Amor del Nino

The Petra work team spent the past week painting and cleaning at the Amor del Nino orphanage. We visited the orphanage yesterday afternoon and then joined the team for supper in the evening.


The orphanage is built on a hill, so it was difficult to get a good picture. Amor del Nino has about 50 children, most between 0 - 6 years of age.

Some of the volunteers and older children were playing on the patio.

One of the team's projects was to construct these custom made cribs, eight tiny little beds, four on top and four on the bottom. These, of course, are for the tiniest babies.

Cribs, cribs everywhere! This orphanage has lots of babies. Currently they have 22 babies under one year old.

I'm holding the smallest baby, although not the youngest. She was born prematurely and was just a tiny little bundle.

Emily's got a chunky little boy.

Two 'gorditos' (little fatties). These were the two oldest babies in this room. Sadly, two staff members care for 13 babies. All of the bottles get propped until the children are old enough to hold their own. As with all of the orphanages ORI supports, resources are limited, so they do the best they can.

We had supper with the team at My Father's House, the guest house where the group is staying. Ben and Charlie had time for a game of pool before we ate.

Trip to Mexico

We spent the past weekend, March 5-7, in Tapachula, Mexico. Our family needed to leave the country and then return in order to renew our visas.


It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive to the border. The drive went well and the children did great - even Tony. Thankfully, we had no problems getting through immigration. I simply walked into the building and up to the window, handed the official our stack of passports, and he stamped them. He never even checked to see if we had people to match the passports. We had to pay 50 pesos to get the van "fumigated". The officials waved us through every other checkpoint. Here, Maria and I are just past the border, on the Mexican side.

We stayed in a fairly large town called Tapachula, about 17 km from the border. Our hotel was a very nice Comfort Inn, the nicest place we've stayed at since we're down here. We ate breakfast Saturday morning at the hotel. Tony enjoyed his Fruit Loops; I think he had three bowls!

We then visited Wal-mart, which was only five minutes from our hotel. What fun! I think the employees were amused that we were taking pictures of the store.

Ok, it wasn't quite like Wal-mart in the States. We discovered a huge display of fresh octopus in the seafood department. I didn't buy any seafood, but I did stock up on shampoo, soda, and breakfast cereal, as the stuff was cheaper than in Guatemala.

Alisha and Emily relaxing in our room back at the hotel. Once again, Nick and Ben got their own room while the rest of us shared. We had an extra single bed in our room, and Tony was content to sleep on a blanket on the floor.

The hotel had a lovely pool...and, boy, was it hot and humid in Mexico! Much different from our mountain climate. We spent both Friday and Saturday afternoons relaxing by the pool.

Saturday evening we visited downtown Tapachula, walked around the town square, and had supper at a tiny, tacky little restaurant with surprisingly good food. This photo is one of the fountains in the square. We thought the town very much resembled a Guatemalan town, but noted there were far fewer guards and less barbed wire.

Charlie, Maria, and Tony graciously posed for a picture in the town square.

Sunday morning we headed back to Guatemala. We breezed through the border crossing in a matter of minutes. They didn't even fumigate our van, although they still collected the money for it.

We spent a couple of hours at a wonderful water park called Xocomil on Sunday. Previously, Charlie had taken an orphanage on a field trip here, and when we realized that we were going right by decided to stop. It was really nice, nicer than any park I've been to in the States. We had a fun time. Praise God for a great weekend!

Hammercreek Work Team

Our third work team of the year, Hammercreek Mennonite youth group, was here February 22 through March 1. I think the group consisted of 36 youth and leaders.


The group stayed at the Los Humitos coffee plantation. Charlie and Jim provided an orientation for the group their first evening.

Some of the girls painted the interior of one of the houses at the Casa Bernabe orphanage.

Alisha took the day off school on Tuesday to help with the painting.

Charlie supervised the work at Fundaninos. One of the projects the group completed was repairing the pavers on the driveway.

Lawrence Martin, board member and team leader, supervised continued construction work on the director's apartment. The volunteers stuffed insulation and hung drywall.

Vida Nueva

We visited the Vida Nueva orphanage this afternoon with the Hammercreek youth.


This orphanage is home to approximately 60 children. Pictured is the school where 400 children attend, children from the home as well as the surrounding community.

Our group provided a craft activity for the younger children. We took their pictures and then printed the photos on our new printer while the children decorated a foam picture frame. Julie Boll helped the children.

Tony didn't get his picture taken but enjoyed decorating a piece of foam.

Charlie took along his famous water rocket and, as always, it was a huge hit with the boys!

And, of course, there was a soccer game between the Americans and the Guatemalans. A first -the Gringos won! Hammercreek has got some good soccer players. Ben was really pleased that he chose to play on the winning team. Nick, unfortunately, played as a Guatemalteco today.

Miguel Magone

We visited the Miguel Magone orphanage today with ORI's current work team, the youth group from Hammercreek Mennonite Church. Miguel Magone is home to approximately 60 boys and is located near the town of San Lucas.


First, we unloaded the home's monthly food delivery from the back of the ORI bus.

This home is built on a steep hill, so there are several play areas on different levels.

Tony enjoyed the play equipment.

Alisha found a friend, a little girl named Daniela. Although only two girls live at the home, there were several girls from the nearby village at Miguel today. Poor children from the village come to the orphanage on Saturdays for a hot lunch.

We handed out coloring books and crayons, which the kids enjoyed.

Charlie brought along a rope for tug-of-war, Gringos against Guatemalans. The Americans won! Finally, a sport where the gringos can triumph. I've yet to see the Guatemalans defeated in soccer.

ORI bought lunch for everybody - 140 people! That was a lot of pizza! We also provided soda and cookies. What a special treat for the kids.

Vida Ilimitada

We visited Vida Ilimitada on Sunday afternoon with the Bethany work team. Vida is an orphanage near the town of Chimaltenango and is home to approximately 30 children.


Nick took this bird's eye photo of the orphanage from the top of the water tower.

Charlie is holding the youngest member of the home, one-year-old Edwin. We handed out hygiene bundles - soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and other items, wrapped in a towel.

This little guy (who's name I can't recall) was the same age as Tony.

Team leader and board member, Jay Hurst, helping to unload Vida's monthly food donation.

Jane Woodward, one of the Bethany volunteers, with a cute little fellow.

Bethany Work Team

A group of volunteers from Bethany Christian Fellowship was here from February 8 - 15. They worked at two orphanages, Fundaninos and Casa Bernabe.


Ben and this group were digging footers for a retaining wall at Casa Bernabe.

This crew was treating the lumber for the roof of a new medical clinic at Casa Bernabe. They were sealing the wood with diesel fuel to help prevent termite infestation.

Part of the group made a couple of bunk beds for Fundaninos. They had quite an audience as they worked.

The "boss" explains how to proceed with work on the director's apartment at Fundaninos.

Ben sanded wood for the bunk beds.