Soapbox.

Listen, since it's my birthday, I'm going to take this opportunity to make a little more noise about these ladies I'm living with.  It's not easy living with 53 girls, getting to know their personalities, and witnessing the wounds and battles of life play out in their stories.  Oh, I've shared and will continue to share the smiles and laughter I'm able to capture in a photo or a video, but believe me-they have bad days too.  Days where they are a little more quiet, a little sad.  Days where they show up looking a little more tired than the others which sends me into a flurry of internal questioning.  "Why does Eugenia look so sad today?"  "Was she awake crying last night?"  "Is she sad today?"  In my limited Spanish, I'm able to ask the simple questions…Yes, in fact, she is just a little sad today.

These girls are caught up in a cycle that is known the world around.  A cycle that is disrupted by a caring person who tells an authority, who then removes the young lady from what she has known as home and places her in a foreign land…I've come to know this foreign land-Principe de Paz.  Clearly, it's only foreign for a time, the time it takes her to adjust depending on each individual girl, but it IS foreign and I can't imagine the weight and breadth of emotions these girls feel when they enter this place.

Each girl has her story.  Every story will stir and break your heart.

Just recently, another one of the younger girls lost her mom.  The neighbors came to share the information with the staff and the young one.  While many waited in the office, Kay spent some time talking to the neighbors about the remaining family members.  The neighbor said that it was better for the young girl to stay here rather than go live with family members.  According to the neighbor, here is a safe place where she should be kept.  This is the clencher, the Spanish word this lady was using for 'here' or Prince of Peace, is the same word they use when they are burying the deceased.  This neighbor sees this place as a place to bury the girls until they are older, maybe old enough to then leave and fend for themselves out in the world.

I'm not particularly fond of that concept, bury them until later.  It sounds stagnant- just put 'em in a home until they are 18 and then send them out.  Thankfully, that IS NOT what POP is doing!

Education is and always has been the door to moving forward.  Get them reading, learning, understanding concepts, develop their minds so they can think for themselves, give them experiences that are meaningful to changing their lives.  Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.  Those things are happening here, YES!  However, it all comes with a price tag and education in Guatemala is NOT free.  Sure, there are public schools, but I haven't heard anything good about those schools.  The girls living at POP attend Puerta de Esperanza, the school on the property.  However, once they reach a certain age/level, many of them leave campus to attend private schools that align with their chosen career path.  They basically make this decision at 9th grade and then attend high school or collegio with a particular area of emphasis.

Education is the door out of the cycle from which they came.  It's the way these girls wipe out the ghosts of the past and find a new future full of possibility.


A day in the life a 15 year old POPster:

-She rises at 4AM to do house chores with her housemates in the Independent Living housing.
-She leaves for school @ 5:30AM because she and her "sisters" all attend 5 different schools and Salvador must drop each of them off for their 7AM start time.
-She attends classes from 7AM until 1:30 or 3 or 4PM.
-She arrives back to POP around 4:45-5:15PM
-She may take a quick nap (if she didn't sleep on the drive), but then she starts her homework and helping with meals etc.
-She studies ALL EVENING LONG and usually turns out the light LATE.

She is more than impressive to me!


And that's just one of the schedules.  They all rise early (5:30 is sleeping in and I'm the one rising at 5:30!), work hard and do their part to keep this place running!  Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of play, but they are learning to work together and it's amazing to watch the wheels turn here!

Here's the bottom line.  These girls need education.  Education is expensive, from books and supplies to uniforms and shoes, it adds up QUICKLY when we're talking about 53 girls!  Education off campus is more expensive, but the school on the property-Puerta de Esperanza-also requires supplies and paying teacher salaries.

What am I asking?  Give.  :)  It's my birthday, I don't need a present, but I'd love to give these girls something more than I am capable of giving alone.  The ChipIn is continually growing… thanks for that!  I'm hoping today will be another surge on the meter!  The correct percent is 44.37%, $1,775 of the $4,000 goal!  From the deep of my heart, thank you.  How/where do you give?  Click the ChipIn on the right or here.

Finally, here's a gift for you!  It's long, but I've been back-logged in posting pictures so I threw them all in and added two of my current favorite tunes.  Hang out for a few more minutes and enjoy the smiles!