system…..The system was just installed in early July and it is up and running. This is the sink where we can fill large jugs… with cleaned, purified water!
Estuardo, Karen’s husband, is in charge of the water purification system. Twice a week he cleans out the system, cleans the filters and makes sure it is cycling correctly.
Tap water comes into the system and goes through a series of filters. The water is also flushed with ozone….99% of the particulates and bacteria will be removed… we hope. The purified water is stored in a tank just outside the bodega where this filtration system was installed.
How Do Ozonation Water Purifiers Make Ozone?
Ozonation water purification systems create Ozone with something called an Ozone Generator, which creates O3 in much the same way as the sun does. Inside ozone generator’s chamber is a high intensity Ultraviolet (UV) light. Compressed air is forced into the generator’s chamber, which then converts some of the oxygen in the air into Ozone. This process is part of the reason why the layer of Ozone in the Earth’s upper atmosphere protects us from most of the harmful UV rays emanating from our Sun.
The Ozone that has now been created inside the Ozone generator is then sent through a line into a diffuser, which creates ozone-saturated bubbles. Water is drawn in to mix with the bubbles, and then fed into the water purification tank. The weak Oxygen molecule in the Ozone attaches to other organic molecules in the water and oxidizing them. In effect – the Ozone “eat’s ‘em up” and Viola! Clean, fresh, purified drinking water.
The tap water is not safe to drink unless it has been treated. As you know, many travelers get ill when drinking tap water in countries that they are visiting. This is particularly true in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Guatemala is no exception….
Gee, isn’t this a great addition to the orphanage? Now the children, the teachers, the staff and the volunteers have good, clean water to drink.