Walking With the Poor - Notes From the Field

MISSION AWARENESS TRIP TO GUATEMALA

April 14 - 21, 2007

Welcome dear sponsors and colleagues.

Hope for the long run

Christian is a slightly-built, handsome young man of 18. He has been sponsored for more than 13 years. When he was 5, the father abandoned the family, leaving the young mother Nelvy, and Christian’s younger siblings, Jonathan (then 3) and Rocio (then 1) to fend for themselves. The father has not been heard from since. Nelvy felt forced to leave the three small children in the hands of her own mother, Olga, while she looked for work in Mexico. In God’s loving care, the grandmother heard about CFCA’s sponsorship program in their poor neighborhood of Guatemala City. She asked if the children could apply for sponsorship. Christian maintains that his sponsors have been the stabilizing and hopeful part of his challenging young life. He encouraged the sponsors to stay with their sponsored families for the long haul. Grandmother Olga died in November 2006. Nelvy is now back in the Guatemala City area, currently unemployed and suffering from arthritis. Christian works during the day to help support the family and to help his mother, Jonathan and Rocio. He takes classes at night.

                                                                                                        Upon arriving in San Lucas Toliman, sponsors and

Sponsors in the highlands                                                  staff walk with the children the last kilometer.

On Thursday, we were treated to a day in the highlands of Guatemala at a pretty place called Corazon del Bosque (Heart of the Forest). Parents, teens and children from several subprojects came together with sponsors. Artistic numbers included excellent folkdances by children and moms, the three-piece marimba band from La Salle Institute in Santa Maria Visitación (four of these talented and confident musicians are on CFCA scholarships), poems packed with meaning and emotion and choral numbers by the sponsors. In contrast to Virginia Tech and 198 killed yesterday in Baghdad, we sang songs of peace. Overcome with emotion during a testimony by CFCA families, mother Rosa (her child Juan Jose has been sponsored for six years) said, “We have five children. Before, we were staying in a lean-to and having a very difficult time. We now have our very own home through CFCA and my husband does not have to attempt to get to the U.S. (“Coyotes” in this area, people who lead the immigrants across the border, currently collect about $7,000.)

CFCA sponsors in Iximche

Children, staff and parents welcomed us to the ancient Mayan structures of Iximche. Children performed, scholars danced and confidently recited their poetry, and strong mothers thanked the sponsors. We are getting ready to bid farewell to this fine group of sponsors. During this week, they have directly sponsored eight new children and have requested 186 child folders to help look for sponsors. Our heartfelt thanks and prayers go with them. Thanks to the Hermano Pedro project for the photos. Very early tomorrow morning, Cristina and I will travel to Venezuela to begin the mission awareness trip there.

Thank you for traveling with us in spirit and prayer.

God’s blessings.

Bob Hentzen

Guatemala

April 22, 2007