November 9, 2009
After a wonderful omelette breakfast at the Vista Real Hotel, we loaded the bus and left for Zacapa. The team decided to wait to do errands in Zacapa instead of Guatemala City. The skies cleared up for us and we had beautiful blue skies most of the way. A HUGE answer to prayer!
We arrived at the orphanage just after noon, unloaded the bus, and determined what we could get started on. A couple of the men decided to stay and get started on the well pump while the rest of us went for lunch and to take care of a little business.
Let me tell you how awesome Gary, Randy, Scott and Tony are. The first task was to get chain link fence put up to keep out curious children. The Solar panels are on the roof and mainly just need to be wired to the batteries that are being installed in a storage room. They think it will take about 1 1/2 hours to complete. The well pump is installed in the cistern! Water filters have been replaced. They were able to accomplish much more than they had expected at this point.
There are 96 children here now. They range in age from 6 months to 17 years old. There are many children still here since my last trip a year ago, and probably 3 or 4 from two years ago. We could see the excitement in their faces when they recognized us from the previous trips. This is a government-run transitional orphanage where the children weren't intended to remain for long, but since international adoptions have been suspended, many are staying here longer. Also, many of the children are social orphans-they are placed here if their parents are going through a custody battle or if their parents are not able to take care of them. Many of them are visited by their parents periodically.
So today we got loads of hugs and tickles. Lots of kids way too big to be carried begging for it. Lots of requests for help to do things that they know the Gringos will help them with. The monkey bars are high up off the ground and some of the girls want help because they are afraid to fall. Jennifer latched on to me early on and took me on a tour to see the raised vegetable garden and their chicken coup. They are growing onions, carrots and tomatoes-if I was able to understand correctly. They seem to be especially proud of the chickens-as we were on our way out, another child was leading another of the ladies on a tour.
I know there's a game plan tomorrow, but I'm not quite sure what it is. I just know if someone hollers "Help!"-that's where I come in. The kids are going to be taken to a park to be kept out of the way as much as possible. They are expected to fill the cistern with water before 2:00pm when the city turns off their supply for the day.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Arrival at Guatemala City
11/08/2009
Guatemala City-Vista Real Hotel
Guatemala City-Vista Real Hotel
We are here!! The flight was uneventful-which is always a good thing. And all of our bags made it! Woo Hoo!! We arrived in Guatemala City to an empty airport, and more importantly, empty streets. Traffic is usually quite heavy and we arrived at the hotel in only a few minutes. It was raining when we loaded the hotel vans, but stopped by the time we left the airport. The forecast is calling for a chance of thundershowers all week-but we are praying for a reprieve as we have a lot of work that can't get done in the rain.
We had a late light dinner when we arrived at the hotel. Soup and sandwiches. Wonderful Tortilla soup. We are loading the vans at 8:30 in the morning and have a little business to take care of before we head to Zacapa. We should be getting to the orphanage at about 2:00pm tomorrow.
This is going to be a fun group to work with. Oh, my goodness! Already lots of goodnatured teasing going on. But everyone is excited to get to work.
We had a late light dinner when we arrived at the hotel. Soup and sandwiches. Wonderful Tortilla soup. We are loading the vans at 8:30 in the morning and have a little business to take care of before we head to Zacapa. We should be getting to the orphanage at about 2:00pm tomorrow.
This is going to be a fun group to work with. Oh, my goodness! Already lots of goodnatured teasing going on. But everyone is excited to get to work.
Monday, November 2, 2009
5 days to go. . . . . . .
......so, naturally I can't sleep again. Music lessons plans floating through my head. Do I have everything? I'm pretty certain that I do, but there's that nagging thought that is saying that there's got to be something that I'm forgetting. It can't be this easy, can it?
Did some more shopping. I bought stockings and stocking stuffers for all of the kids and the workers, too. Everyone seemed to like everything that I bought. Last year, the kids went crazy for the few tennis balls that we had taken, so this year everyone is getting one in their stocking. I also bought bubbles and candy to go along with the sunglasses, trinkets and small stuffed animals that we already have. The workers are getting lotion, Christmas socks, lip balm, a hair brush, note pad and pen and candy. I also went to Teacher's Tools and picked up a few musical rhythm pieces to use. I still need to make copies of the music and insert them into sheet protectors. I hope one of the translators can read music and knows the musical terms. I think that the kids will enjoy the recorder lessons. Donna found some nice colorful ones that will make it fun. This will be another first for me. Perhaps that's why I am having a hard time getting to sleep.
We spent nearly 3 hours last Sunday at the church packing all of the Buckner bags. Heather and Donna sorted through uniforms. They barely made a dent in the huge stack of boxes that are there. There will be a lot left over to send to the private Christian school that we help send several of the kids to. They are excited to be getting them. The Choir was faithful in providing lots of toothbrushes and toothpaste. Just these took up almost half of a bag.
There will be so much to do while we are there. The well is the most important need right now. Hardly any water is being sent in right now. They are even doing without showers and are flushing the toilets with buckets. The electrical system has to be upgraded to handle the pump for the well and more pipes need to be buried. We found out that the electrical system that they currently have could not handle the water filter pump and run the computer at the same time, so they have been turning off the pump during the day. Also, the current is so weak, that all of the appliances that we have installed quickly burn out. Please pray that we are successful in installing the well pump and completing all of the electrical wiring. We only have about 3 1/2 days to do it.
So, today I had jury duty. I was placed on a panel that has to reconvene on Wednesday. At least we do know that it is for a misdemeanor case. I was a little nervous about being placed on a trial that would last more than a week. There is still a chance that if I am not placed on this particular jury, I can be placed on another. Today's pool was one person short of filling all of the juries that are needed this week. Chances are that we will all be placed on a jury unless some of the cases are settled beforehand. Hopefully, I will be placed on the one that I am being sent to on Wednesday. I'm praying for that.
Did some more shopping. I bought stockings and stocking stuffers for all of the kids and the workers, too. Everyone seemed to like everything that I bought. Last year, the kids went crazy for the few tennis balls that we had taken, so this year everyone is getting one in their stocking. I also bought bubbles and candy to go along with the sunglasses, trinkets and small stuffed animals that we already have. The workers are getting lotion, Christmas socks, lip balm, a hair brush, note pad and pen and candy. I also went to Teacher's Tools and picked up a few musical rhythm pieces to use. I still need to make copies of the music and insert them into sheet protectors. I hope one of the translators can read music and knows the musical terms. I think that the kids will enjoy the recorder lessons. Donna found some nice colorful ones that will make it fun. This will be another first for me. Perhaps that's why I am having a hard time getting to sleep.
We spent nearly 3 hours last Sunday at the church packing all of the Buckner bags. Heather and Donna sorted through uniforms. They barely made a dent in the huge stack of boxes that are there. There will be a lot left over to send to the private Christian school that we help send several of the kids to. They are excited to be getting them. The Choir was faithful in providing lots of toothbrushes and toothpaste. Just these took up almost half of a bag.
There will be so much to do while we are there. The well is the most important need right now. Hardly any water is being sent in right now. They are even doing without showers and are flushing the toilets with buckets. The electrical system has to be upgraded to handle the pump for the well and more pipes need to be buried. We found out that the electrical system that they currently have could not handle the water filter pump and run the computer at the same time, so they have been turning off the pump during the day. Also, the current is so weak, that all of the appliances that we have installed quickly burn out. Please pray that we are successful in installing the well pump and completing all of the electrical wiring. We only have about 3 1/2 days to do it.
So, today I had jury duty. I was placed on a panel that has to reconvene on Wednesday. At least we do know that it is for a misdemeanor case. I was a little nervous about being placed on a trial that would last more than a week. There is still a chance that if I am not placed on this particular jury, I can be placed on another. Today's pool was one person short of filling all of the juries that are needed this week. Chances are that we will all be placed on a jury unless some of the cases are settled beforehand. Hopefully, I will be placed on the one that I am being sent to on Wednesday. I'm praying for that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)