March 2023- Taking off 2023

‘We did not know God and neither did the love of a family…’ Get ready to hear and see and awesome testimony from Lorena, a 15^th year older from our Girls Home.

Last update I shared about the 2023 start of the Prevention Program. Today I’ll share with you about the 2023 take off of our Restoration Program.

RESTORATION PROGRAM

Camp

The third week of February all of the girls from our Girls Home were part of a 4 day Church camp.

From the beginning of the home back in 2018 the girls from our home are part of ‘Familia Kairos’ a local Baptist Church. Family is where the girls were hurt the most. The place that was designed by God to be the safest for them was actually the most dangerous one and from where most of them were rescued from. Our prayer was for Christ faith family, the Church, to be a significant partaker of the restoration of the Amparo girls’. In the following video you will see Lorena giving a short testimony at the end of the camp in front of the congregation (around 250 people).

Video de Lorena y transcript del video

In case you want to read again, here you have the transcript of what Lorena said:

‘For those who don’t know me, my name is Lorena. The camp was very nice. I loved it except for the mud game.

First of all, I wanted to thank all of Amparo’s uncles and aunts. I don’t know if you know the girls from the home. They are everywhere although I don’t see them right now…. Despite the fact that we have behaved badly and made them upset, they stayed with us and never gave up. We are very naughty. Thanks to the uncles and aunts who have not given up on us. We did not know God and neither did the love of a family, nor of fathers or mothers, because most of us did not have a father or mother, nor a family. It is also very nice to meet you because now we feel loved.

Also, thank you to those who have been there. Maybe you came to the home and took care of us. Although some of the girls run away… in one way or another you have been with us, also supporting us in doing homework or with anything else. You have been with us and I want to thank you. Bye bye!’

Start of school year

In the southern hemisphere the school year goes from February to November. Which means February is an overwhelming  month for the girls. Full of activity, anxiety but also happiness. All of the girls have big gaps in their educational/school development. Because of the instability in their families of origin most of the girls didn’t attend school for at least a year, some of them 4 years. This means they have a lot of catch up to do but they’re happy they finally are given opportunities and tools to do it!

This year we closed a deal with a nearby ‘Comprehensive Development Center’ which is a specialized school to help kids that are behind with their schooling. Mariela, the youngest of our girls, did their summer school and she loved it. Mariela is 9 and she struggled a lot to read and write. According to her school she was at least 2 years behind. After attending the specialized summer school 3 hours every day, for four weeks, she managed to learn more in that time than in the whole previous year of regular school.

Elena is another one who needs help. She’s 13 but in 3^rd grade. When she arrived to our home being 10 she had never being in school. Throughout this year Mariela and Elena will attend this center three times a week for two hours in the afternoon while they go to school in the morning.  They are happy and excited to be moving forward but at the same time is tiring and demanding. Please pray for them.

Even though we got a great deal with the specialized school we still need to pay 30 USD monthly for evey girl that attends. This is a new expense so we are praying for new donations to cover the expense. If you would like to be part of it please donate here to the general budget of the home.