Jody and Vicki Dalia answered the call to ‘Open an Orphanage in Guatemala’ in 2003. And it’s been a wild ride with a lot of learning along the way. We had 18 children: 10 bio and 8 adopted from inside the U.S. We feel that all children should have life’s basic necessities: food, shelter, education and love. These values undergird our programs.

When we moved the orphanage from the Guatemala City to Lake Atitlan, we were startled at the poverty we saw. It seemed that almost every child needed to be in an orphanage. The cruel tentacles of endemic poverty were crushing their future. Gradually, we started helping with feeding and educational programs and encouraging medical and dental teams to visit. For the same amount of money it took to house a few kids in an orphanage, we could help many more at home. This crystallized into the “orphans at home” philosophy that now undergirds are programs.

Because we had so many children ourselves, we always tried to make our lives as self-sustaining as possible. And this goes for the work in Guatemala. While we have had large donations and a few grants from time to time, our day-to-day programs do not run off them. Rather it is program sponsors and volunteer teams that sustain our operations. 

We have passed the torch to our kids who now do most of the work managing our programs in Guatemala.

Safe Homes is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to improving the safety and quality of life for children in their own homes. All donations are tax-deductible.

Our mission is to enhance the lives of Guatemala’s least fortunate by nourishing their bodies as well as their minds with nutritional, educational and medical initiatives. We also have construction projects to improve their life at home.