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Welcome!
Guatemala is a
small country just south of Mexico. It’s
nicknamed “the land of eternal spring”
because of the superb year-round climate. It
has a wealth of natural beauty with volcanic peaks
and large inland lakes. But it has a history
of almost slave-like conditions for the native
Indians and four decades of civil war. The
result is an unstable government and a reputation
of being the second-poorest country in the western-
hemisphere. Abject poverty is the standard of
living for many. There are over 5,000
street children in Guatemala City alone.
Infants are routinely abandoned on buses
and at the dump. Older children are sometimes
given a one-way bus ticket into the city and they
are on their own.Safe Homes
for Children is a 501-c-3 non-profit
corporation set up to support Casa de
Sion, an orphanage in Guatemala
City. Our goal is to help as many children as
we can afford to help, through this orphanage, and
in time, through more facilities if we can obtain
sufficient funding to do so.We take so many
things for granted: A bath in the morning;
Choices of food for each meal; Clothing that not
only keeps us warm, but looks good; Medical care
when we need it; Sending the kids off to school
each day where the books are paid for; A house
which protects us from the elements. We complain
when the microwave stops working, or the car
refuses to start. We grumble when our choices are
reduced, and rarely have to face a situation where
there simply are no choices.The poor of
Guatamala don't worry about how to fit in a bath in
the morning, they do not have access to soap
and water for such purposes. They don't have to
figure out what to wear in the morning, they have
only the clothes that they have on. There are no
decisions about what to eat for lunch - They eat
whatever they can get, whenever they can get it,
and always feel hungry. They are not worried about
grades in school, most of the poor never attend
school, and many are illiterate. And going home at
night consists of finding a nook or cranny
somewhere to curl up where you won't be tossed out.
If they become seriously ill, they die. When
they are hurt, there is no one to clean them up,
bandage the wound, and hug them until they feel
better. While we won't be
equal to the task of helping every child that needs
it, we can make a difference for many. When you
take in a child who is scared, starving, ill,
dirty, and uneducated, and help them to smile,
grow, learn, and feel love, the reasons why we try
become blindingly obvious. This is an effort
worth making. These are lives worth
preserving.
Join us in our Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/guatemalanchildren/
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