Give A Child Life

Allan is Now Back With His Family!

 

Note: Three years ago, Give A Child Life found Allan near death at his grandmother's home. With his grandmother carrying him, we took him to a center where he could stay and get food, medicine and other help. Carol, the GCLK program director in Kiandutu, recently updated us on  what happened last weekend.

Baby Allan is reunited back with his family!

News from the elders at Kiandutu came on Monday that baby Allan has been brought back home.

Yesterday I visited Allan at his grandmother's house – Zabina Zaumu- and found him playing with his toy car. He had been bonding with the grandmother and he was so happy though he left the place while still so young.

He is a happy, healthy baby!!

GCL K will continue to assist Allan now that he is back with his family. He will be joining Kiandutu Juniors School nursery level.

Carol

Small Actions Make Huge Differences!

When I was in Kiandutu a few weeks ago, I didn't think Cecilia would make it. She looked so pale and thin. You could hardly tell she was pregnant--even though she was due to deliver any minute. A few days later, she had a lovely baby girl. Look at her smiling! One reason is because GCL provides child care for her two children under age 5.

The same day I saw Cecilia, the village elders asked me to fix the house of another GCL member, Beth. It needed only a few simple repairs to prop up the walls and fill the holes.

Often it's not the big actions that make the most difference. It's the small ones. $3 a month for child care; $3 to buy small bags of flour and beans for dinner; $45 to shore up a house, etc. What matters is that GCL is on the spot when children have a need. Working with Kiandutu's village elders, GCL helps within the hour. Isn't it nice to be a part of it?

Debbie    

 

No Child Has Missed a Day.

This holiday season, our program coordinator in El Zaite is far more concerned about children’s hunger than providing presents and a celebration. The floods several weeks ago destroyed many families’ small garden plots, making food insecurity a greater issue than ever.

While the preschool was in session, the 40 children received a nutritious meal each day. However, while the center is closed from mid-November until early January, many children go hungry.

On a recent trip, Debbie noticed how thin some of the children were. In response, we're giving the 15 neediest boys and girls a warm daily lunch rich in protein, vitamins and minerals while the Center is closed. Since we started on November 17^th, no child has missed a day.

Food baskets can help families through hard times. But feeding programs can target specific children and make a lifesaving difference. Enjoy your holiday feasts knowing that others are cared for, because of your compassion. 

State of Emergency in El Salvador.

Hi Debbie, 

We haven't been about to work with the children for three days. It rains day and night. There is not access from San Salvador to Zaragoza. There are landslides, the electrical system is gone and roads have collapsed. The center may be flooded. We are waiting to see.

The government has declared a state of emergency in seven departments, including Zaragoza.

Our children's families have lost their crops of corn and beans and small animals. We have children with bronchitis, flu, fungus and the growth of dengue due to rains and low temperature.

Carlos

Children's Center, Program Manager

 

Brief Update.

Just a brief update to let you know that we're revising the website--expect some changes in the next few weeks. In El Salvador, the children are preparing for end of the year testing and the culmination of the reading program. I'll be heading down there in early November to take new book backpacks and see how things are going. In Kenya, we're starting an infant feeding program and almost doubling the number of children sent to child care. Needs are growing, as food prices skyrocket and work for mothers becomes harder and harder to find.

Finally, here's a quote from Victor Frankl, the Nazi prison camp survivor. In Man's Search for Meaning, he wrote: "The true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system." 

Have a good week.

Debbie

We Have Much for Which to be Grateful.

It has been relatively quiet this past week at Give A Child Life.....that's a good thing for communities that live on the flash point of disaster. In Kenya, children are heading back to school after the August summer break. In El Salvador, preschool classes continue; the summer literacy event is already a fond memory. Last week I showed a video about poor children in Afghanistan to a class of university students. They were touched. And I was reminded once again how many more people in the world live in desperate, heartbreaking poverty than in homes like our's. Here, despite the ups and downs of the Dow, our pantries are full; our shoes are sturdy, and our beds are comfortable.  We have much for which to be grateful. 

 

Will You Sponsor David or Anna?

David and Anna are twins. They have ten siblings total—eight brothers and two sisters—all living in a small shack in the El Zaite slum in El Salvador. Only six years old, David and Anna sleep on cardboard boxes flattened over the dirt floor. Their clothes are stained and torn hand me downs. They have no toys.

Both parents are street vendors who struggle desperately to make ends meet. Often there is not enough, and the only food David and Anna receive all day is the lunch they’re given at the El Zaite Center supported by Give A Child Life (GCL).

Despite the difficulties of their life, David and Anna are sweet, honest, and optimistic. David likes the color blue and dogs; Anna prefers pink and cats. They enjoy drawing and playing with clay in class. He wants to grow up to be a teacher; she hopes to be a nurse someday.

With a sponsor like you, David or Anna could have hope for better future. Go to www.giveachildlife.org/sponsor to find out more.

 

Thoughts from Kiandutu About Helping Children and Their Mothers.

 I just returned from a fast, three-day trip to the Kiandutu slum in Kenya, where Give A Child Life is providing emergency food, medicine and child care to about 50 children age five and under. It was a thought-provoking trip--and I'll share more later. But think about this.

There is an old adage---give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime. In a meeting with the women we helped, I realized that maybe it's time to change the way we think. Teaching someone to fish may help them, for example, learn to use a line and hook. But if someone believes that they can fish....if they understand the principles behind fishing....if they talk to each other about fishing...maybe a small group could think of five or more ways to do it. To really help the children, we need to help their mothers believe that they can run a small business or work a five-day-a-week job. We need to teach them basic math, so they know how to add and subtract. They need to learn basic reading. And they need to have someone take care of their babies so they can work without worrying.  Our job is to create the foundation that empowers mothers, encourages them to help each other and develops the confidence that they can continue and take care of their families. When you talk about sustainability, you're not really talking about creating an perpetual income stream. You're talking about giving people the ability to solve their own problems and to do it together. 

Bundles of Books for the Children at El Zaite!

Children at the El Zaite Center are about to receive more books than they’ve ever seen—more than they’ve ever imagined. Thirteen boxes filled with almost 900 Spanish children’s books, encyclopedias and other reference books will arrive in El Salvador in the next few weeks.

Contributed by one of GCL’s partners, the nonprofit organization Bundles of Books, some of the titles include Too Many Tamales, Is Your Mama a Llama?, A Pocket Full of Kisses and Goodnight Moon.

The books will stay in the boxes until I arrive in a few weeks. Then we'll unpack them and hand each child a backpack with books and school supplies. You can look forward to the pictures.

Thanks so much, Bundles of Books!

For Only $1.55 Per Child Per Day.

Several weeks ago, 30 hungry little boys and girls at the Kiandutu Juniors Nursery School in Kenya began enjoying a nutritious daily lunch provided by caring people like you.  It’s a simple meal of corn flour, beans, and cabbage , but for most of them, it will be the only food they eat all day.

Recently  their mothers told GCL's program manager, Charity, how grateful they were for the food. One said, “I go to work without the hassle of wondering what they will eat for lunch, without having to find and deliver food in the afternoon. Now I can work a full day.” A burden has been lifted from the women’s shoulders.

For only $1.55 per child per day, it’s incredible what an enormous impact we can have.