Winter Newsletter.... 2012

 “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. 

http://cadanino.blogspot.com/ 

Gary Llama Su mama 3431 1481

Fotos from Zoo trip

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One of my Favorites-

  It's a bit off track for the Cadanino Ministry but important for us all to think about and pray about

• November 20, 2012, 8:27 p.m. ET

The Desolate Wilderness

The classic Review & Outlook columns that have appeared since 1961.

Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton , keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford , sometime governor thereof:
So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.
When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.

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The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.
Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.
Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.
If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.











and

• November 20, 2012, 8:28 p.m. ET

And the Fair Land

The classic Review & Outlook columns that have appeared since 1961.

Anyone whose labors take him into the far reaches of the country, as ours lately have done, is bound to mark how the years have made the land grow fruitful.
This is indeed a big country, a rich country, in a way no array of figures can measure and so in a way past belief of those who have not seen it. Even those who journey through its Northeastern complex, into the Southern lands, across the central plains and to its Western slopes can only glimpse a measure of the bounty of America.
And a traveler cannot but be struck on his journey by the thought that this country, one day, can be even greater. America, though many know it not, is one of the great underdeveloped countries of the world; what it reaches for exceeds by far what it has grasped.
So the visitor returns thankful for much of what he has seen, and, in spite of everything, an optimist about what his country might be. Yet the visitor, if he is to make an honest report, must also note the air of unease that hangs everywhere.
For the traveler, as travelers have been always, is as much questioned as questioning. And for all the abundance he sees, he finds the questions put to him ask where men may repair for succor from the troubles that beset them.
His countrymen cannot forget the savage face of war. Too often they have been asked to fight in strange and distant places, for no clear purpose they could see and for no accomplishment they can measure. Their spirits are not quieted by the thought that the good and pleasant bounty that surrounds them can be destroyed in an instant by a single bomb. Yet they find no escape, for their survival and comfort now depend on unpredictable strangers in far-off corners of the globe.
How can they turn from melancholy when at home they see young arrayed against old, black against white, neighbor against neighbor, so that they stand in peril of social discord. Or not despair when they see that the cities and countryside are in need of repair, yet find themselves threatened by scarcities of the resources that sustain their way of life. Or when, in the face of these challenges, they turn for leadership to men in high places—only to find those men as frail as any others.
So sometimes the traveler is asked whence will come their succor. What is to preserve their abundance, or even their civility? How can they pass on to their children a nation as strong and free as the one they inherited from their forefathers? How is their country to endure these cruel storms that beset it from without and from within?
Of course the stranger cannot quiet their spirits. For it is true that everywhere men turn their eyes today much of the world has a truly wild and savage hue. No man, if he be truthful, can say that the specter of war is banished. Nor can he say that when men or communities are put upon their own resources they are sure of solace; nor be sure that men of diverse kinds and diverse views can live peaceably together in a time of troubles.
But we can all remind ourselves that the richness of this country was not born in the resources of the earth, though they be plentiful, but in the men that took its measure. For that reminder is everywhere—in the cities, towns, farms, roads, factories, homes, hospitals, schools that spread everywhere over that wilderness.
We can remind ourselves that for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators. Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.
And we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delftshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.

A version of this article appeared November 21, 2012, on page A16 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The Desolate Wilderness.

One of the many projects for the Kids

Hand made Jewelry. 

Tim Martiny - Teaching kids important skills

We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to help Tim Martiny and Fundaninos with the wood shop equipment that they use in order to make pens. They hope to make commercially attractive products so that the kids learn the skill and a bit about entrepreneurial opportunities.  Our role was truly minimal: we carried the equipment down from the states in our luggage;  :)  );

Dia Del Nino Octubre 1

My Day at the Trade Center on the day that we were attacked. 20 years later.

   I saw all these people jumping to their deaths below.  From the 42nd floor window in 7 World Trade Center I saw the back of the first plane breaking off and the people falling and then jumping. The image of the bodies remains with me to this day.  I write below a little of my first hand experience that day.

   

  This is What I saw 

         

  

In a conference room on the 42nd floor we were in a morning management meeting discussing competitive products. With my face turned away from the large windows, I heard the roar of a jet  flying much too close to our building. As I turned to see the explosion I saw the back half of the plane breaking off and descending to the ground. It was eerily similar to a Hollywood extravaganza when  seated  too close to the front of the theater.  My colleagues and I were in complete shock. 
As we shouted and cried out,  I prayed the the Lord be there with each of us. The back half of the plane broke off and tumbled to the patio we shared with the North Tower. The flames and quantity of debris was staggering.  Much like a ticker tape parade office papers started fluttering in the wind to the ground almost immediately. As we started to see the people falling and jumping to their deaths there were few atheists in our office. My prayers were for each of them and their families. I prayed they had come to know the Lord and could find some peace. My friends and I were all yelling, crying and guessing  at what was happening. 
The we saw dead people. Lots of dead people. Splattered on the ground in front of us like raw hamburger splattered on your driveway that had thrown from the third floor of your house.  One fellow shouted, ¨That guys head just popped off like a pumpkin.¨ My heart still aches when I hear  that audio  in my mind. 
Like popcorn popping-   people jumped. Some jumped  alone and some of them jumped  in pairs or more. I wondered then and now years later;  was it  better to    face the end alone or holding the hand of an office mate?  At times,  people appeared to be continuously jumping and other other times it appeared to slow.  I had been no stranger to death, but the quantity of people dying quickly was mind boggling.  
I was so very glad that I knew Jesus and prayed that those dying also knew him. I strongly believe many of those passing recommitted to their faith in a profound and sincere way. They now sit with Him and watch us with love.  

PART 2  

The Evacuation 

  Shortly before the second plane hit someone suggested that we call our families. Only 15 of the 150 plus people on our floor were still present. The smart ones and the people who had been there in `93 had already left. After calling and leaving a message at the house, I picked up my binoculars and headed back to watch in the conference room. I remember thinking about the strange irony of having just taken my binoculars to my new job just as the world appeared to be coming apart.  Next to the conference room I stopped in a random office  to try my binoculars.

  The binoculars were strong and I could see the facial features and gestures of the people preparing to jump to their deaths. I could see people frantically gesturing inside the tightly sealed strong windows. One woman who I particularly remember  was gesturing  frantically from a busted balcony that never existed before or after. The result of a plane crashing into the sleek steel and glass walls had created an opening. Was it a balcony or a platform for a messenger?  I hoped naively that   helicopters would arrive soon and they would all be rescued through the roof top.  It was  very naive of me because even if the building had not collapsed the heat from the fires would have precluded a rooftop rescue. Also, naively I continued to pray for this woman  and thought that  I would try to follow her story as she was rescued.  And then BOOM!  Plane number two hit the South Tower.

    After the second plane hi the handful of us who were still there  knew we had to leave. We could hear  the television blaring about another plane, but from our vantage point on the 42nd floor (Building 7)  we thought it was a bomb. The windows exploded in our direction and we saw nothing of the plane. Someone coarsely yelled that perhaps the government was not telling the truth because of the bomb vs. plane.  We all started wondering about bombs and planes.

  The handful of us left planned  our evacuation. I asked Darren if we should wait for Peter our boss. I said that I would not want him to be alone in the event that he returned and felt he had to go down with the ship alone.  "Expletive   Peter.. lets go"   Darren said. We swept the floor with the Systems Administrative guy who had that morning finally delivered my beautiful new laptop computer which remained (remains) locked in the my desk.  He decided to take the elevator as Darren and I chose the stairs. No way was I going to travel in an a  electronic mausoleum.   I looked around  at the now vacant floor and thought,  "Hmm,  what's  next?"
  As we descended we found our colleague Mary struggling down the stairs. Late 50`s and seriously overweight.  Darren steadied her and I carried both of  their stuff. They had far more to carry than I.  It turns out they were the smart ones.....   Laboriously we descended the 42 stairwells, praying for safety and wondering what was going on outside...

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The Three K's Kids, Karegivers and Kulture

  Excuse the abuse of aliteration and spelling. Jesus calls us to care for the widows and orphans. In doing so, we care for the culture, ourselves and humanity.   The orphanage we work at has had several managerial and organizational changes. Many for the better. We went through a terribly difficult time from beginning of January until June. Please pray for continued progress. Also, please pray that today just one child can feel God's presence, love and grace.....