[aspenhall]

Hi everybody!
I am not new to the forums, and I have no experience in international adoption BUT I thought that you all would be interested in helping make life better for children in Guatemala.....I have just read an article in my hometown newspaper (very small community....less than 10,000 people). I is all about one of our residents who has moved to Guatemala and started an orphanage. He and his new bride have been recieving some support from our community BUT it is NOT enough...They are also working to train other caregivers in other orphanages in nutrition, sanitation and hygene. Our high school spanish class sent eight boxes of school supplies and first aid supplies and vitimins.
I will try to retype the article in it's entirety to post here. If anybody wants to help EVEN A LITTLE (just a book in spanish on nutrition etc.. or a box of t-shirts would help)....please PM me and I will get you the contact information. THEY ARE NOT ASKING FOR MONEY!!! (as helpful as that would be)

[Annette2004]

Hi!
How can people help?How old are the children and what do they need?
Let me know.
My private Email is:annette_menard@yahoo.com.
Take care!
Annette

[aspenhall]

The children are all mainly elementary school ages. The reporter who did the article is emailing me the copy and photos as well as a newsletter from Laura and Wesley Lounsbury (the newlywed owners of the orphanage). From what I've read so far, anything is gonna help. From blankets to books to clothes to first aid supplies. (lice shampoo, band-aids etc) Used is fine....new is ok too. Make sure that the books are in spanish!!

Again, every little thing helps. I will post the articles and the newsletter on this thread, but in the meantime, you can PM me for Laura's email address.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO AN ARTICLE REQUESTING HELP FROM MY COMMUNITY....I just figured you all may like to help as well.

[aspenhall]

OK, let's see if these links work....

http://viablesoftware.com/lauranewsletter.htm

http://viablesoftware.com/lauranewsletterphotos.htm

[aspenhall]

This is the article I read in the Hurricane Valley Journal...

Guatemala Orphanage a True Labor of Love
By the Journal

When Wesley Lounsbury of Hurricane visited Guatemala for the first time, he couldn’t get enough. When the opportunity presented itself, he went back to serve the people again and again. His family, friends and then girlfriend, Laura Butler, knew of the situation in Guatemala and sent Lounsbury money to help the people there. It wasn’t long before Laura joined him in Guatemala and took work in an orphanage. Six months later, they married.
“In the orphanage I worked at, they were very kind and loving,” said Laura. “But they didn’t understand about proper nutrition and proper sanitation. The babies were very sick. Most of the babies were ten to eleven months old and not receiving solid food. They were still on bottles. Consequently, they looked like they were four or five months younger than they actually were.”
Laura began teaching the orphanage caregivers to wash their hands and sanitize bottles. She also began feeding the children three times a day.
While traveling through Guatemala, the Lounsburys lodged with a pastor of a Christian church, Alvaro Hernandez and his wife, Lilliam, in the drought-ravished city Chiquimula in eastern Guatemala. They learned that Hernandez had been the director of an alcohol and drug rehabilitation clinic for six years but had recently been receiving children from the state and orphanages. Hernandez explained that this was a sign that the Lord wanted him to work with children and possibly open an orphanage.
“To put things quite simply, he told us bout his dream, and we decided to help him realize it,” said Laura.
After working for two years in a daycare in the United States and in a Guatemalan orphanage, Laura felt she had gained enough knowledge in nutrition, health care, daycare and orphanages that the two couples decided to start an orphanage together. “They just had this wonderful spirit, and we knew that on their end, they could get all the legal papers, so we decided to collaborate and partnership,” Laura said.
The Lounsburys left Guatemala in March 2003 to return to Hurricane, where they received many donations and first-aid supplies. Hurricane High School teacher Steve Christensen and his Spanish classes collected eight boxes full of donations—school supplies for the children as well as first-aid supplies and vitamins.
“Toward the end of the year, things came together very quickly,” explained Laura. “We were blessed with a number of miracles, and within a matter of two months, we had enough money to cover our estimated start-up costs as well as our travel costs. On November 20, we arrived here in Guatemala to begin the project of a lifetime.
“During our first week and a half, we were staying in a cramped mosquito-ridden room,” said Laura. “Despite the discomforts, we were ready to get to work.”
The first order of business was locating a house. They found a newly built three-story house in the suburbs of Chiquimula. Although the house was newly built, it took a week of cleaning to make it livable. At that time, they received their first two children, ages four and five.
“Our second and far more difficult task was equipping the orphanage,” said Laura. “Little by little things began to come together, and after a short time, the house felt more like a home than the empty building we had been working in for some time.”
A few days after Christmas, they received their second pair of brothers, ages six and four. “At this point, we discovered that Jairo and Alfredo had not only brought us their innocent hearts but also little heads full of lice. This was another learning experience.” Now, every boy who enters the orphanage has his head shaved and every girl has her hair cut and treated for lice.
“We now have six children, with our last two arriving just after the New Year,” said Laura. “The orphanage is completely up and running. From this point on, we are preparing and detailing, so that things will run smoothly when we return home.”
The people in Guatemala are very good people, explained Laura, but they don’t have the proper experience and knowledge with sanitation and nutrition. “We are going to train them in those areas, get a schedule going, get them running, and get it furnished,” explained Laura. “This is just the trial period.”
The Lounsburys will be renting a house for an orphanage but are trying to raise enough money so they can purchase land and build their own orphanage. They estimate that within a year, they will see that reality. Their new facility will have its own school, a projected homeless shelter, and a community center where the kids can help with gardening, learn to be sufficient and learn about different trades.
They estimate that they will have about 15 children when they build their new facility.
The difficulty of the adoption process in Guatemala has orphanages crowded, with many children waiting to be placed in an orphanage. Adoption takes at least nine months and $20,000 to $25,000. Thousands of children are waiting to be adopted; however, most of the children stay in orphanages until they are 18 years old, where they are typically beaten, starved and neglected.
Laura saw those realities while she worked in the orphanage when she first arrived in Guatemala. She tried to instruct the people there, to teach them, but eventually the staff decided they didn’t want to listen to her.
“We’re hoping to give the children a chance to live in a safe, healthy environment, where they can learn about God. Most of them have been abandoned and abused and neglected. Their parents have either beat them, or they were alcoholics, or they were murderers and in jail. We just want to show the children that they are special, that God loves them very, very much, and just give them a good education, basically like we want our kids treated here in America. I very much think that those kids deserve the best chance and get as much of the attention as they get in America,” said Laura.
“We would like to thank God for touching peoples’ hearts to give, and being faithful to provide all of our needs. We would sincerely like to thank all of the donors that sacrificed of their own to help the children, and for always having the confidence in our mission. Each of you, no matter how great or small the donation, no matter what type, have all helped to put the smiles on these children’s faces,” said Laura.

[crg]

hi
i am not really sure how to e-mail privately '
i was wondering if you have a list of needs? how close to guatemala city is this orphanage? we were planning on visiting and bringing items to a orphanage that a brother of a friend my daughter goes to school with is working at but if that falls through it would be nice to have another option,
thanks .
carolyn

[aspenhall]

To "PM" (private message) someone, you click the PM button at the bottom of their post.

This is in Eastern Guatemala...not sure where Guat City is...

If you click one of the links I posted, it should give you all the info I have....sorry, I don't know more.