Kids Caregivers and Culture Cadanino 2011

As year end of 2011 draws near we are focusing on three things:
 
                                                KCC
   The Kids, the Caregivers and the Culture 

                                          Cadanino Today!
                                                                                                

Cadanino is a small Christian Ministry operating in Guatemala for the past two and a half years.  Our mission is threefold:     The Kids,  The Caregivers and The Culture.  We are explicitly a Christian mercy ministry and focus is on the kids inside a government hospital/orphanage for profoundly developmentally challenged orphans.

The Kids:

The center where we work is a government residential center for  some of the most intellectually and neurologically challenged children. There are 80 children ranging in age from 7  years old into their thirties. Technically, the government mandate is for children from ages 6 to 18, but several stay on after they reach an age of majority  because there simply is no other place for them.
Nearly half the population wears adult diapers and have limited ability to pursue basic grooming or feeding. The children that Cadanino has focused on are the nine children  that are in wheelchairs and completely unable to communicate or be self sustaining.  Cadanino has taken on the task of working with them during all their waking hours and providing them with physical and play therapies.  Prior to our arrival these children were restrained in wheelchairs during daytime hours and languishing in their beds all night long.  Their already problematic limbs were atrophying because of almost no movement or physical activity.  Today some of these children are crawling, standing up and with assistance taking some first steps toward walking.  

The Staff:

 Cadanino employs 5 Nurses-Aides types  (Nineras) and one Physical Therapist who also serves as the general manager of the team.  Most of these Nineras are single Moms living in extreme poverty.  The $250.00  per month that they earn has to cover all their living expenses. The cost of living in Guatemala is significantly lower than in the USA, but food costs are nearly as much as here and the majority of their earnings goes towards feeding their families.  We attempt to witness to them and encourage them. Initially, we told them the job would be for six months so that they  could transition into better employment.  Almost universally, they have been unable to find improved employment opportunities and have stayed working with us. Several of them are approaching their two year anniversary working with us and we are looking for ways to offer them personal development. Currently, Cadanino is sponsoring upcoming classes for our staff as well as the government’s 45 person staff classes in,   “Teamwork,  Self Esteem, and Managing Stress.”   We have hosted a few American Missions teams and they have provided excellent appreciation activities such as, manicures, pedicures and messages. While providing basic employment and some kindness, this area of our ministry has  significant room for improvement.

The Culture:


Cadanino exists to serve Christ and Worship our Lord.  We want  our initiatives to bring Glory to the Kingdom and change lives in the here and now.  We have been called to run this ministry inside a secular government run institution. We work side by side with the 45 government employees who suffer from a variety work related burn out and grinding poverty. As Guatemala moves from a third world nation into a first world nation we want to encourage their government services, local philanthropies and the local Church. Our goal is to serve as a catalyst in encouraging them to take better care of their neediest citizens. What better benchmark of a society’s culture than the care they give to their least fortunate. The second half of the cultural objective is to change hearts and minds back home in the USA.  As John Piper says, “ Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.”
This third tier of our work is difficult to analyze in terms of effectiveness and impact, but we continue to pray for guidance. A newly elected government in Guatemala gives us hope for gradual change.

  This link to our blog will give you a better idea of what we are doing and some of the lives we are effecting.   

 
Click here to see Cadanino Blog

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