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When the Love & Hope kids come home from school at 2:00 p.m., they settle down in the kitchen to eat lunch, then eventually make their way into their rooms to change out of their uniforms. By 2:30, everyone is expected to be outside of their rooms, ready to do homework.

In addition to homework, we maintain a tutoring schedule that starts at 2:30 p.m. every afternoon. Kirsten, our educator, is in charge of planning this time for the kids. Every child gets between 1/2 hour and two hours every week to spend individually with Kirsten, working in areas of academic weakness. Tutoring takes place in our play/therapy/tutoring room. This room has been set aside specifically as a place where the kids can work quietly and individually on academics or talk privately with Jessica, our psychologist.

With the help of a few teams last year and this year, our tutoring room has become a very welcoming and fun area. There are a lot of books, special toys, educational materials, board games and two computers available for the kids to use for homework or play. Because this room is separated from the main house, it usually remains a quiet and calm area. One volunteer even created a chalkboard wall, a beautiful mural based on Salvadoran art, and a word search that includes everyone’s name!

Some are more enthusiastic about tutoring time than others. The little boys, for example, are always eager and excited to trabajar, or work, in the tutoring room. It has become an everyday after school ritual for Tonio and Chamba to ask Kirsten, “¿Hoy me toca trabajar contigo?” “Is today my turn to work with you?” Irene and Moises are also enthusiastic studiers in this context; they love to read and play math games. A few of the others take a little more coaxing and encouragement to get them downstairs and ready to learn.

The kids work on different things during their tutoring time. To separate it from homework and motivate the kids, they do very little work on paper. Instead, they play math and English games, use the computer to make study guides on Quizlet, manipulate magnetic letters to practice the alphabet and make words, answer writing prompts, read novels and poetry, reverse roles to reteach concepts to Kirsten on the white board, use beads to make patterns, etc. In the case of a few kids, not much educational support is necessary as they are already performing so wonderfully in school. With Brenda, for example, we have encouraged her to use her time to start learning something new: French!

The frequency of this intensive, purposefully educational time with the kids is new for us at Love & Hope Children’s Home. We are eager to see what the results and benefits will be. We hope to see an improvement in grades, and would also like to use this time to teach better study habits, increase English fluency, learn keyboard typing, and foster career exploration. But more than that, we realize the importance of the extra and individual attention the kids are receiving during their tutoring time. Living with 20 other children can be difficult sometimes, so we hope that the kids are enjoying the little oasis of quiet and attention that can be found when studying, playing or just hanging out to use the computers downstairs.

It is always fun and refreshing for us to see El Salvador through a visitor’s eyes. We who live here full time forget the romantic perspective with which we originally took it all in: the food, the language, the color, the natural phenomena, the landscape.

Today’s blog is written by Calvin, a visitor and cousin to Kirsten, one of our staff members. Calvin, his father Jody, and their friend Erich visited Love & Hope Children’s Home in July. The three of them accomplished a lot while they were in El Salvador, formed great relationships, found some time for adventure, and enjoyed some of El Salvador’s best pupusas.

I really enjoyed visiting Love & Hope! Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I did not know what to expect of the trip and how the kids would react to me. I have to say, my favorite part was playing with the kids and helping them with their homework. It was very fun to hangout and play with the kids. I found it to be a difficult challenge to talk with them in Spanish, but since they were able to speak some English and I could speak some Spanish, it made it easier to get over the language barrier. All of the staff at Love & Hope are very nice. I admire what they are doing there! They are making a difference in the lives of these children every day. My hope was that I would make a difference on a much smaller scale. I enjoyed meeting other missionaries like Madelyn and Brandon. I would love to do it again! I wanted to share some of my key memories.

On the first day I arrived, I was sort of worried about meeting the kids, but right away Esau picked up a soccer ball and started passing with me. That was when I knew this was going to be a fun trip! The next day we started getting into the school routine. The kids woke up at 4:00 in the morning to get ready for school, ate breakfast and left. I woke up later, because I was exhausted from the plane ride the day before. When I woke up we had leftovers from the kid’s breakfast which consisted of milk, sugar, and rice. It was delicious! The school routine each day allowed us to work on the project during the day, and then when the kids arrived home from school, we could help them with their homework. Being with the kids each day was the best part! I worked mainly with Herberth and he worked hard. The kids were very friendly and enjoyed talking and spending time with us and all of the other missionaries. Most of the children were very open to allowing us to help them with homework and play with them.

The second day, we began our project for Love & Hope which turned out to be very rewarding! We refinished three tables and built 24 cubbies for the children. What I did not expect was how hard it was going to be to purchase our supplies! But, we did it and did not have to go back to the store many times. The language barrier made it difficult to purchase our supplies, but with the help of other customers, we were able to get through the language barrier. My friend Erich, my dad and I worked very hard every day on this project while the kids were at school. At the end of the week, we hung the cubbies in each of the kids’ rooms. It was so rewarding to see how excited the kids were with their own cubby! Some of the kids decorated them and put their names on them. I knew when I was coming to Love & Hope that I was going to do this project and it turned out to be so much fun and rewarding and I know I made a difference for the kids!

Another highlight for me was the earthquake! This was the first earthquake I have ever experienced. It was a 5.9 earthquake and we felt it at about 9pm at night. It made it even more exciting because the kids were excited. We had just gotten them down to sleep when the earthquake happened. Thank God nothing bad happened and we just got to experience the quake and tremble! I will never forget this brief moment in time during my stay at Love & Hope!

We also got to enjoy many other parts of El Salvador like hiking a volcano, surfing at a really cool beach with big waves, shopping in the market place, going out to dinner, hiking La Puerta del Diablo, running into the fat bunny at 2:00am on the way to the bathroom and playing Banana Grams in the evening! So many great memories but the best will always be the kids and the staff and what they are doing there each day to help them! Thank you again for what you are doing there and letting me be a part of the lives of the kids there. I really would love to come back again some day!

Thank you for visiting, Jody, Cal and Erich. The refinished tables and new cubbies have been such a blessing already. We had a blast getting to know you and look forward to seeing you in the future!

If this blog made you want to experience El Salvador for yourself, visit our website for more information about visiting Love & Hope Children’s Home individually or with a team.

August 1st is always a joyous day for Salvadoran children, as it marks a week of vacation from school! We tried to keep the Love & Hope kids entertained for the week planning a variety of activities like going to the park, seeing a movie and had a day at the beach. We also did something quite original and off the beaten path: we visited an indigo hacienda that dates back to the late 1500’s.

Most of us who visited Indigo Hacienda San Juan Buena Vista were unfamiliar with indigo and its history in El Salvador. The indigo plant, or añil in Spanish, is grown in El Salvador and other countries with a similar climate, which form an indigo-growing belt around the world. It grows into a small bush, the leaves being the part of the plant that bare the blue color it is famous for. Indigo used to be one of El Salvador’s biggest exports until a synthetic dye entered the market in the late 1800’s. When authentic indigo lost its appeal, coffee took over as El Salvador’s major export.

Grace, the owner of San Juan Buena Vista and our tour guide, took us through the whole process of harvesting indigo and extracting the brilliant blue color that is hidden inside its leaves. On our way to see the indigo plants we enjoyed taking a look at the farm’s donkeys, cows and a giant ceiba tree. 

Grace led us to a pavilion where she taught us about the indigo plant and then had us guess which plant it was. She encouraged everyone to pick a few leaves and showed us how to extract some of the color. We hammered indigo leaves into fabric to see the jade green stain it displays before being processed. Some of us were excited about the pretty design and others were excited about the hammers.

Next, Grace showed us two gigantic cement tubs that hold what she described as an indigo “tea.” Once the leaves are harvested, they are mixed into one of the tubs with water. After “steeping” for a while, the brightly colored “tea” is drained into a separate tub where a fine, deep blue power can be collected from the bottom.

After a short hike around the farm, which featured distant views of the San Salvador Volcano in one direction and the Pacific Ocean in the other (hence the name of the farm – Buena Vista), Grace led us into the dyeing room.

The walls of the dyeing room held beautiful examples of indigo-dyed fabric as well as all the supplies we needed to make our own t-shirts. The most important elements in the the room though, were five vats brimming with dark blue water. When asked how much dye was put into each vat, Grace said she didn’t know. Every time a group visits, she adds more dye and more water; she has been doing this for 10 years!

After learning a few techniques for tie-dyeing, we put our marbles and rubber bands to work. Once the design was set on each shirt, everyone had to soak their shirt for one minute. While the water appears blue, the shirts came out of the vats looking jade green. The green only needs a little oxygen to turn blue, so after one minute soaking in dye, the shirt had to spend one minute in the open air. We repeated this process at least six times, depending on the hue of blue we wanted: one minute in, one minute out. 

When the color was right, we allowed the shirts to dry off a bit in the sun. Finally we took the rubber bands off, and had some great, very blue designs to show off. Opening every shirt was a surprise, but everyone seemed happy with the end result.  

Visiting San Juan Buena Vista and learning about such a rich part of El Salvador’s history was a wonderful opportunity for our children, thanks to the generous donation of a visitor. Living so close to San Salvador makes trips to the campo (country) even better. The quiet, the animals, the indigo, the trees and the great view all combined to make it a memorable and fun day!

In Spanish, when one adds “cito” or “ito” to the end of a word or name, it indicates that the thing, animal or person is small. For example, a baby cat, or gato, is a gatito. A small cup of coffee, or café, is a cafecito.

From the time little Kevin entered the gate of Love & Hope Children’s Home, until he was adopted last March, we called him Kevincito. This was partly to distinguish him from big Kevin (one of our older boys), but adding that “cito” ending also described Kevincito’s obvious physical state: he was  small – really small.

Not anymore. If we are going to continue calling him Kevincito, it will only be for sentimental reasons. Since moving to Ohio, Kevin has gained over 12 pounds and grown an inch. Dan and Christine, his adoptive parents, periodically post pictures of him on Facebook. When we show these photos to our children and caregivers, their reaction is always the same: wide eyes, disbelief, and then an animated, “¡Kevin! ¡Que gordito!” or “How chubby!”

Besides reaching a healthier weight, Kevin is strong, rolling over, very active, and prefers to sit up rather than lie down. He loves to play with his adapted toys and gets more interactive everyday; Christine says that “he is the happiest and silliest boy we know.” Kevin is learning to bear weight through his legs and arms and will be getting new camouflage colored ankle foot orthotics (AFO’s) soon. He says the word “Go!” when he is excited and mimics talking on the phone.

Kevin just finished his first adapted baseball season and has two trophies to show for it. He also participates in a boy scout pack for children with special needs. This fall Kevin is going to start school!

According to Christine, “Overall, we say that he is an entirely different child than who we thought we were adopting…in a good way!” Our Love & Hope family is in awe about how far Kevin has come in the short time he has been in Ohio. Please pray with us for his continued improvement and health, especially as he is scheduled for a surgical feeding tube in September.

We love and miss you, Kevincito!

Just down the road from Love & Hope is Hospital Saldañas. It’s a place we’ve had occasion to visit from time to time when someone falls off their bike and needs stitches or has a stomach bug that just won’t quit. Like all public hospitals in El Salvador, the medical care is free, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. The doctors are kind and helpful, but the hospital itself is old, and the lack on investment in the facility shows. The emergency room is dirty and warn, and the bathrooms are dark and wet. Since Saldañas is our nearest emergency care center, we decided to do what we could to make it a better place. Not only for ourselves, but also for our community.

In March, a team from Ohio Wesleyan University worked on the emergency and examination rooms. They cleaned and painted from 6 to midnight all while patients were coming in and out for critical care. The change was dramatic, and the staff was excited about how clean and bright everything looked. They said it, “Looked like Heaven.”

This June, we enlisted our Summer Team to tackle an even bigger project: the bathrooms. Of all the tasks we’ve asked a team to tackle, cleaning and rehabbing the emergency room bathrooms in a public hospital (while in service) is perhaps the least appealing. They were undeterred, and dove in head first! The results were remarkable.

This is what the bathrooms looked like before our team got started.

We began with a good cleaning from top to bottom.

The old toilets had to go.

Next we put down a new tile floor, and also tiled up the walls in the toilet stalls and shower room.

Finally, we put in new toilets, a mirror, and a shower head.

Finally, a few finishing touches.

The hospital staff was excited by the transformation and grateful for all the hard work done by our team. We know their efforts will benefit the thousands of patients who visit Saldañas for years to come.

We’ve told you about several of our caregivers in the last few weeks, and now we would like to introduce you to some of our leadership team. First up are Yanira and Mandy (who also happen to be best buddies).

Yanira has worked at Love & Hope Children’s Home for a little over a year as our Director of Administration. We were blessed to find Yanira through her husband, a friend and former employee of the home. Yanira is affectionately referred as “tia” by the kids, just like our other staff members. Yanira essentially keeps Love & Hope running from a logistical standpoint. Her responsibilities are numerous and varied. As the person in charge of our cook, guards and drivers, Yanira coordinates the menu and shopping at the produce market and arranges the driving schedule – a daunting job when you consider the fact that we have 20 children in three different schools, numerous activities, sporadic medical appointments, church activities, and only three vehicles to get everyone where they need to be. She also takes care of the accounting that allows for pay-roll, grocery shopping, school tuition payments, visiting team work projects, water and bread deliveries, stops at the gas station, vehicle tune-ups, and house maintenance. Yanira keeps track of how every ministry dollar is spent and makes sure that donated money is always allotted to the correct account. Yanira is a jem! Her ability to keep Love & Hope running so efficiently, and even do more than asked, never ceases to amaze us.

Besides her organizational talents, we have taken joy in discovering Yanira’s beautiful personality. She prefers to leave the office door open, allowing the children to wander in and out. Even though her job here wouldn’t be considered “childcare,” Yanira takes the time to build into the lives of our children, be patient with them, and show them that they are special. Yanira says that her favorite thing to do with the children is to help them in what she can and answer their questions about her job here as they filter in and out of the office. She sure is good at it!

Yanira says that Proverbs 11:25 encourages her to serve here: “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”

Mandy first visited Love & Hope Children’s Home in 2009 and then spent a year here in 2010-2011. In July 2012, Mandy decided to move to El Salvador, committing to Love & Hope for an indefinite amount of time. When she first became involved with our ministry, Mandy remembers thinking, “How will I remember everyone’s names?” Now she can easily rattle off the ages, likes, dislikes, favorite foods, nicknames and shoe sizes of every single child!

Mandy is a jack of all trades here at the home. As Yanira’s assistant, she handles some of the accounting responsibilities. Mandy also coordinates all monetary and material donations from the United States. She is the first point of contact for people that want to visit Love & Hope, for teams and for people who just want more information about the ministry. While visitors are in El Salvador, Mandy is in charge of making sure they feel comfortable and know how and where to help.

It is obvious though, that Mandy takes the greatest joy in being with the kids. She says spending time with the kids one-on-one is her favorite thing to do. Being the creative person she is, Mandy is always willing to lend a helping hand when the kids bring home special school projects or posters for homework. We are blessed that Mandy actually managed a salon before moving to El Salvador and accordingly, cuts almost every person’s hair in the entire house, including the adults! She jumps at the opportunity to spend time with the girls by flat-ironing their hair and painting their nails. Mandy is also in charge of our bodega, or storage room, keeping it clean and organized, using the clothes and shoes inside to keep our children looking presentable and stylish.

Mandy specializes in fun at this house, organizing activities and outings, planning birthday parties, hosting a weekly BINGO game, and celebrating any and every holiday possible. You can be sure that any party or celebration featured on this blog was the handiwork of Mandy. She has a knack for keeping the kids entertained! Despite this long list of tasks, Mandy says that the hardest part of her job is not having enough hours in the day to balance work time and kid time. She is a servant through and through!

Mandy’s positive nature and patience has earned the respect and trust of our children, especially the older girls. She shares a special bond with them, being a support and role-model for them that is so important during adolescence. We are so glad that Mandy found her calling here in El Salvador, and Mandy says that she has never been happier:

Since serving at Love & Hope, I have learned the true meaning of love. I have learned how to love on a different level. I have learned to love these children like they are my own.  I have learned to love a country that is not my own. I have learned to love people in a new way. Being here has taught me to appreciate life and things, and to realize what is really important. It has taught me to find excitement in even the smallest things and to appreciate and be thankful for everyday that we have.

When asked what scripture inspires her to keep serving here at Love & Hope, Mandy explained that Ruth 1:16 encourages her to keep running toward God’s plan: “For where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

Yanira and Mandy are a great office team for Love & Hope and we are so blessed to have them!

A couple posts ago, we introduced two of our employees with the most longevity, Ana and Larixa. Today we would like to tell you about our caregivers Yessenia and Julio. Yessenia has been a fixture at Love & Hope for many years. Julio joined us in the last two years to work specifically with the older boys.

Yessenia came to us thanks to her cousin who was working at Love & Hope a number of years ago. She still remembers getting to know our children (very small at the time) on her first day of work. Yessenia says the biggest blessing in working at Love & Hope has been learning to work with the individual and beautiful personalities and qualities that each child holds. Yessenia says that she sees her work at Love & Hope as more than work. This was her first job and she believes that God brought her here!

Tia Yessenia currently works with the little boys: four little guys who are between the ages of five and eight. Of all the groups of children at Love & Hope, this might be the bunch that requires the most patience. Yessenia approaches her time with Antonio, Salvador, Herberth and Eliseo with gentleness and grace. The little boys look up to her as a motherly figure, someone who will nurture and discipline them. We couldn’t think of anyone better to be taking care of our little rascals!

Julio has been working at Love & Hope for almost two years. Bringing male caregivers into the work rotation was a big decision here, but also a great one. We have seen positive change in the behavior of our older boys thanks to the presence of male role models like Julio. Julio remembers being nervous on his first day of work at Love & Hope. He says that he wondered things like, “Will they like me?” “Will I have a connection with them?” and “Am I the person that God wants for them?” Julio also says he was unsure of how to parent at first, but God has given the wisdom to help guide “his boys”, as he calls them.

When asked if he had a special connection with any of the children, this was Julio’s response (translated):

A very hard question…All of them are very special to me, they are in my heart and every one of them has a special connection with me. Every time that they have a question, problem, etc., I will always be there for what they want. I think that in those moments only God gives me the wisdom to respond well. Jacobo, Esau, Jefferson, Ezequiel, Moises: each one is different and I have tried to be there or share their different levels and challenges. I think I will always be there until God moves me from this place (Love and Hope).

We’re hoping that’s no time soon, Tio Julio! Having Godly male role models around for our children is not just a blessing, it is indispensable. The kids flock to Julio and our other male staff to play, talk and spend time together. We are glad to have father figures around that reflect the love of our Heavenly Father.

Yessenia and Julio are so important in this place! We are able to continue paying the salaries of these amazing individuals thanks to our sponsors and donors. Love & Hope is grateful for those that currently support our ministry and we invite those who would like to get involved to learn more about sponsorship and donations by clicking here.

Here at Love & Hope, we take advantage of any opportunity to celebrate a holiday. Even though the Fourth of July is not celebrated here in El Salvador, we were not stopped from having a little fun. El Salvador and the United States have a very strong relationship; rightly so when you consider that more than one-fourth of Salvadorans actually live in “los Estados” (the states). El Salvador even uses the American dollar as currency. Celebrating the Fourth of July may have been a little obscure here, but with almost everyone we know having a relative in los Estados (not to mention our American volunteers), it seemed appropriate. We had a great Independence Day at Love and Hope! It was filled with red, white, and blue food, decorations, and activities.

On the night before, we gave the kids and caregivers a blank flag to color and told them that whoever can most accurately depict the flag will win a prize. Everyone knew the flag consisted of the colors red, white, and blue, but we ended up with a variety of versions. Two of our older girls recreated the flag with 100% accuracy and even added extras to their flags to make them better. Raquel went outside and found a stick to use as a flag pole, and Michell cut out 50 individual stars to put on her flag.

During the day, we enjoyed many Independence Day themed snacks including red and blue star shaped sandwiches, an American flag made out of fruit and marshmallows, and Jello flags.

The older kids were also given a trivia quiz about the United States to complete. This task also tested the knowledge of the Americans in the house when the kids came running up asking for help. The kids ended up doing really well on the quiz, with some even proving they knew more about the United States than the Americans. The winner was Brenda, who not only answered all of the questions correctly, but included additional information with many of the questions. One question asked, “How many presidents have died on July 4^th?” The only thing she needed to do was circle the correct answer, but instead she included the names and years that they died (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in 1826, and James Monroe in 1831). Another question was, “What country first used fireworks to fend off evil spirits?” Ezequiel quickly yelled out “California!”

Feliz Cumpleanos, America! We hope all of you enjoyed celebrating the with family and friends as much as we did.

Love & Hope Children’s Home has been blessed with a great staff made up of Salvadorans and Americans. We would like to introduce you to a couple of them.

The children at Love & Hope are divided into four groups by age and gender (little girls, little boys, older girls, older boys). Each group has their respective caregivers who switch on and off every 48 hours. The girls are lucky to have two of our staff members with the most longevity: Ana and Larixa. They have both worked with almost all of the kids and have watched many of our children grow from the time they were very young.

When Ana first started working at Love & Hope, she was with the boys. Eventually she changed groups and rooms to work with the girls. Ana says that the best part of the job is loving the children unconditionally; and that she does. Ana is able to balance being fun, strict and trustworthy all in one shot. It is easy to see that Ana considers being a caregiver as more than a job; she says the caregivers put feeling and effort into their work.

Larixa remembers her first day at Love & Hope: all of the babies asked for a bottle at the same time! She thought she was just filling in as a caregiver for 15 days. Little did Larixa know that more than five years later she would still be serving here. Larixa views working here as more than a job. She says that the children are part of her life and Love & Hope is her second home. To Larixa, the greatest blessing she has experienced here is learning from the children and them from her. She loves being able to share part of herself with the Love & Hope kids! Larixa shared a huge part of herself with Kevincito in the couple years before he was adopted. As one of his primary caregivers, it was at the same time difficult and joyous to see him go!

As with all of our caregivers, the children refer to Ana and Larixa as tia, or aunt. Sometimes they use tia only, sometimes with their name attached (¡TIA LARIXA!), and sometimes with some other term of endearment or nickname (Ana is often called “Tia Canu” by the kids). However they are called, the kids trust and respect Ana and Larixa immensely. Ana is somehow able to balance being one of the most fun tias and also a great disciplinarian. The Love & Hope kids know that they need to listen to Ana the first time. She keeps a certain order in this house! Larixa on the other hand is quiet and steady, a wonderful nurturer. She shares a special relationship with the little boys, as she worked with them from infancy. Larixa and Eliseo are adorable to watch together. She says that remembers Eliseo’s first steps and words very well; he is like a son to her.

As the tia of the little girls, Larixa has her hands full. There are four chiquitas, or little girls, all 9 and 10 years old. They are beautiful, smart young ladies with caring hearts, fun personalities and unique talents. But, put them all in the same room, and the sass and silliness is palpable. They love to play dolls, dance, sing, play house and pretend they are famous. Larixa takes it all in stride while also managing to motivate the girls to do homework, hand wash their clothes and complete chores.

Ana just recently moved from the little girls room to the older girls room. She is the perfect match for the five older girls, who are between the ages of 12 and 17. The older girls are growing to wonderful young women who love God and have big dreams. Ana has always been a great role model and mentor for them, and now as their tia (once again), she will be able to walk alongside them and continue to help them grow. While the girls don’t always appreciate Ana’s high standards and adherence to the rules, they certainly trust her. They’ve all been through a lot together.

Superwoman takes on a new meaning when you consider these two women. Love & Hope is so grateful to have people like Ana and Larixa on our staff. It means even more that they have dedicated so much of their lives to Love & Hope Children’s Home. We are confident that Ana and Larixa truly love the children and see this as more than a job.

In our next “Our Incredible Staff” post, we will introduce you two more of our awesome caregivers.

It’s team season here in El Salvador, and Love & Hope Children’s Home recently welcomed Golden Acres Baptist Church for a day. Golden Acres became involved via Operation Blessing and has visited us for several years now, completing projects such as a water collection system, a rooftop garden and a chicken coop. They also, of course, have taken time to play with and get to know our children! Several of the team members have begun sponsoring or donated to Love & Hope as a result of their visit. We look forward to seeing the Golden Acres team every year and always feel so blessed by their work!

This year, the Golden Acres team purchased and assembled new bunk beds for some of the kids’ rooms (we’ve completely grown out of the small-size bunk beds!). They also bought Love & Hope $400 worth of groceries. They topped off their visit with an ice cream party! Everyone had a great time interacting, playing and getting to know one another.

As always, thank you for your hard work and generosity, Golden Acres. We appreciate it so much!