Monday, April 23, 2012

May Birthdays 2012

Prayers - Blessings and hopefully CAKE!! ?? 

Anahi 9
Ingrid 12
Clarita 26
Pasucal 25
Jon 19

Staff

Milvia May 10
Jeanet May 11
Alida May 31



Thanks to Adriano Ramazin we have this excellent video that captures the spirit of Cadanino

Cadanino 101 Who we are

For the past three years we have been   working with some of  the neediest and most deserving populations: the orphaned and profoundly handicapped abandoned children   here in Guatemala City.  Our foundation currently employs a staff of five:   one  Physical Therapist, Carmen Marie Guatebein and four nurses aides (Nineras).  Our foundation has also  funded and participated in a wide range field trips, educational initiatives, hydro therapies  and sports activities such as the Special Olympics.

 Since we started this ministry in in early  2009 our focus has been to supplement the basic care these children receive from the Guatemalan Government. There are approximately 80 children in residence and the Government has approximately 45 full time employees. Our modest contribution of five staff is a help to the center, but the ratio of adult supervisors to children remains woefully inadequate. It is now our hope that the newly elected Guatemalan Government will significantly increase staffing to more adequate levels. As such, it is our intention to continue to expand our staff and programming. 


Part of this  mission’s  vision has been to create a charity that assures donors that 100% of their gifts goes directly to serve the children and their caregivers. We have been fortunate to be able to tell people that all administrative and overhead expenses are covered by  some  generous gifts from a  Family Foundation. That  same foundation also  covers as much as 50% of the operating budget.  The monthly expenditures is based primarily on one metric; the number of women  employed.  We view this as a two for one investment:  a) we provide employment to impoverished single Moms and b) the children in the center receive far better care.  The Nineras continue to earn about $250.00 per month and our Physical Therapist earns about $400.00.   As you can imagine the $250 salary for the nineras is a large step toward leaving the lowest levels of poverty,  but they still live an extremely modest lifestyle.  Food here is nearly as costly as in the United States and the population adjusts to that difficulty by eating very simple meals or rice and beans with very little high protein content foods.

   Please  click here   Click for Website Fundaninos    and read how we are thinking about our threefold mission and challenge. Also please visit out blog for more insight into out activities and the day to day challenges the children face. In this letter we refrain from highlighting the heart wrenching anecdotal stories of some of our saddest and most difficult cases. Suffice to say, that we think that  these children’s lives remain some of the most  complex, heartbreaking and meritorious for your consideration.

Please consider giving to,  “The Orphans of Guatemala, Fundaninos.”  We are in the midst of planning programs and ministry for 2012 and are trying to expand and improve services for the children.

Please send Checks to :    Fundaninos   ℅ Jamie Waller 4 Franklin Pl.  Summit NJ 07901-3617

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Frequently Asked Questions



2012  FAQ



1)  CRPN  the facility is owned and operated by the local Government

2) 78 Full time residents. 

    a) More than 50% have no parents or identifiable family
    b) The ages range from 6 to 43. The official charter  is for 6 to 16, but more than 
         half are older than 18.  Few options for this population when they become a                 
            Adults.

3) Many are there under protective legal orders. Many have been abused.
      Many also have suffered extreme neglect .

4)  All have "profoundly" low intelligence and most have other neurological problems 
      such as epilepsy, autism, PICA, bipolar disorder , schizophrenia etc.

5) Approximately half wear adult diapers

6) Five children are complete invalids

7) The Government employs approximately 40 people for the 24x7 Care
     Foundation Cadanino has 6 people helping around the edges

8) Children are fed ample portions of nutritious food.  They  have clean clothing and 
     appropriate psychiatric medications.

9) Cadanino consists of 6 people:  5  nannies, one physical therapist,
     and founder. 

10) The children thrive on any attention and enthusiastically participate in activities. 



Sunday, April 15, 2012

Fundaninos - Fotos de los ninos por los ninos

  Loaned Consuela and Katy my new Nikon D7000 this afternoon for some photography.
Let's see how they turned out....


Friday, April 6, 2012

Just for the Record...

   The abusive testing of mental patients in Guatemala in the 1950's was a horrible experiment and abuse of human beings. However, for the record we were doing the same to our own and all so called modern nations attempted the same thing. One also make the case the Eugenics is still at the heart of these abuses and the abortion folks are still at it in various forms. Embryonic testing is but another insane example of the types of abuses that go on today under the guide of research.

Willowbrook

"

Construction and early conversion

In 1938, plans were drawn up to build a facility for mentally disabled children on a 375 acres (1.52 km2) site in the Willowbrook section of Staten Island. Construction was completed in 1942, but instead of opening for its original purpose, it was converted into a United States Army hospital and named Halloran General Hospital, after the late Colonel Paul Stacey Halloran. After World War II, proposals were introduced to turn the site over to the Veterans Administration, but in October 1947, the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene opened its facility there as originally planned, and the institution was named Willowbrook State School.

[edit] Hepatitis studies

Throughout the first decade of its operation, outbreaks of hepatitis were common at the school. Virtually all children developed hepatitis within six months, primarily hepatitis A. This led to a highly controversial medical study carried out there between the mid-1950s up to the 1970s by medical researchers Saul Krugman and Robert W. McCollum. Healthy children were intentionally inoculated, orally and by injection, with the virus that causes the disease, then monitored to gauge the effects of gamma globulin in combating it.[3] A public outcry forced the study to be discontinued.

[edit] More scandals and abuses

By 1965, Willowbrook housed over 6,000 mentally disabled children, despite having a maximum capacity of 4,000. Senator Robert Kennedy toured the institution in 1965 and proclaimed that individuals in the overcrowded facility were "living in filth and dirt, their clothing in rags, in rooms less comfortable and cheerful than the cages in which we put animals in a zoo" and offered a series of recommendations for improving conditions.[4] Although the hepatitis study had been discontinued, the residential school's reputation was that of a warehouse for New York City's mentally disabled children, many of whom were presumably abandoned there by their families, foster care agencies or other systems designed to care for them. Donna J. Stone, an advocate for mentally disabled children as well as victims of child abuse, gained access to the school by posing as a recent social work graduate. She then shared her observations with members of the press.[5]
A series of articles in local newspapers, including the Staten Island Advance and the Staten Island Register, described the crowded, filthy living conditions at Willowbrook, and the negligent treatment of some of its residents. Shortly thereafter, in early 1972, Geraldo Rivera, then an investigative reporter for WABC-TV in New York, conducted a series of investigations at Willowbrook uncovering a host of deplorable conditions, including overcrowding, inadequate sanitary facilities, and physical and sexual abuse of residents by members of the school's staff. The exposé, entitled Willowbrook: The Last Disgrace, garnered national attention and won a Peabody Award for Rivera.[6] Rivera later appeared on the nationally televised Dick Cavett Show with film of patients at the school.
As a result of the overcrowding, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the State of New York in federal court on March 17, 1972. A settlement in the case was reached on May 5, 1975, mandating reforms at the site, but several years would pass before all of the violations were corrected. The publicity generated by the case was a major contributing factor to the passage of a federal law, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980."

Staff enjoys day at the pool during Semana Santa

Followers