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Today’s post features a guest writer: our very own Brenda! Brenda agreed to write about her experiences at a new school.

Throughout my whole life, I have always liked new challenges, opportunities and experiences. Since kindergarten I had studied at one school, a very good school which helped me in the development of my English, studies, and my relationship with God. Last year I started to think about my future and my goals. That made me ask myself, “Was I really being challenged? Do I really want to keep studying at the same school? Do I want something new, more challenging and difficult?”

Last year I started talking about how I wanted to change schools. I kept insisting about it, until one day Mommy surprised me and told me I had an interview at the Panamerican School. A couple of days later, I had the interview and it went well! They showed me the school campus, which I really liked, and told me that almost all of my subjects would be in English. One week later Mommy got a call from the school telling her that I had been accepted to the school with a scholarship, and that I needed to take the Iowa Test. On December 3^rd I started to go to school.

The Panamerican School was a new school for me and for the home. Its system is different from the one that I always had, activities are different from what I was used to, and the best is that it has all the things I really want from a school: its classes are more challenging, the projects are so hard, and I have good teachers and good friends.

The Panamerican School has given me and will keep giving me many opportunities. For example, I have already gone to a photography workshop and one of my photos was in art festival (see Brenda’s photo below). I met kids from Mexico who were at the school because of the annual exchange. I got the opportunity to be in the “Mathcounts” last year and this year too, and I got into the school newsletter writing short stories. In the future my education at the Panamerican School will give me the opportunity to study abroad and go to university. If I become part of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), it will help me to get a good recommendation for a university and I will get the chance to help others.

I want to thank God for this big opportunity that he has given me. And I want to say thanks to all the sponsors that have supported me, but not only me, all of the children. Your support really helps us through different situations. As I have gotten this new opportunity, thanks to God, the other kids will have similar opportunities. Your support makes a difference in every child of the home.

We couldn’t be prouder of Brenda’s academic effort and motivation. She is becoming quite an intellectual and God-fearing young lady. Her life is a huge example of the difference that our sponsors and donors are making in the lives of all of our children. Thank you!

Anna Zimmerman, a recent visitor to Love & Hope Children’s Home, only spent a week in El Salvador but managed to capture a lot of its beauty through the lens of her camera. Today, we wanted to show off our stunning country.

Did you know El Salvador is known for good surfing? Playa El Tunco is one of the closest beaches to Love & Hope and a destination for surfers from around the world.

Close to El Tunco is El Puerto de La Libertad. The port boasts an impressive fish market right on the pier.

Many who visited our old house in Los Planes de Renderos are familiar with La Puerta del Diablo. La Puerta is located at the top of Cerro el Chulo. From the “peak” one can see the ocean in one direction and San Salvador in another.

The city center of San Salvador, Centro, can be a little intimidating and chaotic. But step inside the national cathedral or Iglesia el Rosario, and find tranquility and beauty.

San Salvador’s greatest landmark is the Quezaltepec Volcano; it looms over the entire city. The top of the volcano is a national park with hiking trails, fresh air, and a great view of “El Boqueron,” the huge crater inside the volcano.

Love & Hope Children’s Home has gradually been building a relationship with a community in Salvador. The people there are wonderful: welcoming, engaging, united.

Thanks for a great visit and great photos, Anna! To see more of Anna’s photography, visit her blog at annaezimmerman.com/blog.

Love & Hope Children’s Home has already been blessed with visits from three teams this spring and we look forward to a couple more in the coming months.

At the beginning of March, Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) sent a spring break team for the 9th year in a row! The students and faculty from OWU are always dynamic, fun and motivated, accomplishing a lot in just one week. This year was no different. The OWU team’s main project was at the Escuela de Educacion Especial de Santa Tecla (School for Special Education of Santa Tecla).  The team cleaned and painted an entire building, put in two new basketball hoops and did minor maintenance projects on the school grounds. They worked very hard to finish the job and the school was very grateful!

The members of the OWU team were also great about playing with and getting to know the Love & Hope kids. Almost every afternoon and evening, several of the team members gathered the kids in a circle to play a dancing game. A few of the kids still randomly start singing the rhyme (in English) that went along with the game: “Little Sally Walker walkin’ down the street…” Thanks OWU for another great week!

In mid-April, a group of girls from Maryvale Preparatory School in Maryland visited Love & Hope Children’s Home for Holy Week. This was Maryvale’s first time in El Salvador, and their timing was perfect. The Love & Hope kids have Holy Week off from school, so the Maryvale girls did a great job of keeping everyone busy and entertained. They planned games, a talent show, water fights and other activities for the kids all week. 

Maryvale also planned and executed a two day vacation Bible school for the children of a nearby community. Some of Love & Hope’s older girls helped translate and lead games. Afterward, the team served lunch to their new friends at the community. We can’t wait to see you again next year, Maryvale!

A group from Agape Christian Academy visited Love & Hope at the end of April. Our children were looking forward to this team, having met many of the members last year and communicating with them via letters (pen pals) and Facebook ever since. Agape planned a mini vacation Bible school for our children in the evenings. They did Bible lessons, a craft and a puppet show. They also reached out to a nearby community with a lesson and a meal. Agape finished off their week in El Salvador with a pizza party for everyone! Thanks for another great visit, Agape!

  Thank you to OWU, Maryvale and Agape for sharing your students with us this spring. We had a blast!

When the Love & Hope kids think something is cool, they can’t get enough. If you are reading our blog stateside, then you are sure to know what rubber-band bracelets are. Tiny, colorful rubber-bands turn into cute, stretchy bracelets when woven through your fingers or on a specially-made loom. Love & Hope Children’s Home was introduced to this fad a few months ago, and the kids love sitting together to make the bracelets.

Eliseo, our youngest, has also been enthusiastic about making rubber-band bracelets. A couple weeks ago, after making about six bracelets for himself, an idea dawned on Eliseo and Jeremiah. They became mini-entrepreneurs, walking around the home, asking anyone who would listen to buy their bracelets for 25 cents.

We love sharing these fun moments with you! What hobbies do your kids enjoy doing?

During the 1980’s and into the 1990’s, El Salvador was engaged in a brutal civil war between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). Thousands and thousands of people died at the hands of both groups. Peace accords were signed in 1992, but the effects of the war can still be seen today in El Salvador.

Perquín, El Salvador, in the department of Morazán, was one of many war zones and a stronghold for the guerilla forces. This rural area is still trying to recover from the serious damage that war caused. Now, Perquin is home to El Museo de la Revolución or, The Revolution Museum. Last month, our children had the opportunity to visit the museum and learn a bit about the history of their country.

The bridges pictured below crossed a river and were used by the guerillas to train. The river is now dry, but the Love & Hope kids had fun trying to cross the bridges anyway.

The boys were very interested in this bunker where the guerillas hid during battle. The bunker is about two meters deep and its occupants used a rope to climb in and out.

This is an example of a cot used to aid wounded fighters. Since supplies were limited, the guerillas had to improvise, using car parts to administer medicine and IV fluid.  

Below, the Love & Hope kids are playing with radio transmitters that the guerilla forces used to communicate. The Salvadoran army had destroyed the radio towers necessary for using the radio in a traditional manner, but the guerillas found that barbed wire could be just as effective. The campesinos, or peasants, living in the countryside had all of their land enclosed with barbed wire fences. The guerillas took advantage of this, forming a huge radio network. Anyone who wanted or needed to listen to their signal only had to connect in to the barbed wire. Behind the radio transmitters on the wall, are cardboard egg cartons that the guerillas used for sound insulation.     

The guerillas destroyed an army airplane and kept the wing pictured below as a trophy.

Tia Yessenia and a couple of the boys read about an arm that threw grenades.

The picture below shows a place known simply to the guerillas as El Palo de Mango, or the Mango Tree. Every night at 10:00pm, the commanders would meet to make a strategy for the next day. This meeting place was ideal because the tree camouflaged the men completely from the sight of military planes flying overhead.

It was a long ride (four hours!), to and from the museum, but the Love & Hope kids learned a lot. When asked what she learned, Linda said, “The women lost their rights. They kidnapped them and some women disappeared. I liked that the women had the strength to struggle and fight.”

Jocelyn said, “The worst thing was that women, young people and children had to go to war.”

When asked what their favorite part of the museum was, the boys all cited the weapons. Antonio said, “Seeing the guns. Some were bazookas. I saw airplanes.”

Mandy said, “I liked to see the excitement on the kids faces as they ran around looking at all the things in the museum, especially Herberth. He touched and examined everything and explained to Eliseo exactly what the bombs, machines and guns were used for.”

El Salvador has a rich, though oftentimes dark, history. One of our goals at Love & Hope Children’s Home is to raise leaders who desire to make a positive impact on their country; discovering history first hand aids in reaching that goal.

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/.

A couple weekends ago, thanks to our good friends the Larlhams, the Love & Hope kids enjoyed an overnight outing at the beach! On Friday after school, the kids came home from school excited to pack their things and get on the way. After completing a little homework and loading up the cars, we made our way to Playa Pimental, our favorite beach in El Salvador.

We arrived in time to enjoy the ocean for a bit while there was still daylight. The tide was out, making for shallow water and calm waves – perfect for swimming. Some of the kids were in the pool splashing around before everyone was even out of the car. We stayed in the water and on the beach until the sun went down. The sunset was beautiful. 

For dinner, we made a campfire on the beach and cooked hot dogs and s’mores. As we ate, we enjoyed talking together and pointing out star constellations in the sky. It was a beautiful night.

A long week of school and an active afternoon at the beach gave everyone reason to sleep early. We brought along tents for some of the older kids; the younger ones slept in the beach house beds. Everyone rested soundly, falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves and a light breeze.

The next morning the kids were up bright and early (some by 6:00am!), ready to play. They were so excited to be at the beach. Because we didn’t have “normal” schedule to follow or chores to complete, some of the older kids enjoyed sleeping later, eating breakfast when they wanted and lying around in the hammocks.

The kids played all day, walking around the beach, collecting shells and sand dollars, burying themselves in the sand and “fighting” against the waves. It was a wonderful, relaxed day.

Thank you, Dan, Candy, Gideon and Judah Larlham, for providing the resources we needed for a great day at the beach. What a blessing!

Perhaps this blog is a long time coming, but Love & Hope Children’s Home has to say “Welcome!” to our new friend, Suzana. Suzana joined us in January from Atlanta, Georgia. With two years of experience as a teacher in Israel, a bachelor’s degree in social work, and fluency in Spanish, Suzana is a gem of a volunteer. She will be staying for about a year, helping in the areas of education, social work and child care, lightening the load of several different people in the home and working directly with the children.

Suzana has done an incredible job of jumping into the busy lives we live here at Love & Hope Children’s Home. She says her favorite thing about volunteering here so far is spending time with the kids, doing homework and just getting to know them. We love that she has so easily and effectively been able to do those things! Suzana has been a wonderful blessing from the minute she stepped onto Salvadoran soil.

Welcome, Suzana!