Walking with the poor - notes from the field

MISSION AWARENESS TRIP TO GUATEMALA
July 7-14, 2007

Hope endures

Mission awareness trips are very special events. I see them as linked to the very core of our mission at CFCA. Yet their impact really depends upon what has been happening prior to the journey in the hearts of the sponsors and sponsored families over the days, months and years of the CFCA relationship. Tranquil presence and fidelity over the long haul brings excellence and hope. The presence of children, parents and staff from the subprojects helps us all to stay focused.

Christine and Serapia celebrate their new friendship by placing hand prints on a cinder block wall.

Two inspiring young people named Ana in Guatemala City

Ana, age 21 and the oldest of five siblings, grew up as a sponsored child. She speaks lovingly of Vivian, her sponsor and friend for so many years. Now married and the mother of a 7-month-old boy named Christopher, Ana is a CFCA community social worker. She is a tremendous support for her mother, who makes and sells tortillas. Ana’s father is an alcoholic and unable to work.

The other Ana, age 17, faces serious health challenges but one would not know it by appearances. The love and encouragement of her sponsors are making a tremendous difference in her life. Radiant in her colorful guipil/blouse, Ana’s smile and bright eyes proclaim youth and hope. She is sponsored in San Jose Nacahuil, about one hour by bus north of Guatemala City. Her mother makes and sells tortillas to help support the five children.

The day before the group arrived, I had the privilege of dedicating and handing over the keys to four new homes for sponsored families. I came away with admiration for the humble families and for the dedication of the CFCA staff in really knowing the situation of these families and lovingly walking with them.

Families persevere

Neatly dressed in her native guipil, bright and pretty Carmen, 18, met us on the path to show us the way up to their new home. The father disappeared 13 years ago, leaving the mother pregnant and with two little girls in school. By cleaning homes for the better off, mother Rosa has been able to provide a loving

home for Carmen, Francisca, 15, and Flor de Maria, 13. With the loving help of their sponsors, they were doing quite well, with all three girls studying and Carmen well on her way to becoming a certified teacher—until just recently. Carmen was abducted and gang raped. Traumatized and afraid to go back to school, she now lives with threats of death and reprisals against her mother and sisters if she denounces the crime. CFCA is making every effort to get Carmen placed in another town, where she can continue her education in relative safety and peace. (Names have been changed for the privacy and safety of the young woman and her family.)

Delmi and Elidio are young parents of four. Two years ago, on the narrow street immediately in front of their new home, Elidio was seeing the children off to school. Crashing down a steep incline without brakes, a runaway truck smashed into all three of the children—killing 8-year- old Tatiana and badly hurting the other two. We honor our little angel Tatiana, and we pray for and with her family. They need and deeply appreciate the local CFCA community and their new home.

Sponsored of all ages leave their mark and remain in our hearts.

Motivated sponsors

While they were in Guatemala, members of this youthful group sponsored eight additional children, all of whom they were able to meet. Besides the new children they are personally sponsoring, they are requesting a total of 45 folders for use in inviting other sponsors. The folders contain family profiles of children and aging waiting to be sponsored.

Thank you for traveling with us in solidarity and prayer. God’s blessings.

Bob Hentzen
CFCA Guatemala
July 15, 2007

Sponsor a child in Guatemala

Read the notes from other mission awareness trips