A Chat with Victoria

This is nine year old Victoria from Guatemala City. A member of our field staff caught up with her at one of Children International's community centers and asked her and her mother, Maria, a few questions about sponsorship.

According to Victoria's mother, “When she comes here to get her Christmas gift, she wants everyone to come running here at six in the morning. She tells us 'Hurry, we are going to be last!' Even when we come here for the medicine she feels happy."

Victoria also had a message to share with her sponsor: "I am doing well at school and I like going. I thank my sponsor for supporting me and I appreciate her."

Reporting assistance and photo by Raquel Lacán and Miriam Lemus of Guatemala City.

Talk About Changing Lives...

I wish I could see his face.

When René hears what’s getting ready to happen, there’s no telling how he and his family will react.

A couple of days ago, Sarah posted about the tragic loss of René’s dad, and how the family has struggled since they lost him. What is just amazing is what has happened in these two short days.

Less than an hour after Sarah posted his story, René had a sponsor! But the story doesn’t end there. Several of you began to contact us, asking how you could help. Within a few hours enough had been donated to pay off the family’s property – a debt they really had no hope of catching up with because of the interest.

Others donated as well. I’m excited to report that we are only about $200 away from being able to place René and his family in a new house with a concrete floor!

We’re not talking anything fancy – it will be a simple structure with tin walls and roof…but if you saw the photo of what they’re living in now, you’ll understand that anything is a drastic improvement for them!

So a great big thanks to all of you for your generosity. And if you’d like to help us reach our goal of $200 dollars more, any amount you can contribute will be greatly appreciated. Just drop us a note at blog@children.org and we’ll put you in touch with someone who can help you with your donation.

And of course we’ll be posting some photos of René and his family when they get the news!

George's Story

My name is George, and I have been a member of Children International for six years now. It has truly been a great experience.

Two years ago I had the opportunity to meet my sponsored child, Jordana, in Chile. We had a great time spending the day together. But what made it even more special was that it was her birthday, and not just any birthday, but her sweet 15 – a very important milestone in Latin America. I took her shopping, and we shared many stories.

I am so happy that I had the chance to meet the person that I have been helping for so very long face-to-face. I loved every moment I had with Jordana. Of course, the hardest thing of the trip was when I had to say good-bye. I gave her a big hug and said my good-byes to a special girl that will always be close to my heart. It was a wonderful trip.

Because I had such a great experience with Jordana, I decided to sponsor another child – Lesly, in Guatemala. I am looking forward to meeting her and spending the day with her as well. Hopefully I can surprise her on her birthday too!

I would like to thank Children International for reaching out to children in the world who need help. I am happy to be a part of this great organization. My sponsored children have opened my eyes to so much, and I thank them both for letting me be a part of their lives. I am so very grateful. I would encourage anyone to sponsor just one child. You will not regret it.

Posted on behalf of sponsor, George Petri.

Have you had your eNews today?

Right on schedule, another edition of eNews is making its way to your email inbox. If you can’t wait until then, here’s a little taste of what July eNews has to offer:

- If you’ve ever wondered just what happens when a child goes to the community center to pick up a sponsorship gift, then The Boy of Eternal Smiles has a video (and a smile) to share with you.

-Mayra’s Life after Sponsorship is looking bright thanks to the support she received from her sponsor. Be sure to read what she said about her favorite sponsorship memory - it truly shows how important even the most common item can be to a needy child. (To read more about youth like Mayra, take a look at our Youth Report Card.)

-A powerful story from Mexico about one mother’s struggle with drugs and alcohol and how Children International helped her to sober up so she could be the mother her children always needed.

-In keeping with the Fourth-of-July spirit, Freedom from Poverty is a photo feature about a Guatemalan field officer who worked in a fireworks factory as a child to support himself and his family.

Did this pique your interest? If so, then read on!

Filthy and Sad...Like Dolls in the Darkness

I’ve spent a lot of time in desperately poor neighborhoods, and I’ve witnessed scenes very similar to this one. You never quite get used to it. In this post, Javier Cárcamo, our Communications Coordinator in Rural Guatemala, shares the stark, ugly reality of poverty. In cases like these, sponsorship just might be the only frail thread that keeps families from total devastation:

I almost turned on my heel, as though I had been halted abruptly by an invisible barrier; it was the penetrating smell of human feces and the buzzing of the flies – more like an enormous beehive. There, inside that tiny house, were volcanoes of diapers and piles of dirty clothes strewn around the floor, emitting a terrible stench and steaming from the suffocating heat under the tin roof.

On the floor, sitting on old, dirty clothes and on the few areas of concrete that could be seen, were two girls and a baby – seated like plastic dolls, the girls with their fingers in their mouths and the baby with a bottle covered in dirt and ants and filled with murky water.

The walls, blackened by filth and damp, are little hiding places for spiders and cockroach eggs. The overpowering smell makes it hard for me to breathe; I can’t even open my mouth. The heat mingles with my desperation at not being able to find a space to step to get close to the children, who remain motionless in the darkness, seated in front of a tiny window that was only opened for my visit.


The oldest girl’s eyes are averted; her dirty face and tangled hair speak of neglect. The white spots on her skin are from poor nutrition. And the children have little sores from their environment – the rocks, bushes and barbed wire that surround the river that gives them the water they need to survive.

Childhood stress has taken on a new meaning for me. Lidia, the oldest child at just 10, is responsible for the younger children, but she has to do the household chores so she won’t be scolded. The time it takes for me to visit worries her, because she’s afraid her parents will come home.

The baby looks like an inanimate object, while the flies and ants celebrate the conquest of the tip of the baby bottle – the same spot where he’s trying to put his mouth. I don’t even want to imagine what experience has motivated him to try to coordinate the hand movement he needs to clean it off, but his little hand is dirty because he’s left on the floor with no care whatsoever. His clothes smell terrible, and from what I can tell he doesn’t have another change of clothes.

Lidia, who is the other children's aunt but is more like a sister to them, shows me the old mattress where she sleeps. It’s covered in unidentifiable stains, and when she tosses it to the floor it releases a cloud of dust and a heavy smell of urine. Volatile…truly indescribable.

I can’t stay inside any longer. I can’t find any space, any angle. All mobility is reduced and the atmosphere inside is dense. Outside the weather is fresh and bright, but the children have to stay inside so they won’t get lost or be robbed.

As I leave I keep trying to explain to myself why there are so many families that can’t overcome poverty even with the help of the organization. Immediately, the answer comes to my head like a chilling sentence. Simply this: without the organization, they’d be even worse off….

Keeping a Sponsored Youth "Write" on Track

Posted on behalf of Miriam Lemus. Edited by Sarah Trapp.

Sixteen-year-old Erick from Guatemala City is a hardworking young man who began selling and delivering dairy products at the age of 8.

“I like it because I can see new places,” he says. But Erick has bigger dreams. One day, he’d like to work in a bank.

His sponsor's care has had a profound impact on Erick (center, with his mother and his brother).

For several years now Erick has lacked the influence of a father in his life, and things haven’t been easy. Luckily, Erick can count on the support of his caring sponsor, Nathaniel. According to Erick’s mother, his sponsor has been there for Erick more than his actual father. Erick and his sponsor communicate regularly, and the bond is obvious.

“My sponsor writes me things, and I tell him about what I do here. He has helped me to get ahead, especially with my studies,” says Erick.

In addition to the regular benefits of sponsorship, Erick’s sponsor has also sent him special donations for things like furniture, groceries and even a bicycle. These special gifts and words of encouragement make a world of difference in Erick’s life. Take it from Erick: “I like having him as my sponsor, and I feel very grateful for everything.”

With a caring sponsor guiding him through kind words and material support, Erick is one step closer to achieving his dreams.

Have you written your sponsored child lately? Go to www.children.org and log in to “My Account” to send your child a few kind words.

Miriam Lemus is the communications coordinator for Children International's agency in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Sarah Trapp works at CI's home office in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Sad Reality

Our mission as a humanitarian organization is to help lift children out of poverty by meeting their basic needs through sponsorship. However, you might be surprised to learn that we have children who have been waiting for two years or more just to get into the sponsorship program. In business-world lingo, we have more product (children) than we do buyers (sponsors).

This has happened for a couple of reasons: Just two years ago, we were experiencing rapid growth only to be hit by a sudden shift in the economy. Children we were going to move into the program quickly have been placed on the waiting list where they’ve now remained for far longer than we could imagine or want. And while we would like to move them up the list, we first have to honor our commitment to the children who, for one reason or another, lose their sponsors. Because, once a child officially enters the sponsorship program they continue to receive benefits…whether they have a contributing sponsor or not.

The blog gives us a way to provide you with insider and extra information on sponsorship and what goes on behind the scenes. This is a particularly hard situation for us to wrestle with. It just kills us to know there are so many children who are so close to receiving the life changing help they need, yet they desperately wait.

So we’re going to introduce a few of these children to you over the next several weeks. If you were already thinking about sponsoring another child, maybe one of these will appeal to you or even someone you know. If you’re already maxed out, and many of us are, feel free to give us your thoughts or ideas.

And now we’d like to introduce you to Amilkar, from Rural Guatemala. He’s 4-years-old and will turn 5 in May. Click on the family record to read more about him. Can you help find him a sponsor? If so, email us at blog@children.org. We’ll personally handle the arrangements and make sure he starts receiving benefits immediately.


I know we ask a lot from you, but I hope you, or someone you know, can help.

Coming Soon!

Children International works in some of the most fascinating places among some of the most fascinating people you can imagine.

We always look forward to publishing the next edition of our magazine, Journeys, so we can take you along to visit some of these places and meet some of these people. And this edition is no exception.

You'll meet Abhijit, a young boy in India, and take an insightful peek into daily life for families in the rural areas of the country. You'll travel to Guatemala to visit with Sabina, who over two decades ago became the very first child to ever enroll in what was then Children International's new sponsorship program; you'll experience vicariously the sights and incredible smells of the city garbage dumps outside Santiago, in the Dominican Republic, where families work under unimaginable conditions to eke out a living; you'll travel up a mountainside in Guatemala on a dark night in the middle of a tropical storm to see what it's like to be a family living in destitution while nature is at its worst...and you'll ride a motorbike down a smugglers' highway in Honduras with a Children International field officer as he makes his rounds (there's a really cool video to go along with this!).

All this and much more will be coming to your mailbox in the next three or four days. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

A Guatemalan Ghost Story

Posted on behalf of Damon Guinn and Javier Cárcamo

They say you can hear her approaching in the dead of night. The wind starts to whirl and the dogs howl. Old ladies in the village cross themselves with trembling hands then clench their white, boney knuckles in urgent prayer.

Try to run. It’s no use. Your footsteps grow heavy and slow. The air around you suddenly becomes cold – your heart is gripped with fear. Then you hear a scream and a desperate wail...“Wherrrrre isssss myyyy sonnnn?! Wherrrrre isssss myyyy sonnnn?!”

The scream grows louder and louder. You have to escape. There’s no time to spare. If the third scream finds you, La Llorona will get you!

So goes the legend of La Llorona, “The Crying Woman,” a ghost story practically every child in rural Guatemala knows by heart.

“Our grandparents say that on a small and humble farm surrounded by mountains and rivers, there lived a young woman who got pregnant by a man who deceived her while her husband was away on a long trip,” Gloria, a 15-year-old sponsored youth, quietly incants. She tells the story to her friends and siblings late at night, in the eerie glow of a flickering fire that casts long, lurking shadows.

As legend has it, the woman goes mad and drowns her baby in the river. Stricken with grief, she repents and begins an endless search for her son. But it’s too late...she’s damned to wander the dark and all the places where water runs until she finds her drowned child. If you cross her path, she’ll try to drown you too.


“People say that when they hear her, their hair stands on end, and it is impossible to run and escape,” Gloria whispers cautiously. “When her crying is far away, it means she is very near; and when it is close, La Llorona is far away.”

To this day, Guatemalans claim to hear La Llorona near the coffee plantations of Sacatepéquez and the ruins of Antigua. Some believe that her presence foreshadows death. Some say it’s a cautionary tale warning young girls not to get pregnant. Still others believe it is a parable, suggesting La Llorona drowned her son to spare him from a life of poverty...that even death is better than being poor.

One thing’s for sure though – with legends like La Llorona floating about this Halloween, it’s scary to think what could happen to poor children in Guatemala if you weren’t around to look after them.

Photos by Javier Cárcamo, from Children International's agency in Rural Guatemala.

Fallout from Felix

Reports from Children International agencies in Guatemala and Honduras indicate they have experienced serious flooding from Hurricane Felix. Our staff in San Pedro Sula (Honduras) report that the government evacuated residents from low-lying parts of El Milagro, including families of sponsored children. In Guatemala, evacuations as a result of Felix have not been necessary.

Agency personnel in Honduras and Guatemala are on the ground gathering information and checking on the wellbeing of sponsored children and their families. Our experienced staff stands ready to provide immediate relief for affected sponsored families as needed.

Felix crashed ashore early Tuesday morning near the Honduras-Nicaragua borders as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds. It was the second Category 5 storm to hit Central America this year. Hurricane Dean slammed into the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico just two weeks ago, marking the first recorded instance of two such storms making landfall in a single hurricane season since record keeping began in 1886.


It is Children International’s policy to contact sponsors when we can verify their sponsored child has been directly affected by a disaster.

For updates on the region, visit our website at www.children.org, or check back here on the blog.

A Chance in a Lifetime

Youth Hit the Ground in New York

Every August, the United Nations welcomes youth from around the world to celebrate International Youth Day. The day is the culmination of a focus on activities to further the United Nations’ World Programme of Action for Youth.

The day’s events help encourage and empower young people to work with governments, non-governmental agencies, schools, and businesses to make a difference in their world.

This year, three Children International sponsored youth are invited observers at the United Nations program in New York City. Read below as Shelia Mahony, CI program officer for youth and education, accompanies the youth on their special journey.

For most of us, a visit to the United Nations is a once in a lifetime experience. For three girls from different ends of the earth who have fought every day to overcome poverty, the thought was only a dream. Today that dream became a reality when two of the three sponsored youths landed in New York City.

Telma, from Guatemala, was the first girl to land at LaGuardia Airport. Normally, her vista on life is filled with shacks and dirt roads. The smile stretching across this normally shy and quiet teen’s face told us that she knew she wasn’t in Guatemala anymore.

I picked up Leslie, from the Philippines, next. Leslie is the youngest of the three girls and couldn’t hide the excitement of having another chance to travel to the United States even after finishing a 24-hour airplane trip.

The girls are thrilled to have a chance to see each other again. They hugged and shrieked as only teenage girls can do. This is a miracle meeting since they met at last year’s International Youth Conference in Kansas City, and, because of their families' lack of funds, never thought they would meet again.

And now another dream comes true as they are reunited with the third member of their dynamic trio when Vakeyia, from Little Rock, touches down in the Big Apple. We are on our way downstairs for our first whole day together in New York City. We’re going to have a real New York breakfast – bagels and cream cheese!

Bridging the Generation Gap

Nowadays, it seems generations are moving farther and farther apart. While people of different ages have always struggled to communicate, the technology explosion of the past couple of decades – with the advent of text messaging, email and cell phones – has created languages of its own and has made it even more difficult for children and their elders to find common ground.

But a group of sponsored youth in Guatemala is proving that not everyone has yielded to the dividing influence of the generation gap. These young people recently visited a retirement home, spending time with its elderly residents and making them feel special.

Javier Cárcamo, communications coordinator for our Rural Guatemala agency, dropped me the following note about the activity:

“…A group of our sponsored youth organized a lovely social activity to benefit another group of needy and forgotten people: the elderly people in a retirement home called Cabecitas de Algodón (“Little Cottonheads”).

“This retirement home is very old and is suffering from economic limitations that have threatened in recent years to force it to close. It is maintained solely by donations from generous people who live in the city of Antigua Guatemala (meaning "Old Guatemala") and by some private businesses. The unique thing about this retirement home is that most of its residents are elderly people who were rescued from abandonment, were picked up from garbage dumps, were homeless or have been abused.


“Motivated by their role as leaders, the young people of Service Area 2 in San Lorenzo El Cubo and and Ciudad Vieja decided to hold a grocery drive for these elderly people, and they organized a visit to take them a little joy.


“Our director supported this initiative, and we provided them everything they needed to hold their activity, which included two plays and a dance presentation. Each elderly person received a small gift, and they also raffled off small gifts that were appropriate for them.


“The activity lasted more than four hours, during which they livened up the party with marimba music. The youth danced with the elderly people, who were very happy. Some of the sponsored girls gave manicures to the elderly ladies who were sick and couldn’t move, and everyone enjoyed a bit of cake and refreshments.


“Something beautiful…when the activities were over and the residents were pretty tired, each youth chose a person and dedicated themselves to listening to them. The elderly people told their stories and the young people enjoyed them.


“The young people named this initiative ‘Youth Working Together for a Smile,” and they plan to do the same thing in other retirement homes, orphanages and special care facilities.”


Three cheers for some great young people who have proven that the generation gap isn’t so wide after all!

Photos by youth photographer Manuel Xoyón, from Children International’s agency in Rural Guatemala.

Meet María from Guatemala...

What do you like about visiting the community center?

I liked going to the community center when my sponsor came to visit. We went to Antigua and I got to ride a horse and visit a new place. My sponsor also brought me presents. She brought me a bear that I named Panda. – María López Guillén from Guatemala City, Guatemala.

The Courageous Spirit of Guatemala - Part 4 of 4

Posted on behalf of Jim Cook

I’m not sure if one should enter into the blog trivial travel events such as a serious leak from the air conditioner in my hotel room, which resulted in lots of water coming into my room. I discovered it at 2:00 in the morning when I thought it was raining as I made my way across the room to an appointment with nature. An hour later, two nice repair guys had the leak fixed, and the only thing that kept this from all being a dream was the wet carpet, which was indubitably real.

So this was Friday and my last day in country. I had two important appointments …one with the U.S. Ambassador at the Embassy and the second with my other sponsored child—actually a youth—at the Guatemala City central office.


Roxana had come to the office with her mom and sister and her sister’s baby. Roxana is 16 and is lovely…cute, petite and obviously full of energy and life. We all had a very nice time and good conversation. Roxana was understandably a bit shy but asked a lot of questions and gave me a good glimpse into her life. She hopes to become a lawyer. Quite a goal, and one I hope she achieves.


So I had now visited two of my family’s sponsored children on this visit…one 6, the other 16. Both visits were wonderfully enriching and both girls couldn’t have been sweeter or nicer or more appreciative. Many times when I read sponsors’ accounts of their visits to their sponsored children, they write that they receive much more from their sponsorship than the children do. After meeting the two remarkable Guatemalan girls, I echo that sentiment!

After a quick tour of the central office and the opportunity to greet and be greeted by the entire staff, I headed over to the U.S. Embassy. Traffic was brutal, but we made it.

Ambassador James Derham saw me right on time. Nice man. In spite of the somewhat formal office, he was very at ease and we were able to have a good, wide-ranging conversation about Guatemala and Children International’s activities here. I mentioned that we would invite him and other Embassy representatives to the opening of the center in Patulul, and he indicated he hoped he could attend, as he really enjoyed getting out and seeing various activities around the country.

That pretty much concluded a relatively short but extremely rewarding and enlightening visit to Guatemala. It is so apparent the difference our sponsors and staff are making in the lives of the children who are growing up in the clutches of poverty.

Everywhere I went I saw the clear signs of our help. Children wearing shoes they had received for Christmas…seeing doctors and dentists…learning computer skills to give them job skills for the future. And finally, knowing that the sponsorship program and the staff at our community centers represent support and a safe place to go.

As I’ve noted before, I saw so much that encouraged me, yet so much discouraging, stark poverty that I return home all the more determined to reach more people who would become sponsors for the many Guatemalan children who need so much the help we can all provide.


And I can report unequivocally that one of my goals – to “get dirty” – was successfully accomplished…with absolutely no regrets!

Jim Cook is the president and CEO of Children International.

The Courageous Spirit of Guatemala - Part 3 of 4

Posted on behalf of Jim Cook.

This morning, the agency requested to pick me up from the hotel at 6:00 a.m. These guys would make great duck hunters, arising at that early hour! And I thought yesterday’s 7:00 a.m. departure was a bit early. But okay...when in Rome....

Off we went...to a place west of Guatemala City called Patulul, where we take care of nearly 4,000 sponsored children in this town of about 35,000.

I noted that the roads in Guatemala had improved substantially (even if the driving habits hadn’t). Mind you, this is based upon two days’ travel only. But they were the same routes I’d taken many times before with far more jostling and careening around large potholes.


Arriving at Patulul, we went to a Children International community center. “Community center” is a pretty sterile term for what is really the heartbeat of the Children International sponsorship field efforts and the focus of the community where each center is located.

These community centers include a clinic, pharmacy, dental office, library and homework center, feeding area, warehouse for gifts and material benefits, local staff offices and more. THIS is where sponsorship happens!

I met the staff and said “hi” to a bunch of mothers and their children who were either waiting for the doctor and dentist or writing letters to their sponsors. But what I noticed most was how we had outgrown that center. Badly. That center has served us quite well for a long time, but the community deserves a new, modern center and fortunately, one is in the works.


I traveled a few blocks to see the land where a new center will be built if we can find funding for it. I spoke with the architect about the design, stressing that I’m a big fan of playgrounds for the children AND the parents, having found great solace in taking my own children to them not that many years ago. The plans look great and I sincerely hope we can get the funding to enable the poor children’s (and their parents’) dreams to come true in Patulul.


With that, we moved on to the river named Madre Vieja, or, literally, The Old Mother. Well, the old mother wreaked havoc on the poor people living along this river when Hurricane Stan came calling in 2005. I spoke to an elderly woman who described in great and poignant detail the horror as the river rose and ultimately took everything she and her husband owned. She indicated that she is doing okay now…okay being a relative term.


It was on the banks of that river that the Mayor of Patulul caught up with us…the Honorable Gilberto Perez, a youngish mayor with a lot of contagious enthusiasm. (I expect when you’re my age, “youngish” encompasses a lot more people than it used to!)

He expressed his profound thanks for the assistance we’re providing to a significant portion of the children in the town. I thanked him for his considerable help in enabling us to secure land and a building permit at no cost for the new center. In these small towns, it is good to work with the local leaders, which is far easier and more productive than trying to communicate with bureaucrats at higher governmental levels.

After that visit we headed up to the slightly higher elevation (and thankfully cooler temperatures) of the lovely small town of Antigua. If you come to Guatemala and only have one day to spend, visit Antigua. It’s surrounded by volcanoes, making it very picturesque and charming. The shopping, if you’re so inclined, is excellent for the colorful local clothing and crafts.


But it’s also poor. We have a center there, but the most interesting part was visiting the home of volunteer mother Luisa, who was hosting yet another sponsorship activity – this time a letter writing effort where children write their sponsors. I joined in the fun by sitting with some of the sponsored children and writing part of this blog there. That might have been the first blog entry created at Luisa’s, but you never know!


Then we headed back to “The Capital,” as Guatemala City is referred to. About an hour later I was in my hotel room reflecting on what an emotionally charged and satisfying, yet challenging, two days it had been.

After all that I’ve seen, the bottom line is that we need more sponsors to reach more children…here in Guatemala as well as around the world.

More later.

Jim Cook is the president and CEO of Children International. Check back tomorrow for more personal commentary on his recent experience in Guatemala.

The Courageous Spirit of Guatemala: Part 2 of 4

Posted on behalf of Jim Cook. This post is a continuation of Day 1 of Jim's recent visit to Guatemala.

After leaving the home of the woman suffering from cancer, the next visit promised to be a bit more uplifting, as we toured new homes we constructed for four families who lost everything in Hurricane Stan two years ago.

It was uplifting…to a point. The problem is, a family’s challenges don’t end when they move into their new dwelling. True, the families I visited are truly blessed with sturdy new homes. But each of them still suffered from a lack of income.

And one family’s situation particularly makes me ache.


Hilda is her name. She’s 17. She was 15 when the hurricane took her mother, her sister, her home, all the family’s belonging…and her hope. Leaving her to look after her four younger brothers and sisters while putting up with a father who spends most of his time drunk.


As Hilda recounted her story she fought back tears, mentioning the word “lonely” a number of times. And who wouldn’t be, when your only loving parent was snatched away in the night along with your entire world? My own eyes, as well as those of the staff with me, filled with tears as we witnessed her grief, which was tempered by her love for – and unqualified devotion to – her siblings.

She can’t go to school because she supports her brothers and sisters. Her youthful teen years were cruelly taken from her; but with unparalleled stoicism, she has met the challenge.

On a happier note, yesterday’s activities included a visit to the home of one of my family’s special sponsored children, Heidy Viviana. Heidy lives with her family – mom, dad and sister, Milvia – in a home surrounded by fields of beans, maize and strawberries. Lots and lots of strawberries.


When I unfolded myself from the back of the van and managed to somewhat painfully straighten up to my full height, what to my wondering eyes should appear [credit and apologies to Clement Clarke Moore!] but one tiny package of energy running to my side and giving me a hug that belied her six years and slight frame.


So much for these shy Guatemalan children. What a delight Heidy is! We exchanged gifts – though I fear the large basket of fresh strawberries and peaches her family bestowed upon me far exceeded my generosity. However, Heidy did clutch her new doll pretty tightly.

Visiting my sponsored child and her family was really a way to fully complete the sponsorship experience…an opportunity that I hope many more sponsors are able to have!


As we headed back to Guatemala City that night, my thoughts kept returning to Hilda. I had to ask myself: where is the justice in a world where a young woman like her unselfishly toils away in obscurity, dealing with uninvited devastation and pain, while the latest teen mega-star melts down with the eyes of the world trained in her direction? And is fawned over. I’m reminded yet again of how unfair and unforgiving the world can be.

It’s been quite a day. Uplifting and depressing. Satisfying and frustrating. But through it all there’s hope. We’re doing a lot, that is clear. But there is so much more to be done.

More later.

Jim Cook is the president and CEO of Children International. Check back tomorrow for more personal commentary on his recent experience in Guatemala.

The Courageous Spirit of Guatemala: Part 1 of 4

Posted on behalf of Jim Cook

After a long winter, punctuated by short trips to cut ribbons on great new community centers and meet with dignitaries, I needed to get into the field in my blue jeans and running shoes. I needed to get grimy and dirty in the barrios and communities and the homes where our sponsored children live to recharge my batteries for our great cause.

I’d call day one of that effort an unqualified success.

After a late arrival in Guatemala and a short night’s rest, we departed from the hotel at 7:00 a.m. On the way to the sub-agency office in Chimaltenango, one of the social workers warned me that the children are pretty shy. Especially, I thought to myself, when facing a very different-looking, white-haired gringo!


As we walked into the center to a hearty greeting, a 7-year-old boy named Selvyn walked right up to me and stuck out his hand in a very spontaneous moment – like he said to himself, “I’m not sure what that is, but I’d like to meet it.” Cute kid…and not so shy!


In the clinic, the doctor and I talked even as she gave a boy named Henry his annual checkup and looked at a small rash he’d acquired. A recently sponsored child was making his first trip – and quite apparently not his last one – to the project dentist. But he was a brave little guy!


All in all, that community center experience was great…and it really is a lot of what our sponsors make possible for these wonderful but born-into-poverty children. In those centers, children receive the benefits and services they deserve. And their appreciation is clearly etched in their faces and the faces of the moms and dads.


We left the center to pay a visit to a young man named Osman who, in a small, frail frame, has more courage than about anyone I’ve met. Osman suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as “brittle bone” disorder.

Osman is pretty much confined to bed and is likely in more pain than he’ll ever let on. He had been sponsored for some time before this crippling disease entered his life. His family greeted all of us with big smiles and happiness that is reflected in the modest home and Osman himself, in spite of his challenge.


But there is another reason for the warm greeting…the staff has been exceptional in doing whatever needed to be done to make Osman’s plight more endurable. Besides coordinating the doctors and hospitals and medicines, Lily, one of the staff, arranged through a local radio program to have a Guatemalan soccer (known as fútbol here) hero pay a visit to Osman. That was a good day for him!

One of the staff mentioned that often when Osman is really hurting from this painful condition, he won’t tell his mother because he doesn’t want to burden her any more than she already is.

And this is just one courageous individual I met on this memorable day.


We then traveled to Tecpán, where we visited another center, this one with activities in full swing as children received fluoride treatments administered by volunteer mothers. Benjamin, the computer instructor, was giving a quiz in Excel to some of his students, while another, a young lady in her early teens was writing her autobiography! I was and am impressed. I’d love to read it when it’s complete.

We then made a number of home visits, all of which remain very memorable, but two stand out. I’ll share the first one now and the second one in my next entry.


At the first, in what only charitably could be called a home and more appropriately a hovel, a mother was breast-feeding her infant while four other very young children (two of whom are sponsored) huddled about her.

She explained that her infant was born early because she has uterine cancer and she is putting off the surgery she needs because she doesn’t know who will care for the children because her husband has to work. She says they have plans to sell “half the house” in order to get some of the $2,000 needed for the surgery. But care of the children is still a problem.

Note to myself on the way out of her home: “Figure something out for this woman and family.”

More later.

Jim Cook is the president and CEO of Children International. Check back tomorrow for more personal commentary on his recent experience in Guatemala.

A World of Thanks

“Synergy” is one of those buzz words that runs the risk of losing its credibility because it is so often overused (and abused). But when viewed objectively, it presents a concept that is powerful: many people working together can accomplish exponentially more than the same number of people working by themselves.

Working for Children International has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Knowledge of poverty by itself only breeds greater misery; but knowledge of poverty coupled with the ability to do something about it brings the satisfaction of knowing you are making a real difference, one life at a time.

Here at CI we are keenly aware that our ability to change lives is predicated entirely on the generosity and engagement of our sponsors. That’s why I want to take a moment to stop and say “thanks” to you, our critical team members and partners in change.

Children International operates in 11 countries. (Can you name them? Colombia, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, the Philippines, the United States, and Zambia.) By working together with our sponsors and our field staff, we are positively affecting the lives of over 320,000 children and their families in these countries.

Please take a moment to check out this video about Children International’s work around the world, and then take another moment to give yourself a pat on the back from your teammates at CI.

Exercises for the Heart

Posted on behalf of Javier Cárcamo, Rural Guatemala

1. First, get up and walk ten paces. Stop.


2. Take another ten paces and sit down.


3. Now think of the hundreds of children around the world who are unable to do this – not necessarily because of any physical disability, but because the place where they live is so small it is impossible to take ten consecutive steps.

This is how Juana del Carmen Rodríguez Valle, a girl who in the humblest of conditions shared a small bamboo room with her mother, her grandparents and her sister, spent the first five years of her life.

Because her grandparents are elderly and her father deserted the family, the things Juana and her family needed to improve their living conditions were simply out of reach. As a result, they were forced to live in a flimsy structure on a steep, nearly inaccessible hillside.

In the midst of this landscape (a harsh and dusty forest trail surrounded by coffee plantations) and facing into the imposing winds descending from Mount Alotenango, was Juanita, imprisoned by the borders of the tiny lot where she and her family lived as though on an island. It was painful to witness.

But life began anew for Juanita and her family when their generous sponsor, upon learning about their situation, decided to build them a home. Her grandfather offered his plot of land from which, little by little, a solid structure slowly rose above the bushes.

Now Juanita’s eyes sparkle with happiness as she peeks out the window and runs in and out of her new house, where she has plenty of space to play hide-and-seek with her sister. And the days when her mother would tell her, “Don’t go too far because you might fall into a ravine!” are over now.


Juanita’s grandmother sums up the family’s happiness. “She is an angel, a child who is good to everyone. She always helps me gather wood, and we all love her very much. She has been a blessing to this family since she was born, and her sponsor, by helping her, is also helping us.”

Javier Cárcamo is the communications coordinator for Children International's agency in Rural Guatemala.

What It's All About...

I grew up in a third-world country, surrounded by poverty. The children I played with on a daily basis faced the same stark living conditions as the children that today I’m trying to help through my work with Children International.

Having said this, the ugliness of raw poverty is something you just never get used to. When I received this picture from my colleague Javier Cárcamo at our Rural Guatemala agency, the impact was like a kick in the stomach. This is the reality of the monster called poverty – the monster children and families in the areas where we work wrestle against every day.

I thought I’d share it with our readers just to remind you how desperately important your support is to people who literally have nowhere else to go for help.

Javier and his camera caught this lady in Guatemala digging through trash to find stray kernels of corn with which to make tortilla dough.