“IN SUPPORT OF KIDS IN NEED .ONE KID AT A TIME.” - OKAT
CadaNiño Ministry
http://cadanino.blogspot.com/
Winter Newsletter
Blessings to you and yours from CadaNiño Ministries in Guatemala. The Lord continues to bless this ministry and the children that we serve. Though the year started out slow and with many challenges, we ended 2012 strong and with vast improvements in the quality of life for most of the children.
CadaNiño serves to help the most vulnerable children residing at CRPN (Centro Residencial Psiquiatrico y Neurologico), a government center in Guatemala City. Jesus has called us to bring His love and mercy to some of the neediest and neglected people in this third world country. Of the nearly 75 children in residence at the center, our principal focus is on the 11 wheelchair bound children. These little ones are unable to walk, talk, crawl, or feed themselves. Each one wears a diaper and is cared for by our five employed nurse’s aides (or nineras).While CadaNiño Foundation employs locals to help with the eleven most vulnerable children, we are presently involved in the educational, physical therapy and extracurricular activities of the entire population. In fact, after nearly four years with these children we have developed warm personal relationships with almost all of the residents; deeper and more dynamic relationships than almost any of the government’s ever-changing professional staff.
We remain pleased with the vision of hiring financially strapped single mothers to improve the lives of their families and our children. Unknowingly, the inclusion of local single mothers was a format we stumbled into (or God lead us into) at the very beginning of our work here. We are trying to leverage our modest financial resources with two bangs for the buck: the nineras receive employment and some developmental life skills classes while the most neglected orphaned children benefit from more adequate care. A challenge in the coming year will be to expand the number of children we reach, without sacrificing the level of care provided to each.
Before we delve into our 2013 plans, a brief recap of highlights and challenges from thispast year…
Those of us who are parents, blessed with children of our own, remember fondly, watching our kids grow and develop. First steps, first utterances of “Mama” or “Dada,” and milestone moments learning their numbers and letters bring us great joy. It is different with profoundly handicapped children. Many, if not most, experience negligible or modest improvement while the advances they do make, often go unobserved. The “milestone moments” we celebrate in our own children’s’ lives often go unnoticed, detected only by those close to them. Here, in many cases the children actually regress or deteriorate, while in the most extreme unfortunate cases, they die; like our resident Hugo, who went to be with the Lord this past March.
Hugo suffered from uncontrollable epileptic seizures. He experienced daily convulsions in 2011, during periods when there was a lack of medicine. Each time a person experiences an epileptic convulsion their brain deteriorates. Hugo was 23 and a very sweet boy. He had a sense of art and beauty that is relatively rare in this population. We honored Hugo’s life with a lovely funeral service. My friend Father Michael Della Penne conducted the funeral rites at the funeral home and the rather grim public municipal cemetery. We wrote about Hugo in our summer newsletter update.
Winter Update
Two children who made the most visible progress this year are my two “consentida” (favored or spoiled) kids: Hector and Ingrid.
Hector experienced partial fetal strangulation at his birth and has suffered from a form of cerebral palsy and very low intelligence. He is relatively new to the center as his family was unable to care for him in 2010. Because of childhood seizures his feet were bent down and he could only crawl and had no possibility of walking because when elevated he actually rested on the tops of his feet twisted down under his body. Through the fine surgical work of the Moore Pediatric Foundation (Moore Family from Tennessee) and the hard work of Kelly Shay and the missions’ team from The Village Church, Hector is able to walk with only hand holding for stability. His shaking from the cerebral palsy is severely diminished, but his left side remains obviously weaker and less coordinated than his right. It is easy to spend time with Hector because he has made so much progress and is so happy to have someone take him for a walk around the yard. The kids that make progress are such a joy and a blessing. We constantly remind each other to not only spend time with the “easy” kids like Hector, but also to pay attention and love on the forgotten quiet types. It is easy to focus on the winners and allow the others to suffer in silence.
Ingrid is the other child that is progressing nicely. I have written about her before. Her arms and legs were likely broken as a baby due to childhood shaking or abuse. Apparently, her father did not want her to live so he forbade the Mother from feeding her. She has very low intelligence, is highly autistic and has horrible epileptic seizures. Her eyes are bright and soulful. She responds to attention with smiles and small shrieks. She is now 12 years old and can stand upright for long periods of time. With significant effort and help she can manage a few steps.
Part of our challenge is the effect of long-term institutionalization. These children come to rely on the world coming to them and not needing to move or take initiative to have their needs met. Mid-year we ordered Hector out of his wheelchair completely and Ingrid mostly out of the wheelchair. The change has had the desired impact. They are becoming more coordinated, engaged and self-starting.
At year-end we are restructuring our teams a bit. The idea is that the 11 wheelchair-bound kids evolve a deeper emotional relationship with their “Mama.” Our nannies are divided into two teams: the Osos (Bears) and Tigres (Tigers). The objective is that the nannies will be assigned to their team and have continuity with their own smaller teams of children. Our dream is someday to hire a Mama for each child (hence our name CadaNiño). Though the nannies will help each other with the eleven children, we will continue to search for ways for them to foster greater bonding with their smaller group. With God’s blessing and some good fortune we hope to expand in January with an additional team called, the Leones the (Lions). The six children included in that team will be the next most vulnerable or isolated small children in the center. Currently, we are raising funds to financially support that next nanny.
There is always a temptation to want to write something super profound. There are many opportunities throughout the days when we can ponder the meaning of life and man’s brokenness. The simplicity and directness of the Gospel and the Bible teach us some simple and universal truths. Each child has value in God’s eyes. We are instructed to care for the widows and children. God is pleased when he sees us serving the needy.
We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May all God’s children grow and prosper in 2013.
Please prayerfully consider supporting CadaNiño’s commitment to help all God’s children grow and prosper in 2013. To partner with us, send a financial contribution to, Fundaniños Orphans of Guatemala.
Please mail checks to: Fundaniños
c/o Jamie Waller
PO Box 41
Speculator NY 12164
*All donations are 100% tax deductible and we will send you a traditional form for U.S.A IRS tax receipt.
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