Month: April 2014

Love & Hope Children’s Home recently received a very special gift from our friend Sara: personalized bilingual Bibles. The kids were excited to be given something so personal and so nice. Several of them have taken their Bibles to church already. 

The Bibles are perfect for our bilingual household because they feature side by side scripture in Spanish and English. Moreover, the kids’ names are written on the bottom. Thanks, Sara! 

On a related note, Julio, one of our caregivers for the older boys, will be overseeing the spiritual development of the children in our home. Julio is currently studying the Bible formally and is the perfect fit for this job. He has taken his new role seriously, writing out a work plan and planning a Bible study for the older boys. We’ll share more about Julio’s work as he develops his new role here at Love & Hope. 

The spiritual lives of our children is our top priority at Love & Hope Children’s Home. Raising children up in the Word of God is a task we take very seriously. The financial support of our donors and sponsors allows us the opportunity to care for the Love & Hope kids spiritually, and we thank you for that!

Last year, Love & Hope Children’s Home began introducing our staff via our blog. Today we would like to continue to introduce some of the incredible people we are blessed to have working for us at Love & Hope. Veronica and René have both worked at Love & Hope as caregivers for less than a year, but have earned their keep with their initiative and drive to serve our children.

Veronica started working at Love & Hope Children’s Home ten months ago with the older girls. She is the perfect fit for working with the older girls: a wonderful role model, patient and very organized. Veronica seems to have a talent for speaking softly and steadily, keeping the girls calm and their conversations rational. She says that her favorite thing to do is “to be with my group of girls in the room, everyone on the bed talking about things that they consider important. Sometimes we read, sometimes we just talk, tease each other, listen to music. I give them advice when they finally ask me for it. I enjoy feeling a part of them; I enjoy when they hug me. It makes me happy when they trust me. Sometimes they tell me quietly, ‘I love you.’ I like being with them in the good moments and also in the bad ones.”

It is obvious that Veronica sees her job at Love & Hope Children’s Home as more than a job. She has her own two children and husband at home who surely miss her while she is on shift with us. She says, “Nothing happens by chance but by the will of the Father. He knows that we are capable and he has a purpose for each of us. I am thankful to God for permitting me to come to this home and be able to feel like a part of this big family that is full of love and hope.”

René has worked at Love & Hope Children’s Home since last June. He has been a great addition to our team and a role model for the boys, who adore him. If René thinks something is fun or cool, his boys follow the lead and are more inclined to participate (like learning German and playing math games). The boys are always all over René, jumping on his back, hanging on his shoulder, calling his name and constantly seeking him out to play or joke around.

Upon beginning work at Love & Hope, René says that he noted the familial environment that we try to maintain: familial rather than institutional. When he met the kids, he knew instantly that they were all unique in every aspect. René feels that one of his strongest connections is with Jacobo, because Jacobo reminds him of his own childhood: “For the way that he acts, the way that he treats me, the trust he has offered me. He is a child full of questions. He has won my affection in an incredible way. He is a unique child, like the others, but I feel that we have a great connection.

When asked what he has learned about kids from working in our home, René says: “If I write a list of the things I have learned at the home, it would be very, very long. Their actions can come across as ‘tornadoes’, but they are still children, with their innocence, their sweetness, their purity. The capacity that they have to forgive offenses, seeing things in a different way- it makes me smile and gives me a sense of admiration.”

Love & Hope Children’s Home is blessed to employ (thanks to your donations) such a great team of people as we do our best to meet the needs of our amazing children. Pray for our staff as they work with the Love & Hope kids!

El Salvador holds presidential elections every five years. This February and March, the country returned to the polls to vote in a new leader. Leading up to these months the streets of San Salvador were plastered with campaign material: flags, murals, billboards. People and parades saturated the sidewalks, passing out fliers to drivers, waving their parties’ flags, and sometimes even playing live music. Turning on the television, one saw campaign adds at every commercial break. The election was a hot topic here at Love & Hope Children’s Home as well; the adults in the house discussed the pros and cons of each candidate often, sometimes laughing at the campaign tactics of both parties.

The two main parties in El Salvador are the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). ARENA traditionally takes a conservative stance on political and social issues, while the FMLN aligns to more liberal ideals. For the past five years, El Salvador has been led by a member of the FMLN, President Mauricio Funes.

It is interesting to see the election from the perspective of the Love & Hope kids. Many of the older kids already seem disenchanted by it all, recognizing the manipulation and propaganda that often play a part in politics. The younger children give their opinion eagerly, but without real understanding of the issues. Below is a cute conversation between Kirsten and Jeremiah, who is six-years-old. Keep in mind that the actual word “arena” in Spanish means “sand.”

Kirsten: “Quien va a ganar la elección, Miah?” “Who is going to win the election, Miah?”

Jeremiah: “ARENA! ARENA! ARENA!” (He succeeded in getting many of the kids to start chanting.)

Kirsten: “Porque te gusta a ARENA?” “Why do you like ARENA?”

Jeremiah: “Porque hay mucha tierra!” “Because there is a lot of dirt!”

The two main candidates in this election, Norman Quijano (ARENA) and Salvador Sánchez Cerén (FMLN), could not have divided the country more. Because neither candidate won the February preliminary by more than 50% of the vote (11% of the vote went to a third party candidate and former president, Tony Saca), a second vote was taken on Sunday, March 9th. After much stipulation, a recount, and cries of foul-play from ARENA, the candidate from FMLN, Salvador Sanchez Cerén was declared the winner.

Cerén won the election by only 6364 individual votes.

El Salvador is a beautiful country, but also a country plagued by some serious problems. Gangs, violence, drugs, poverty and their related consequences to family structure, health and education are all issues that the new president will have to face head-on. Please pray for unity in the country of El Salvador and wisdom for its new president, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, as he takes office.

Source of photographs: http://elecciones2014.elsalvador.com/ and http://www.salvadoryoscar.com/.