Luci and I went to Siguatepeque for a children's home conference. I am glad we did. When I first heard about the conference, I was not too excited about it and did not want to go. I received the agenda and thought it might be helpful. I asked Luci if she wanted to go. With a lot of excitement and anticipation in her voice, she answered yes. But, it was past the registration deadline. I sent that email any way and we were registered.
The daily logistics around here are insane. I was worried about us both being gone. We arranged and arranged and made plans B, C, and D. Then we left at 5:00 Friday morning.
This was a well put-together conference. The speakers and workshops were excellent. My brain is overflowing with all the things we are doing wrong, all the things we are doing right, new ideas we want to try, changes in the law, and many other things. I am trying to process it all.
One of the first things I heard was a staggering statistic that said 60% of children in Honduras that grow up in a children's home return to a life of poverty and crime once they leave. That would be twelve of our twenty. No one wants that to happen.
I heard one person say every child needs an individual plan. An individual plan for education. An individual plan for medical treatment. An individual aging out plan. An individual plan for everything. That is a great idea. But, individual plans are a lot more expensive than the group plan. I will say that is a dream of mine. To meet everyone's needs in the best way for each individual. I hope that I see that dream become a reality some day.
I heard of homes that have houseparents for every six kids. Wouldn't that be nice?
I heard a representative from DINAF say there are no state homes right now and they have trouble placing special needs kids and young pregnant girls and street kids. They need someone to open their doors to these kids.
But reality says we cannot open our doors to any kids for quite some time because we lack the finances. We have an individual medical plan for a couple of the kids. And an individual speech therapy plan for three of the kids. An individual educational plan for a couple. But reality says if we don't have some more income soon, we are going to be cutting these individual plans. Soon. Or cutting staff. I do not want to cut back on staff. I do not want anyone to be without a job. But selfishly, I don't want to cut staff because for the first time ever, I feel as if we are not stretched to the breaking point. I am not saying we are no longer stretched at all, just not to the breaking point. I do not want to have to go back to being stretched like that. We may have to cut some meat and milk from the food budget. Or worse, we may have to cut all of the above.
Another thing I heard at the conference is one I think I will remember always. We compare the children to the parable of the talents. Three men received a different number of talents. Two of them invested their talents and grew them into more. One man did nothing. He did not waste his talent. He hid it and protected it. If we think of the children that have been placed in our care as the talents, are we going to hide them and do nothing or are we going to invest ( time and money) into them and grow them into productive citizens of Honduran society?
I want us to make a difference in the lives of the 20 children we have. I am afraid that we cannot make the difference that I want to be able to make. I do not want to cut education, speech therapy, staff or meat and milk. Some of the kids do not have a sponsor. Some are not fully sponsored. On the average, it costs $500 per month per kid. Some kid s cost more than other kids. Some cost less. In reality, very few people can afford that. But anyone can partially sponsor a child in the amount at which they can afford and are comfortable. Can you help us make a difference in the lives of Doris, Reina, Jackson, Rosy, Ana, Cindy, Daniela, Josè, Fernando, Sisi, Katy, Nohemi, Maryuri, Guadalupe, Cris, Josue, Any, Yair, Josue and Olman.
Casa de Esperanza
P.O. Box 9222
Columbus, MS 39705
www. casa.waytogive. net
http://www.easytithe.com/dl/?uid=hondpo256. Use the Casa fund.
If you cannot sponsor a child, would you consider a one time donation to help with immediate needs. If you have questions concerning the finances of Casa de Espernza, please private message me.
Terri
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