Yes, it’s hard to believe that it’s 2010 already. Hogar Miguel Magone celebrated their 13 year anniversary in January 2010. So many changes have been made since the opening of the orphanage. Wonderful changes continue to take place each year and it is truly a great place for the children.
I was able to spend the month of January at the orphanage. We had some cold days and nights, as low as 48 degrees (F) in my room sometimes. No, none of the rooms have heat or heaters. When the wind is blowing in through the spaces, those sweatpants and jackets sure feel good. January usually is the coldest month in Guatemala but this January was really cold.
The kids finally started back to school on the last Friday in January. Normally, they return to school in mid January, which is the start of a brand new school year. This year, the public school teachers went on strike so the kids got a longer vacation. The private school and instituto kids started while I was there. I always look forward to walking the kids to school in the morning. Many days, we still walked to Satelite, for the exercise, and to get the kids out of the orphanage. I love those walks.
A couple of times, I took large groups of boys on adventure hikes. The first hike was about 6 miles long and the boys ended up playing in a creek. Some got wet up to mid chest but it was ok. I was the only adult on this hike ….with 31 boys. They had fun, we had snacks and everyone enjoyed the diversity of hiking to a new place. But we did ask them to wash out their own clothes when they got back to the orphanage. Those were some muddy, wet kids!
The last adventure hike that we took in January was through the woods, up and down dusty hills & terraced farm land and we ended up at a waterfall. That was a great hike, the weather was warm and we were gone for hours and hours. We ran into some locals that were at the pila, washing up. Luckily, we had enough incaparina (a protein drink) and energy bars to share with the 10 locals, some adult men and some children. Our boys had the same snacks and they also ate sandwiches, but not until we left the locals and started on our way back. I had to almost fight with the dogs a few times. The dogs wanted the ham sandwiches. It was a great adventure. The kids wore shorts this time and we were prepared for the water. They climbed the waterfall, played around in the pool and enjoyed it thoroughly. I hope to have a photo album posted on the web site by March 10th. Look for it and you’ll see some of the pictures of the boys in their bright blue Nike shorts, compliments of Richmond Hilltop YMCA. Oh yes, the boys loved getting new Nike shorts.
More news soon…. I promise.
Diane