July 15, 2010 Casa Hogar para Ninos Esperanza Orphanage Update

We serve God by serving others!

“God has given wonderful blessings to each of us and we are called to give back by doing good works and by serving others in His name. What matters is not how long you live, but how you live. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of your life.” Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life

After I sent out the update, I received an email from Monette Chain telling me she had a spare high chair and who to call to be able to pick it up. WOW…thanks Monette.

Because of the success of this week’s beach party, Cherilyn, Rene and I will be taking two younger boys for an afternoon of swimming, building sand castles and eating fish tacos next Wednesday.

Cherilyn received a phone call this week from a friend in Houston that is sending a cash donation to support the work at the orphanage.

I received an email from a business associate in Dallas requesting wiring instructions to send a donation for the orphanage.

In our discussions with orphanage management we have learned that they have two full time (6 day a week) employees and one part time employee. One of the full time employees is in charge of preparing meals and we have been told that she is an excellent cook. The other employ is in charge of cleaning. The part time employee takes up slack and covers the weekend off days of the other two ladies. The orphanage has 75% boys and 25% girls with ages eighteen months to seventeen years. There are currently fifteen children living in the home. I was told that many of the very young children get periodic visits from one of their parents (usually the mother). The older the children get the wider the gap is between visits until the parent usually stops visitation completely. Each child has a story of abuse and all of the stories sad at best. One of the boys that I took to the beach last week has scars on his back and damage to his ears from beatings when he was very young.

This is a partial list of areas that need attention and items that are needed every day:
Things that need to be looked at:
The toilets don´t have much flushing power
Many of the rooms need repainting
Broken electrical switch in kid’s room
A locking device on the cabinet below the television
A filing cabinet because there are important papers and Photos everywhere.
Sew strips of sheets together to make whole sheets that cover beds.  They really need new sheets.
The iron needs to be repaired
Everyday Needs:
Shampoo
Toothpaste
Deodorant
Hair brushes
Detangler for brushing girls hair
Sandals
socks for teenagers
permanent markers for marking clothes

Food items:
42 liters of milk a week
cereal
meat
chicken
salchicha
eggs
Maseca
puree de tomate

Other things:
Shoes boy’s size 4, 6 & 8
Shoes girl’s size 6, 8 & 9
Shoes various sizes for young men

Over the next few weeks our mission committee will come up with a defined plan for support that we will send out to you. Your comments to the initial draft will be appreciated.

DON’T FORGET, CHURCH NOW STARTS AT 8:55. SEE YOU SUNDAY. TOM