This is my current group of kids that I sponsor here in Guatemala.  I’ve had them quite a few years now because I remember they were all “just a little slip of a thing” when I visited and met them for the first time.  I wish I could show you then and now pics, but all of my older pictures are either hard copy or on my other computer at home.

The ultimate joy in my life has been watching my own kids grow from two little nubs, and develop into grown adults that give me a sense of pride that I can’t begin to adequately express.  Sponsoring kids down here in Guatemala has given me another, and different, taste of watching that happen.  I see them only intermittently, so the changes often leap out at me.  But the joy of being witness to their lives in some small way is in fact no small thing.

This is Juan Carlos.  I am looking forward to watching him graduate next year.  He is Mr. Industrious.  At the tender age of 17 he has already opened and closed a bakery because he just didn’t have the time to keep it going and couldn’t find good help. 🙂  He raises pigs and sells them when the price is right, and his family rents land up in the hills outside of San Rafael where they raise black beans and corn.  He helps his father in the field.  And of course, he also goes to school.  His mother tells me when he is at home he is very helpful with his two younger brothers and one younger sister.  He is studying accounting with a focus in computers.  He studies all day on Saturday, and on Sunday afternoons he takes time off to go play soccer.  He is good enough that his team pays for his bus expense to travel to where they play.  Juan will be a great asset to some company in the future, or just as likely, an entrepreneur.

This is Paulina.  As you can see, she is a jewel.  Paulina is 16 years old and studying in the 8th grade.  Before my sponsorship she wasn’t able to attend school every year.  She lives with her single parent mother and older sister, Viviana.  In their spare time they make and sell the traditional Mayan blouses and sashes like you see, but they take a long time to make.  The first time I visited Paulina she didn’t say anything the entire visit.  Just smiled and looked down every time the social worker or translator tried to draw her out.  She is still a quiet girl, but now she laughs and asks questions, and the way she carries herself and expresses things with confidence, is just incredibly gratifying to watch.  She is having a hard time deciding what she wants to focus on in school, which is a bit of a worry for her because she needs to decide after next year.

And finally, this is Edgar.  He is a high energy spark plug.  Edgar is now 13 years old and studying in the 7th grade.  He was probably 40 pounds dripping wet when I first met him and in the last year and half has shot up a foot.  He has passed his mother in height and says his father is next.  He told me if I don’t  come back soon he will be taller than me by the next time.  Edgar has never been shy.  He talks very fast and is laughing and smiling the whole time.  He prides himself in being the top student in his grade and intends to stay there.  His favorite subject is Kaqchikel, the study of the history and language of the Mayan people.  He tells me he’s good at math but doesn’t really like it that much.  Edgar and his family are very active in their Evangelical Church.  He, his dad, his younger brother Erikson, and an uncle play the music in church.  Edgar is the drummer, (of course).  🙂 Before my second visit, he hauled the entire drum set, one piece at a time, from church to his house so he could play for me.  Now you gotta understand, Edgar lives in a town on the side of a mountain.  The walk from Edgar’s house to his school, or his church, is no easy stroll.  It’s very steep and he was little then.  I still get a lump thinking about this little kid schlepping that drum set home for me.  It took him the better part of a day.

These kids make me feel like the future of Guatemala is always getting brighter.  They are a generation of kids who are fortunate to have parents who understand the value of education.  Previous generations placed more value on kids working to contribute to family income.  Family incomes in most third world countries are unable to pay for education.  So they are also a generation of kids who are fortunate to have Common Hope, and thousands of organizations like it throughout the world, who connect willing sponsors with families that want their kids to get an education.

I want to end this post with this bit of news.  The very first young boy I sponsored in Guatemala now works for Common Hope as the Director of Youth Programs.  He is now married and lives in Nueva Esperanza, (New Hope) where I spent most of my time and energy in my early years of coming here.  Just two days ago he became the father of a baby boy.  His name is Henry Benitez.

I am well.  They are well.  And I hope you are too.

I don’t like to just leave “as is” information that I have learned wasn’t exactly correct.  I was under the impression that the entire facility at the headquarters of Hermano Pedro moved.

The original site was home to three distinct parts of the organization.  The move was predicated by the desire to create more room for the hospital and medical clinic, which remains at the pictured site.  The headquarters for social outreach and the care facility were the parts that relocated to a new site.

Hermano Pedro lived in the 1600s and is a beloved person in the history of Guatemala and beyond.  He was born in the Canary Islands and as a boy worked as a shepherd.  In his twenties he traveled first to Cuba, and then to Guatemala, in search of a relative.  He never left Guatemala and is buried on the grounds of the Church of San Francisco in Antigua.  He entered the seminary but was unable to master the studies and didn’t graduate.  After that he joined the Franciscan Brotherhood.  He is credited with starting and developing much of the social work that still continues today.

This morning there was an important event in Antigua.  The hospital  of Hermano Pedro moved.  In this small square, the entrance to the church is on the left, and the main entrance to the hospital and headquarters (Sede) is the door on the right.

I won’t translate this entire banner but basically it is announcing a blessing and procession commemorating the move to a new site for this important center for medical care and social outreach.

Thousands turned out to process with the handicapped, the hospitalized, and the staff of the Sede de Las Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro.