Orphan’s Hope Project Blog

Well, I don’t have exciting news but I do love getting updates from the orphanage. I’ll share what I know with you. I’ll be able to give you firsthand updates fairly soon, because I will be there in April.

We’ve still got about 55 boys at the hogar, the orphanage. The numbers go up a bit, down a bit and usually hover around 50-55. Of course, when we had girls, less than a year ago, the numbers were quite higher.

Chickens…. we’ve still got 72 chickens. Remember? We got 75 young hens in late January. They’re laying eggs quite well. We won’t be getting any new chickens for a while.

Pigs! Yep, we want to get some pigs. We’re gathering information, trying to see how much a pig house would cost, who will build it, what will the piglets cost, etc. That would be a new one…..I could go play with pigs. I’ll keep you posted if we get pigs.

We’re still waiting to hear about forward movement on Kevin and Gustavo’s adoption. We keep hoping it will be any day now. It’s a slow process and we just have to bide our time. Please keep thinking good thoughts for them.

The windows in the capilla will finally be finished within the next 7-10 days. Finally. I hope to get some pictures after they’re all installed. And you know I’ll be able to take some pictures myself while I’m there in April!

The boys need shoes again. They wear them out in just a few months. So, we will be having a shoe shopping field trip when I am there in April. I guess they’ll all put on their new green YMCA camp t-shirts and a-shopping we will go. Yes, Orphan’s Hope Project will be buying the new shoes for all the kids.

Semana Santa is coming soon… Holy Week and Easter. The weeklong celebration is big, big, big in Guatemala. I know the kids and adults will be excited during all the festivities.

Thanks for reading about us. Keep us in your thoughts and let the children thrive! That’s my hope, every day. Let the children thrive!

Here’s what a classroom of young students are doing for the boys in the orphanage.

Go to: Classroom A11

We appreciate their caring, their sewing skills and their help. Check it out.

I was lucky to meet Kristen and Steve K. this weekend. They live in Massachusetts but they were here in California for a business conference.

Kristen and her family have visited and worked at the orphanage three times in the past 15 months. Kristen’s brother Steve, along with partner Roger, have worked & visited more often. They are all a wonderful source of energy, bodies, fund raising, fun and work. We are so lucky to have them on our team.

Their newest project is to raise money for new mattresses for all the medianos and grandes. Our kids are sleeping on old, stained, and sometimes smelly mattresses. We measured and counted beds and mattresses in February. We need to buy 44 new mattresses to replace all the mattresses in the older boys’ dorm rooms. Yes, we can buy them at a discount at Facomsa Mattress Factory in Guatemala City. Orphan’s Hope Project has purchased mattresses from Facomsa for the volunteer’s rooms on prior trips. But it is time to replace them for the bigger boys.

Why? Well, think about it. Old, used mattresses with lots of dust mites, prior bed wetting stains and odors and just the quality, thickness and lumpiness of the mattresses calls for an upgrade. These are mattresses that most of us would not want to sleep on. We want to replace them with thick mattresses and all the new mattresses would have a vinyl covering, making it easy to clean up a bed after an accident or a spill.

So, Kristen and her family came up with a fund raising idea and launched a kick off party a couple of weeks ago. Each new mattress will cost about $120. If you would like to contribute to the mattress project, please do so. Every dollar helps and each new mattress means better hygiene and better sleep for our boys.

Thanks Kristen and family for doing all you do for us.

Shipped out? What does that mean? What it means is that the shipping company came out on Friday and picked up the next shipment for the orphanage. It’s always a good feeling to pack up the crate and to see how generous people have been.

This box has 86 pairs of Nike Shorts, 25 pairs of sweat pants, (yes, of course they’re all new things), over 50 jackets, 150 YMCA summer camp shirts, about 150 pairs of socks, pens, other shirts, pancake mix, raisins, peanut butter, small items for the kitchen, blankets, pillows, blue jeans and more.

This container will arrive at the orphanage a little bit after Easter. Semana Santa is a big thing in Guatemala and I know the drivers of the transport truck want a chance to enjoy the holidays with their families.

When the kids see the box being delivered and placed in my room at the orphanage, they know that I’ll be there soon. And I will. I can promise you that!

Diane

Diane

Yep, we have gathered donations in the past couple of weeks and there’s enough to fill up another big box.

Aren’t people great? Thank goodness for generous people and organizations.

The box will be picked up on March 13th and will be at the orphanage right around Easter. And that’s all good!

Yes, we have lots of new pulseras (bracelets). These are one-size-fits-all as they have a slip knot on the back side of the bracelet. You can put them on and adjust them all by yourself… no help is needed.

They are hand knotted in Guatemala and we sell them for $5 each (plus postage if applicable). We sell them to help defray shipping costs, or to pay for items purchased for the boys while we’re in Guatemala or for other incidentals. The money from the sale of these goes into the general fund.

The new ones that just arrived are the yellow and blue ones. You can see them here in this picture.

Yellow and blue are Pinole Valley High School colors, Pinole Swim Team colors, Cal Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis and other popular sports team colors. We have 100 of the blue and gold ones and we hope that they sell fast.

You can order them thru PayPal here on the web site or just contact us. There are lots to choose from. You’ll probably want more than one.

And we hope you do want to buy more than one. Come on… you’ll love em. I wear one every day (yes, I bought lots of colors for my personal use) and they remind me of the boys in the orphanage and of Guatemala. It keeps the kids in my mind and keeps me focused on all the good things that we are doing for the kids.

We hope you’ll feel the same way when you wears yours.