School, floor, old friends and much love..

Day 4 is a short day. We only have to pour the floor, so FHTH's takes the volunteers who are working in Santa Maria de Jesus to visit the school. This school has been run by the Cambianda Vidas project in the past, howevr the school will now be part of From Houses to Homes. The new name of the school will be Escuela Kem na 'oj english that means weaving minds or weaving knowledge. The school is currently housed in a rented space which is quite small. Next year we will educate 100 students. When you walk around and visit the classrooms you see nothing but smiles. The children are really thriving in this school as a result of a dedicated staff.  These children do not always come from the happiest homes as there are many issues that face the Mayan community. The staff of the school not only educates the children, they also work with the parents, especially the mothers to encourage them to learn new ways of coping and facing some of their issues always reminding them they are very important themselves.  Most of these children would not ever go to school as they cannot afford the tuition. This school is free to the children, We are always looking for people to sponsor a student. The monthly fee is $60 per student.
I had collected money to bring every child a loaf of banana bread today. We passed out the banana bread and each child thanked us with a grand smile and a "Gracias"  This is a big treat for these children. They receive a meal in school, however at home it is a different story. Food is scarce, especially a nutritious meal.
Today I saw children in one of the rooms playing dress up and dancing to some pretty happy music. There was a little boy dressed in a yellow princess costume with a magic wand dancing up a storm, totally uninhibited when the vistiors arrived. It was so cute and and it really cracked me up. In other rooms the children were learning new vocabulary, reading and singing songs. The teachers always have the children sing a song in spanish and then in english. I never get tired of these cute little faces. There is one girl who has always just stolen my heart. Her name is Maria Petrona. I just think she is beautiful. She has always been quite shy, however on this visit I see that she is emerging from her shell. She remembered me from my last visit and gave me a big smile and hug. It is always hard to say good bye to these children, however I know I leave them in good hands. The staff of the school are very dedicated to these children. The principal and psychologist have only the childrens best interest and well being in mind. That always comforts me and I can only pray that God leads these children to better opportunities in life in which then they may break the cycle of poverty. Big prayers needed here por favor!!
After I am dragged kicking and screaming from the school we return to the work site and the only task we have today is to pour  the floor. We have to mix sand, cement and stone and form bucket brigade to pour it on the floor, and as we do that Henio smooths it out. It seems simple , however it is a very heavy job!! We manage to get it done by lunch time and that is it for the day because now the floor has to set. Tomorrow we will return to paint the house. I have asked the Mom if all the children will be there so we can have a fiesta to celebrate the new casa. She says "Si"so I hope it will come together.
After we left the work site we walked down the road to where we will built 2 years ago to visit the family that we built for. I love these people and this particular family really greets us with warm hearts and open arms. They have a daughter Jessica that has the grandest smile and as she has gotten older she has only gotten prettier. She will always give me a robust hug and we sit in the casa and talk with her Mom and other sisters. Her brother is at school and her father is working, thank god. Thanks to a family in my church her brothers tuition is paid. Luis really wanted to attend school and he cried the day he told me he could no longer attend as the family was really affected by last years rainy season and had no money to send him. He was thrilled to hear that he could attend again. His Mother told me today he is doing well and loving it.

We sat and talked for a while and had many laughs but also looked at some of the current issues that they are facing. Their  youngest daughter, Monica who is 11 months old has not been feeling well for quite sometime. She suffers from gastro intestinal problems. Fortunately, we now have Clinicas Medicas San Jose to treat her. Mom takes her to the clinic by taking 2 busses.She has been given some medicine and is feeling some what better. This is not an unusual diagnosis for people here as the water is so dirty and it does not agree with all the people all of the time. Wendy, their 3rd daughter wears hearing aids. At this time the battery is dead and they are awaiting a replacement.  Wendy does not hear what is being said but as I watch her play with the other children she is always smiling.  Henio was translating for us and I asked him to tell me ask Jessica what she needs and she replies, "nueva ropa." No different from a 13 year old in the U.S.A. Her clothes are torn and tattered. She is very helpful to her Mother every day, as we are sitting there she runs into the next shack area and stirs something on the fire. While we are sitting and talking Sam is outside taking up where he left off with this family. He is playing with the boys and they are jumping all over him. They really loved Sam and he them, after we left he told me he feels a very strong connection with that particular family. When we built for this family our friendshad come and built 2 other houses on this property. The 3 families are related. After I was done visiitng my family, I checked in on the family that the Folans had built for. Elizabeth the Mom allowed me to enter the house. She was mother to the imfamous "Danny" who was heavily photographed andmade it to the FHTH's website as he was so funny and  so cute. At the time of our building she also had another infant son who is about 2 now. Today she was holding her newest arrival, another boy, 20 days old. She and her husband had not yet named him. She said they are considering Samuel. I told her that was a fine name, haha.(My son is Samuel also)  Betty told me through Henio that she had a C-Section and did not get her medications that were prescribed for her after she had the baby. She was supposed to get antibiotics, pain medication and a third med that I am not sure what it is for. I could see she as moving gingerly and I asked her for the prescription. I took it to the pharmacy and it was a grand totsl of $25. I will deliver it to her tomorrow.  Isn't that very sad? She was seen at the National Hospital where she was given these meds. The National Hospital translates to the poor peoples hospital, where they get less then acceptable treatment, but I guess it is better then none. Of course there is no one asking them if they can afford these meds. Again, how sad the government does not care about these kind of things. It just so happens that while we were here this week a famous folk singer from Argentina was murdered. I think his driver was the target but he was killed in the cross fire. There is all this press about how emabrrassed Guatemala is about the murder. They should be embarrassed about all the people living in substandard conditions, lack of education and starving children. The only up side is the eye of the world is on Guatemala so maybe someone else will notice what else is going on here every day. I could really get on a soap box however I will not at this time. My children were both born here. There mothers made the very difficult decision to ut them up for adoption so they could have a better life. They do have many more opportunities in their life, including a warm shelter, food, and education. Yes they also have a family that loves them very much, but one thing I noticed here as that no matter what these people love their families. It is a lesson learned for most. The main commodity that is always present is love, through all the poverty, hunger and lack of education these people love their family's. So, yes my children are blessed with the "extras" but there is a clear picture here that the most important thing is love in one's life and that they have much of. It is no blessing to have all the material things if you do not feel love.