Month: June 2013

Every Thursday morning, the staff at Love & Hope Children’s Home gathers for a staff meeting and training. The meetings have proven to be beneficial for communication between the leadership staff and caregivers. We start  with a devotion led by one of the staff, move on to a meeting with Gloria (our social worker), and then Jessica (our psychologist) gives a childcare training. The trainings provided by Jessica have helped our staff improve their methods of childcare and behavior management. Two of the most recent things we did at our Thursday morning meetings were first aid training and training in the LEPINA Law.

A few weeks ago, a fire inspector came to give the staff a training in primero auxilio, or first aid. We learned a lot about how to best help our children in the event of an accident that would require first aid or CPR. While first aid is obviously a very serious topic, we also managed to have some fun learning together (as we usually do). Asking for volunteers to help demonstrate first aid techniques always makes things more interesting! We are grateful to have had the opportunity to learn first aid, but hopefully we won’t be required to use it anytime soon.

Over the last few months, our staff has also been learning the parameters of la Ley de Protección de la Niñez y Adolescencia (LEPINA), or the Children and Adolescent Protection Law. LEPINA is a law that has affected Love & Hope Children’s Home in many ways. The rights it lays out for children and adolescents are consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our social worker facilitated this training by having all of the caregivers summarize a part of the law and present it during our meeting every week. Last week, our study of LEPINA culminated with a test. Now it was the staff’s turn to be in the test-taking hot seat!

Our staff is constantly trying to get better and improve in order to serve the Love & Hope kids to the best of our ability. Please pray for us as we learn the best ways to care for these incredible children!

Many of our children at Love & Hope have been participating in intramural sports at school. And by sports, we of course mean soccer.

At Luz de Israel, most of the younger students have had a Friday free of classes and full of soccer matches between the different classes. Each class wore a different color shirt and held a snack venta, or sale, for their classmates to enjoy during the games. Herberth’s class even did a dance to open up the event! Before beginning the games, the national anthem of El Salvador was played.

All of the Love & Hope kids involved were excited to compete for their class and played with intensity. It was entertaining to watch the kids and their classmates join together and revel in the glory of winning against another class section, just like the pros!

At CEFAS, Esau and Jacobo have been participating for a few weeks in intramural soccer matches for their respective fifth grade classes. Between fifth and sixth grade, there are four sections and they all compete against each other. In some cases it has been fifth grade against sixth grade. In other matches the two sections of fifth grade play against each other, which means it is one twin pitted against the other! Esau and Jacobo don’t seem to mind though, they are both great winners and know how to lose with grace. Last week, Esau scored nine goals in one match!

Attending and watching intramurals has been a great way for us to see how the Love & Hope kids interact with their peers in a school environment. We are so used to seeing them here at home, relating to other children who are like their brothers and sisters. It is encouraging to see them running around with their friends, sharing snacks and interacting with teachers. We already knew that the Love & Hope kids were wonderful; it is awesome that others see that in them too!

If you follow our blog, you know that a good number of the children from Love & Hope Children’s Home play soccer. At 13, Michell is the oldest of our children who plays for the local Los Planes de Renderos team. She is the only girl in her age group to represent Los Planes, but she holds her own and is seen by the others as a leader. Michell has found her passion in fútbol. One day after school she expressed her anticipation for practice that afternoon, “I just want to play soccer!”

About three months ago, Michell was asked to play on another soccer team in San Salvador. She was practicing four days a week and playing on two different teams, still the only girl participant. We here at Love & Hope Children’s Home knew she was talented, but maybe didn’t realize the extent of her soccer skills. What happened next was a wake-up call.

At the end of April, someone approached us at Michell’s soccer practice about an all girls soccer team. Upon investigating further, we realized that Michell had been asked to try out for the Salvadoran national team for girls 17 and under! Obviously, Michell was excited, and so were we! The more we found out, the more impressed we were at the Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol (FESFUT), and that Michell was able to garner this kind of attention. She had a chance to be part of La Selecta!

At the beginning of May, Michell participated in a week of try-outs and was asked to return for the next few weeks to live and train with the team. She lived at FESFUT, practiced a couple times a day and made a lot of new friends. Michell came home on the weekends during the month of May exhausted and noticeably more muscular and toned. Michell even had to follow a strict diet, limiting her fat and sugar intake while at home. Since she wasn’t attending school, Michell spent most of the weekend catching up on school work. Somewhere in there, she tried to get some rest. Yet, she was loving it! It was all in the name of fútbol.

At the end of May, Michell came home and at the moment is no longer practicing with the team, but this certainly isn’t the end. Michell is in high spirits about it, knowing that in the coming years she will have more opportunities. Michell was one of the youngest girls to participate in try-outs and we couldn’t be more proud of her! We are so excited to see the opportunities that Michell will have in pursuing her passion. Please pray for Michell as she continues to make her mark on the Salvadoran soccer scene. Please also pray for our other children – that they would also discover their passion and use it to glorify God!

Go Michi! You are awesome, chica! Estamos muy orgullosos de ti. We are so proud of you.

About two years ago, a teaching position at the British School brought our friends Rob and Sarah to El Salvador from England. Shortly after, we met them at the Union Church of San Salvador. They seemed excited at the prospect of becoming involved at Love & Hope Children’s Home and we were too! They quickly offered or were willing to do more and more for us and we love having them around.

In a couple weeks, Rob and Sarah are moving back to England to be closer to their friends and family “across the pond.” Love & Hope has been so very blessed by their relationship, presence and the love they have for our kids. Here are some of the fun things we got to do with them over the last year.

They came and hung out with us during our ¡CINCOKILOMETRO! 5k run last October.

Rob and Sarah dressed up as Father Christmas and an elf on Christmas eve. They hid on the roof and then came down the stairs to surprise everyone with new pajamas! They even slept over and spent Christmas morning at Love & Hope.

As a math teacher, Rob has been tutoring Jocelyn in math and statistics once a week for the last six months. We are so grateful for his help and equally proud of Jocelyn, who is earning higher grades than ever in math (or as the Brits would say, “maths”)! It has also been great to see the special relationship that Jocelyn has formed with Rob and Sarah as she spends time at their house every week. She is pretty sad they are leaving El Salvador (but also has a new interest in visiting England one day).

A couple weeks ago during a “career night” Sarah took time to share with all of the Love & Hope kids about her profession, midwifery. She kept the kids very engaged and everyone learned something new about caring for pregnant women and delivering babies.

Every Sunday after church, Rob and Sarah, along with two new friends that they introduced us to, James and Manjit, take a few of the kids on an outing or to their house to have some fun. Every week was different. The older girls went bowling, others ate pupusas (and read the newspaper- see below), Rob and Sarah shared their Wii, and there was even some homemade pizza making involved! We loved that our kids got to spend time with them every weekend.

As a way to say goodbye, Rob and Sarah took us all to the beach last weekend. It was a wonderful time playing in the ocean and the pool, enjoying a meal together, and spending time with this awesome couple.

Thank you Rob and Sarah for spending so much time with us over the last year. The relational way in which you have blessed us is irreplaceable and we will miss you so much! ¡Buen viaje y que Dios les bendiga! Have a good trip and God bless you!