Tag Archives: hope

Shelley Callahan | July 6, 2017En Español

The first question Shelley Oxenham, U.S. Projects Specialist for Children Incorporated, asked Michael Helton, our volunteer coordinator at Magoffin County High School, on her recent visit was what he saw for the future of the county and region. Shelley was meeting with Michael as a part of her trip to Kentucky, in conjunction with Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube’s, visit to Martin County schools.

Carrie said that the children mostly receive clothing, shoes, and school supplies with the funds their sponsors provide. She also stated that Children Incorporated is the center’s greatest resource; she does not know how she would provide for the children without our program.

Michael sighed and quietly said, “No matter what anyone says or promises, coal is never coming back. This area will continue to decline unless another industry moves in and creates jobs.”

Magoffin County has the highest unemployment rate in the state of Kentucky. As of this year, unemployment is at 18.9 percent — seven percentage points higher than the next-highest county (Elliott County at 11.6 percent). The coal mines have been shut down for many years, and a local factory shut down two years ago — meaning even more unemployment in the area.

Trying to Create Jobs

To deal with the lack of employment opportunities, the county is trying to get a veterans’ nursing home built in Salyersville, which would create a lot of jobs.

Also, a small mine has re-opened; but there are few jobs available, and they are not the same high-paying jobs of the past. Many of the coal plants have closed down, never to reopen, having been replaced permanently by natural gas plants. Years ago, Magoffin was a tobacco-producing area as well – but that industry has also moved out along with the coal industry.

Currently, the school board is the largest employer in Magoffin County. Most of the other jobs in the area are part-time or minimum wage jobs at local fast food chains, and stores like Dollar General.

One of the students Shelley met with told her he works as a cashier at McDonald’s, and he fears that one day in the near future, his job will not exist because of the rising popularity of automation, in which customers place their food orders on a screen instead of giving their order to a cashier. Fast food chains have already been testing this idea in larger cities. The rise of self-ordering and self-checkout could really wipe out what remains of employment opportunities for high school or newly-graduated students.

A Special Delivery for a Sponsored Child

At North Magoffin Elementary School, Shelley met with Carrie Allen, the Family Resource Center Coordinator, and her assistant, Deana Branch. Carrie and Deana are both long-time veterans of the center. They are so kind, and really care about the well-being of all of the students in their care. Carrie said that the children mostly receive clothing, shoes, and school supplies with the funds their sponsors provide. She also stated that Children Incorporated is the center’s greatest resource; she does not know how she would provide for the children without our program.

Support from sponsorship helps parents as well as kids

One of our sponsored children with her mother

While Shelley was visiting the school, one of our sponsored children, Allison*, received a package from her sponsor. Allison’s little face lit up when Deana told her about the package. She slowly and carefully opened the box, and examined each item very seriously. She then colored a picture for her sponsor as a thank-you. Deana asked Allison what she wanted to tell her sponsor, and in a small, quiet voice, she said, “I love you.”

Carrie and Deana wish more sponsors would write letters and send packages to their sponsored children. It has such a great impact on the children’s self-esteem, emotional well-being, and school attendance. They wish sponsors could see children’s faces light up when they get something in the mail.

An Unsponsored Child’s Scars

Shelley also met a little girl named Stephanie*, who is currently unsponsored. She is eight years old and very small for her age; she still wears toddler-sized clothes. Stephanie has year-round allergies and breathing issues. When she was five years old, she was burned in a house fire and has severe burns on her legs as a result. A school staff member has to rub lotion on her legs every day because they are so dry.

The winter is especially hard on her; because of the burns, she gets cold really quickly. She will need snow boots and warm winter clothes to protect her legs from the brutal mountain winters. Hopefully, she will have a sponsor by then. Stephanie also has a lot of emotional scars from her tough upbringing. Having a sponsor this year would be a big help to her and her family. Her mother visits the resource center a lot to get hygiene products and other necessities, and she is always extremely appreciative of what she receives.

They wish sponsors could see children’s faces light up when they get something in the mail.

Saving for College as a Kid

During her visit to Magoffin County High School, Shelley met with Alan*, a high school senior who works twenty hours a week while also going to school full-time.

After high school, Alan wants to get his associate degree in carpentry. He skipped his senior trip to Washington, D.C. and Virginia Beach so that he could put in a full week’s worth of work in order to save for his college expenses.

He said that having a sponsor has helped him be able to save money for college. He commented that it’s the little things, like a new pair of comfortable pants that fit, that make life easier.

Alan has had the same sponsor since he was a child. It makes him feel good that there are people in the world who care, and that his sponsor committed to helping him all the way through graduation. He hopes to one day do the same for another child.

Boosting Confidence and Self-esteem for the Future

But smiles don't mean they aren't in need

Sponsored kids love smiling for the camera!

Jonnie Risner is our coordinator at South Magoffin Elementary School. She says Children Incorporated helps out with getting clothing for children in need; but a lot of what she buys for her students is soap, shampoo, conditioner, and laundry detergent. She said that our program is her greatest resource, and she doesn’t know what she would do without us. The children are in great need, and the program is such a boost to their confidence and self-worth. She said that sponsors who write letters open the eyes of the children to the rest of the world.

Shelley also asked Jonnie about the future of the county, and she said that the future looks grim. There aren’t any jobs, and the hope that coal mining will make a comeback does not seem realistic. There are two new Dollar General stores being built in town; these will give other people some jobs, but they will put local grocery stores at risk of going out of business. The worry is not only for the parents and adults in Eastern Kentucky, but also whether there will be jobs for today’s children once they graduate.

Regardless of what the future may hold for the kids of Magoffin County, Kentucky, your sponsorship and contributions make a world of difference today – as well as working toward making a different world for them tomorrow.

*Names changed for children’s protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways – call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists, or send us an email at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | July 1, 2017En Español

In May, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, visited Martin County in Kentucky, where she met with many of our sponsored children at our affiliated schools, as well as at some of their homes. The breadth and depth of the poverty in Martin County is staggering. Over the many years that Renée has been visiting Eastern Kentucky, she has seen the homes of the impoverished on the sides of main roads; but it still amazed her that home visits would take her off state roads, and onto tiny county roads, where along gravel lanes and dirt ruts, there is even more dire poverty. Some homes are so far into the mountain hollows that Renée can’t even begin to imagine how the homes were placed there.

Grandparents Stepping Up

Upon visiting with Billy* at his school, Renée found his situation to be very representative of many Martin County children, because his grandparents are raising him and his little sister, Kristen*. Both grandparents are disabled and subsist on small disability allotments from the government.

Renée with a sponsored child and her parents

Renée noticed that Billy is cheerful and has a positive attitude. He was comfortable telling her that he loves having a sponsor, and that it has helped him very much. He was excited to talk about the opportunity to enjoy a week at Trooper Island Summer Camp in Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park; the camp gives underprivileged Kentucky children, ages ten to twelve, some time away from their stresses so they can simply be kids. State troopers lead them in all kinds of recreational activities, and they have conversations about healthy living, safety, and making wise choices.

So Many Children in Need

Renée also met with Blake* and Ruby* at their school; these two siblings had been living with their parents in a partially burned house that had no running water. The Family Resource Center, our partnering organization in Kentucky, worked with other county partners to find the family another place to live. The kids’ housing is now better and safer, but their circumstances are still extremely bad.

As Renée spoke with the parents, they told her how much the sponsorship program has meant to them, because the kids’ sponsors have helped so much over the years.

Another sponsored child, Scott*, was just enrolled in our program in January. He lives with his grandparents, siblings, and other relatives. There are ten people in the home, which is a very dilapidated dwelling. Renée also met Stuart*, who lives in a camper trailer by a local pizza restaurant. There are ten people living in his home as well, including his first cousin, Nathan*, who is also in our program. Their home life is not only an impoverished one, but it is also incredibly unstable and rather neglectful.

Loving Parents Struggle to Provide Support

Her first visit took Renée to the home of the Johnson family, who lives in one of the most deprived trailer communities in the county. Both the mother and father are kind and loving, but have little education or physical capacity. Their children are Susan*, age fourteen and in high school; Brooke*, age eighteen and also in high school; and Holly*, age nineteen and a former sponsored child. The father is a general laborer and can find only temporary jobs. The mother has respiratory problems and is in poor health, which often causes her to be bedridden.

Homes in Eastern Kentucky, which are sometimes too small for large families

When Renée entered the home, she saw that the front door opened directly into the living room, and a small sofa was in front of her. There was a small bed against a wall, and that’s where one of the girls sleeps. To the right of the living room was the kitchen. To the left of the living room was a doorway that opened into the parents’ room, which was taken up by a king-sized mattress and box spring foundation, and is where the mother spends most of her time. The family had decorated the home with old beach towels, which hung from the walls and the ceilings.

As Renée spoke with the parents, they told her how much the sponsorship program has meant to them, because the kids’ sponsors have helped so much over the years. The Johnsons are among the poorest of the families with kids in our program; but even though it seems virtually impossible for the parents to improve their situation, Renée could tell that they have hope for their children, and that the support they receive from sponsorship is important in encouraging the girls to do well in school and succeed.

The Wilson family also welcomed Renée into their home. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are the parents of Becky*, nine; Lola*, seven; and Maria*, five. All three girls are sponsored. The middle child, Lola, is extremely small for her age and has some health challenges. The parents have tried diligently over the years to support their children, and our volunteer coordinators have worked closely with them in their efforts.

These are just a few examples of how much of a difference your sponsorship and contributions make; little by little, we can help break the cycle of poverty by offering more and more children education, hope, and opportunity.

They were living in a ramshackle apartment, but are now in a public housing complex – which is a big step up for them. The parents are extremely proud of their small apartment, and the mother has decorated it with modest items purchased at yard sales, thrift shops, and dollar stores. This home is much better for the girls than their former situation.

Through her home visits, both parents and guardians told Renée over and over that the most important things for their children to have are absolute basics, like food, clothing, school supplies, and hygiene items. After paying rent and utilities, caretakers often find they have virtually nothing left over to help support their rapidly growing children, which is why our sponsorship program is so valuable to these families.

These are just a few examples of how much of a difference your sponsorship and contributions make; little by little, we can help break the cycle of poverty by offering more and more children education, hope, and opportunity.

*Names changed for children’s protection.

***

HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, or email the sponsorship department at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | June 7, 2017En Español

Almost as soon as we arrived in Managua after our flight from San Jose, I could tell that Nicaragua was vastly different from Costa Rica. As we drove out of the capital city, the jungle landscape we had seen just one day before had been replaced by flat, open land where cows and horses roamed for miles. Along the road to Leon, the second-largest city in Nicaragua after Managua, we saw cowboys, both young and old, leading herds of animals, and I felt like we were in an old Western movie.

Andreia, International Project Specialist, with Sister Olga, our volunteer coordinator

That feeling didn’t change when we arrived two hours later at the La Recoleccion Home, a school for girls that has been around since 1880. La Recoleccion itself looked like a movie set – the large hallways and courtyards of the school were picturesque, towering stories above us. Lush trees and blossoming flowers grew all around, and archways leading into grand halls were enormous. I hadn’t known what to expect on my first trip to Nicaragua, but its beauty overwhelmed me, which was striking, considering we were in one of the poorest countries in the Americas.

The Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

Geographically, Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. It is a multi-ethnic country of six million people, and the main language spoken there is Spanish. Tourism in Nicaragua has grown exponentially in recent years, but the population of the country still remains very poor. 48 percent of its people live below the poverty line, living on less than two dollars a day.

The country is primarily an agricultural one, and its minimum wage is among the lowest in all of the Americas. For that reason, many Nicaraguans leave to try to find better work in neighboring countries like Costa Rica, even though that means leaving their families, including their children, behind.

But those who are accepted have a safe place to be during the day; and for some, La Recoleccion offers an escape from a world of poverty during the night as well.

A Safe Place for Girls

At La Recoleccion, more than 1,300 girls attend the school every day. Sister Olga is our volunteer coordinator at the school, which also serves as a girls’ home. She has been working at La Recoleccion since 2014, when she moved from Honduras, where she had been working as our coordinator at another affiliate project since 1998. In all, Sister Olga has been associated with Children Incorporated for almost twenty years; and like Sister Bertalina at Santa Luisa in Costa Rica, she has worked at multiple projects in multiple countries!

Of the 68 girls enrolled in our program and attending the school, 25 live in the home full-time because their families have moved away to look for work. Many of the girls who don’t live at the Home live with single mothers who work long hours away from home in fields, or as housekeepers for other families. Violence is a concern because the girls are at home alone in the afternoons while their mothers work late – and unfortunately, abuse sometimes comes from people the mothers are associated with, like stepfathers or boyfriends.

A Beacon of Hope

It’s hard for Sister Olga to decide who gets to go to the school – more parents approach the school about enrolling their daughters than there is room for students in the classrooms, even though it is a very large school. But those who are accepted have a safe place to be during the day; and for some, La Recoleccion offers an escape from a world of poverty during the night as well.

The girls are well-cared-for by Sister Olga and the teachers and staff, so they can worry less and focus more on getting a good education. The girls also receive counseling, and Sister Olga offers sewing classes to their mothers so that they may acquire the skills they need to make a better living for themselves and their families. In the beautiful land of volcanoes and lakes in Nicaragua, La Recoleccion offers a safe and special beacon of hope for so many girls and their mothers.

***

HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN NICARAGUA?

You can sponsor a child in Nicaragua in one of two ways – call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists, or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child that is available for sponsorship in Nicaragua.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | May 31, 2017En Español

A five-hour drive from Costa Rica’s capital is the small town of Bribri in the Talamanca region, southeast of San Jose, along the border of Panama. The town is inhabited mostly by the indigenous Bribri tribe, which is comprised of people who live and work close to the Sixaola River, which separates Costa Rica from Panama by just a short boat ride.

For the last nine years, during five of which Sister Bertalina has been at Santa Luisa, the 83 children in our program have been receiving food, clothing, shoes, and school supplies upon monthly visits to the home.

The area produces various crops, including bananas, plantains, cacao, and a variety of tropical fruits; agriculture provides little income for the families in the region, however. Among the houses and schools within the Bribri community is the Santa Luisa home for the elderly, which not only serves the aging population, but also provides support for children in the community.

A Surprising Connection

We left San Jose at 4:00 a.m. to make the drive to Bribri; we passed over mountains and then drove along the Caribbean coast until the paved road we had been traveling on stopped, and a gravel path lead us into the jungle, the river to the south visible every so often over banana trees.

When we arrived at Santa Luisa, we saw a community center at the entrance gate, and there was a basketball court in front of it. Directly behind it was the home for the elderly, which consisted of four or five separate buildings connected by walkways. Another home sat on a hill above the driveway, where Sister Bertalina, our volunteer coordinator, was waiting for us.

Sister Bertalina with one of our sponsored children

Upon greeting us, Sister Bertalina explained that she had been our coordinator for two years at La Milagrosa in San Jose — which we had visited just the day before — until 2011, when she came to Santa Luisa.

Before that, she had worked at one of our other affiliate sites, Casa Central, in Guatemala as well. In the last ten years, she has been our coordinator for three different sites in two different countries — meaning she has a lot of experience with how to best support the children in our program.

A Community in Need

Sister Bertalina showed us around the grounds of Santa Luisa, which are well-kept and full of chickens, roosters, and fruit trees — all of which provide food for the residents of the home. Santa Luisa is funded and run by the Costa Rican government.

Ten staff members help care for upwards of 25 elderly residents at a time, and the four Sisters that live on the property help to oversee operations, as well as provide support for the children and their families in the surrounding communities through our sponsorship program.

For the last nine years, during five of which Sister Bertalina has been at Santa Luisa, the 83 children in our program have been receiving food, clothing, shoes, and school supplies upon monthly visits to the home.

Both the young and old are being affected by the delicate nature of their families’ economic situations — all because of poverty.

Although the children and the elderly don’t interact with one another during those visits, in many ways, they go to the home for similar reasons. The elderly there have families who are no longer able help them as they become older and unable to care for themselves. Being a casualty of the cycle of poverty, these families can’t afford to take care of aging parents or extended family members, and they are forced to leave them in the government’s care.

This is something that I have become used to seeing with children in our program, but hadn’t yet seen with the elderly. Both young and old are being affected by the delicate nature of their families’ economic situations — all because of poverty. The elderly residents, just like so many children, are lacking the support they greatly need, and are just as vulnerable as children are.

Living in the jungle

After showing us the Santa Luisa grounds, Sister Bertalina took us to visit the home of two children in our program, only a few-minutes drive away. The visit took us deep into the jungle, where at first glance, it didn’t seem that a path off the main road existed at all.

Blanketed by large banana trees, it was narrow and muddy, and it took us up a steep incline. When we arrived at the wooden two-bedroom house, which was built on stilts on the side of a hill, we were greeted by the father, who held his small son in his arms. His wife and their other son were out, but he told us we would meet them at Santa Luisa the next day, when we were to meet with the other sponsored children in our program.

We provided shoes to children thanks to Because International.

The father explained that the roof leaks whenever it rains, which forces them to bag their clothes and tie those bags to the rafters in order to keep their belongings dry.

The family has little money for food because the father makes a very low wage working banana fields. The youngest son is anemic, which makes it difficult to keep him healthy. As we left, Sister Bertalina mentioned that she wants to buy mattresses for many of these families who sleep on the floor or foam padding. She also wishes she could start a nutritional program for the families so she could provide them with vitamins, as well as instructions on how to eat well.

Neither young nor old

The following day, the children went to the center to meet with us, along with their mothers, and some with their fathers, like the family we had met the day before. The children were excited to meet with us, and it gave them a chance to play on the playground, too.

They ran around together until it was time for us to hand out school supplies and shoes we had brought with us for them to take home. Each child received a pair of shoes from Because International, a book bag, pencils, erasers, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.

It is more than just a home for the old which also supports the young — it is a home that makes a difference for everyone in-between in Bribri, too.

After they received their gifts, the mothers served a large meal of rice, potatoes, and vegetables. After we ate, everyone went home for the day, and we said our goodbyes. The family we had visited the day before came to speak with us — the father, the mother, and the two small boys. The parents, who were neither young nor old, expressed their gratitude for the support they receive from our program, thanks to the Santa Luisa home.

It occurred to me how important Santa Luisa is to this community. It is more than just a home for the old which also supports the young — it is a home that makes a difference for everyone in-between in Bribri, too.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN COSTA RICA?

You can sponsor a child in Costa Rica in one of two ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Costa Rica that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | May 24, 2017En Español

When we first met our volunteer coordinator, Marta, at the Costa Rica Center in San Jose, I could tell she was full of energy. A small Costa Rican woman, she walked quickly down the sidewalk away from our hotel, as Andreia, our International Site Specialist, and I tried to keep up. When we got to her car, she shuffled us in, having a busy agenda for the day.

Ricky, Marta (left), and Ricky’s mom, outside of their home

In the morning, we would be visiting the houses of four of our sponsored children, and then we would be meeting the eighteen children enrolled in our program at the community center, which Marta uses as their monthly meeting spot. There, the mothers and the children had something special planned for us.

A Second Mother

The Costa Rica Center has been a Children Incorporated affiliate site for more than thirty years. Our founder, Mrs. Jeanne Clarke Wood, originally started working with this place when it was an orphanage. At that time, it had a school attached to it, which Marta’s son, who is now grown, attended. Marta worked as a volunteer with our former coordinator at the school, and eventually took over for her. She has been our coordinator at the Costa Rica Center for twenty years now.

Today, the orphanage is no longer there, and Marta has found another location at which to meet with the children in our program. Our program could have disappeared with the closing of the orphanage and the school, but instead, Marta happily took over all the responsibilities that go along with sponsorship, acting in many ways as a second mother to these children, which she isn’t really far from.

She has seen many of the children grow up in our sponsorship program, having been enrolled in primary school, and going on to graduate. A lot of the children have been in the program for ten years or more, which says a lot about Marta. She has used her abundance of energy to help keep these kids in school for many years.

The Importance of Longevity

Marta happily took over all the responsibilities that go along with sponsorship, acting in many ways as a second mother to these children, which she isn’t really far from.

All the Costa Rica Center children live in the city of San Jose, in various impoverished neighborhoods, and they attend the local schools. Many of them are in high school, or are just graduating and moving on to college or trade school. I was so impressed with Marta — her personal dedication to helping these kids was amazing, and the fact that so many older children, mostly between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, are enrolled shows me that she understands the importance of longevity when it comes to sponsorship.

Keeping children in the program as long as possible, and keeping up with their home lives and families is a big job — and Marta is obviously doing it well. She not only meets with the children on a monthly basis to provide them with food baskets, but she also plans holiday and Mother’s Day activities to give the children and their families a chance to get together and celebrate. She also has monthly meetings with the mothers to discuss whatever concerns they may have.

Helping Children Become Teens

Theresa and her mom in their house in San Jose

Our first stop was Ricky’s home, which was a small house down a narrow alleyway in the city. In his early teens, Ricky is a ninth-grader who lives with his parents and two siblings. His mother talked to us about how much sponsorship helps the whole family — with Ricky receiving support, they have less to worry about, and it also motivates Ricky to do well in school so he can stay in the program.

Marta also took us to Theresa’s house. Theresa was born five months prematurely and has had health issues ever since she was an infant. She is now nineteen, has always needed a wheelchair to get around, and has had multiple complications throughout her life that have lead to long stays away from home — sometimes even months — in the hospital. Theresa’s single mother receives very little help from the government to cover health care costs, and the government prevents her from working because she must care for her daughter full-time.

Theresa’s sponsor sends additional gifts to help with her special needs, which has been a great help for the family, who never knows when Theresa might end up back in the hospital — and her sponsor has even visited a few times over the years. As I look around the house, I notice a picture of Theresa on the wall, holding a violin. Her mom told us that one time, when Theresa was hospitalized for four months, the staff there gave the children musical instruments so that they would have something to do. Theresa learned to play while she was recovering, and plays all the time now.

The Joy of Laughter

After our home visits, Marta took us to the community center where she meets with the mothers and children. The center is large, with a stage in front, and benches lining a wall. The mothers all brought homemade dishes for lunch, as well as homemade crafts to show us. Ceramics, paintings, and knitted garments lined a long table that was against a wall. Marta explained that she encourages the mothers to make crafts to sell, so they can earn additional income.

After lunch, the children had a special performance planned for us. They did an interpretive dance, which was very well choreographed, considering these teens do not see each other very often at the center, nor do they live close to one another or attend the same schools. They had taken the time to get together to practice, and it was apparent that they enjoyed being together as a group, because they worked really well as a team.

It was great to see that they have become close – more than friends – over the many years they have had sponsors.

After their performance, Andreia and I spoke with the mothers, while the teenagers sat on the stage and chatted, laughing excitedly, and enjoying the desert their mothers had prepared. I kept getting distracted by their laughter, and my eyes wandered over to them, one different giggling face after another coming into my view.

I love knowing that these children have gotten to know each other because of our program, since they probably wouldn’t have met otherwise. It was great to see that they have become close — more than friends — over the many years they have had sponsors. These teens are like family, with Marta acting as an additional mother in their lives, all supporting each other as they grow up.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN COSTA RICA?

You can sponsor a child in Costa Rica one of three ways – call our office and speak with one of our sponsorship specialists at 1-800-538-5381, email us at sponsorship@childrenincorporated.org, or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Costa Rica that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | May 18, 2017En Español

In so many countries around the world, drought is a constant worry, causing problems for crop cultivation and keeping impoverished people from having access to drinking water. In San Jose, Costa Rica, in the slum neighborhood that surrounds our affiliate site, La Milagrosa, a welfare center that supports more than seventy sponsored children, families have the opposite problem. Instead of the rainy season bringing relief from arid conditions, it causes those families to fear losing their homes to the mudslides that often come with it.

Sister Vielka is pictured with a mother and daughter outside their home.

Costa Rica, with a population of about 4.5 million people — nearly a quarter of whom live in the metropolitan area of the capital and largest city, San Jose — is one of the most stable and prosperous nations in Latin America. Because of that, it’s not cheap to live there and everything is expensive, especially food. But despite the high cost of living there, the country attracts a lot of migrant families.

Costa Rica is surrounded by nations that are much worse off than it is. Nicaragua and Panama have higher poverty rates, less stable governments, a lack of employment opportunities, and violence is more rampant there. This leads families, desperate for better lives for themselves and for their children, to migrate to Costa Rica in search of employment and a safer environment in which to live.

Unfortunately, what they find when they arrive is low-paying jobs for men in construction or field labor; and the only land they find to build on as undocumented immigrants is government-owned and in the hills of San Jose, which is subject to frequent mudslides. The rainy season lasts from May to November, so for half the year, work can be inconsistent, and families are concerned about losing their homes and all their belongings.

The Sun Shines on La Milagrosa

At La Milagrosa, which is run by our volunteer coordinator Sister Vielka, children receive food on a monthly basis, as well as educational support, mostly in the form of encouragement from the Sisters. Most of the children live with their single mothers who struggle to find support in a foreign country. Some receive food stamps from the government, but most are trying to get by on their own, away from their home country and extended family.

Six Sisters live at the home, and they not only make sure the children are fed, but they also offer emotional support to the mothers, who might find work cleaning houses or doing laundry. But those jobs fill only for a few hours a week, which isn’t enough — and it causes them a great deal of stress. The Sisters talk with the women about their issues, and counsel them through tough times.

Instead of the rainy season bringing relief from arid conditions, it causes those families to fear losing their homes to the mudslides that often come with it.

As we visit with the children at the home, Sister Vielka explains that they have to turn in their report cards and show passing grades in order to stay in our program. She says that this rule has been working really well to not only motivate the children, but also to keep their mothers engaged in their learning.

The Sisters would love to one day run an after-school tutoring program so that the children could receive additional support; that would require funding to hire a teacher to work with the kids. La Milagrosa is currently not receiving any support from the government or elsewhere, and there are few resources outside of Children Incorporated sponsorship to do more to support the kids’ education.

When It Rains, It Pours

We left La Milagrosa in the early afternoon to walk through the neighborhood to visit the homes of some of our sponsored children. It was a bright and cool day, and there was not a cloud in the sky. We walked with Sister Vielka and her assistant Gisela down a steep hill, and then down a dirt path covered by giant, lush tropical plants, taking us off the main road into what felt like a jungle within a city.

Gisela told us that seven years ago, rain took five houses from families in the middle of the night. Luckily, the occupants were able to get out safely in time, but they all lost everything they had in the mudslide.

Andreia Beraldo, International Project Specialist, outside the home of a family who lost their bathroom to a mudslide last month.

We walked up tightly-packed dirt steps that had been carved into the side of the mountain to reach our first home, where a woman greeted us in the doorway. When we walked into the living room, she pointed to the floor with one hand, as she held her small baby in the other arm, and told us that the floor used to extend further out — but rain had washed part of it away, exposing the ground below and leaving a huge hole in their home.

It seems like only a matter of time before the rest of the floor will go sliding down with the rain, leaving this family homeless. Last month, rain took out their bathroom, which had been on the side of the house. When we walked outside to leave, we could see what was left of a small structure where there was no longer a toilet, but only another hole left in the ground on the property.

With each home visit, we seemed to go further and further up into the hills. Since the land is owned by the government, the families risk not only having their homes wash away in the rain, but also being removed at any point. Gisela explained that when it rains a lot, the children aren’t able to get to school, because it becomes too dangerous for them to be walking around.

After visiting four or five houses, we could see why so many of our conversations with families and the Sisters were about the rain. Each house was barely clinging to the blanket of dirt beneath it on a dry day like that day — looming on all of our minds was what will happen when the rain inevitably comes.

As we walked back to La Milagrosa, the clouds started to come in heavily; and in the distance, we could hear the rumble of thunder. By the time we reached the Home, it had started to pour.

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