Just this week in Barrio la Cruz Enrique was able to plant all the coffee plants that were purchased for his farm. There will be pictures and a post to follow. Another great reason  for the rain!

There has been a lot going on in Pastores. The children have now finished their first trimester of school and there was a group of children who did extremely well, in the top 10%  of their class. Of course there were a decent amount of children who still need to improve. It has become a struggle to tell the child that they need to try harder when the parent can not be of much direct assistance. We hear constantly ‘how can I help my child in school when I never went, or I don’t know anything?’ But we are at least telling the parents to encourage their children, to follow up with the schools to see how they are doing, find someone else who can help them and of course to let us know to see how we can help. We hope that has time goes on, the children will improve more, the parents will take an interest and we will have people to assist in the community.

 The first Saturday in June we will have a meeting with all the people in the program. For the families who children excelled they will receive a supplement bag of food and supplies and the children will also receive a supplement bag of school supplies. We hope that this will be an incentive for all to do their best.

 We continue to follow up with families and see the overall well-being of the family, there is much to be done. Also, we have met with more families about stoves and filters and hope to have more training underway soon. We have two men coming to spend some time in the community the first week of June. We will visit families, talk with others about filters and fire safety and meet with all the children and also will be doing a distribution of toothbrushes to everyone in the community.

Please continue to support Paso a Paso as our needs are great, and if you would like to be a new supporter please email us and let us know in what way you would like to help.

Lower Elementary

The kids in Barrio la Cruz of Pastores have finally finished their 2008 school year. The school was full of smiling faces and content parents as the children received their passing grades and diplomas for the year. We had a great success rate this year and we hope that the the kids are motivated to study hard next year and that the parents felt the relief of the help from Paso a Paso and the sponsors.

We have numerous children from kindergarten to high school that need sponsorship so please email or contact us if you are interested in helping a student and their family. Our goal is to come alongside the family and help them close the gap so their children can obtain an education and the family can function better as a whole.

Thanks to all those who have sponsored this past year, your support is making a big difference and helping to unite families.

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Flor(center) with siblings, with Stephanie, one of their 2 rooms, Flor’s mom beside their stove

I hope to start writing updates on children in our school program and their families. Of course this will vary depending on my time here and the amount of people I am able to visit with.

I recently went to visit the family of Flor de Maria, she has been in our school program since the beginning and she hopes to pass onto the 5th grade this year.  She also has 4 other siblings in our program now, one entering the 4th grade, 2 entering 6th grade and one more brother which will be added this year that is entering kindergarten.

Their mothers name is Gilda Yolanda Garcia Alvarez and they have lived in Barrio la Cruz for about 4 years now. Her husband’s family was very abusive and are alcoholics and also provided no income to their family. For her own childrens sake she moved them to Barrio la Cruz. They have now made a small 2 room home atop a hill and cook outside but feel safer. The children attend school but must make it to school and return from school on their own. They are left unattended from about 5am to about 8:30pm while the mother works in town.

The children are doing well in school for the most part. All the children get good grades and enjoy going except Flor. Flor is having a very difficult time with school and in almost any different environment. They say maybe it is due to her exposure to the abuse or alcohol or violence which all was very extreme. The children were often left running away from family members being chased with machetes.

We are hoping to see how we may be able to assist this family more and see them excel in their, family, school and grow with Christ.

A thank you to Leslie and Oscar Sepulvada for your sponsorhip of Flor, what a difference a little can make in a life of a small child.

Check out the photos of Flor and her family on the photo link.

Next year is the start of another school year for the students and I hope to raise the $8000 dollars needed to keep everyone in the program and to make room for a few more eager students.  This does not include the money needed for the few water filters, stoves and special projects I try to purchase or complete each year.

Unfortunately, so far we have commitments for ~$3000 and registration is only a few months away.  Last year I was able to make up the difference myself. This year, with your help, I am hoping for more support.

Now would be a great time to consider donating (paypal link).   I know not everyone has the flexibility to donate but your participation is a great help.

In the last update we asked that you pray for Rolando’s mother who had surgery and was not recovering well. Good news, we had the resources to take her in a vehicle to the private pay hospital and pay for a consultation to evaluate her condition. She is starting to recover now, it turned out her diabetes was out of control and she needed new medication. Many woman in Barrio la Cruz have diabetes so we are now currently working on a simple diet/lifestyle change for them. Something they can do easily but may help reduce their diabetes problems.

We are continuing to visit with families and students and will do more evaluations when the children finish school in the next 2 weeks.

Currently we have a young girl by the the name of Breisly who is 9 years old who is suffering from kidney failure. We have some friends of Paso a Paso that are working to raise money for her treatment. At this time she has had to stop school and is studying as she can in the hospital or at home. When she feels better she attends school. The doctors say that she has been suffering from kidney failure since birth due to the effects of alcohol. We pray that God will use this trying situation to shed his light on the community of Barrio la Cruz.

Several families are struggling to pay for their day to day staples and provide for their family while sending their children to school. We are still in need of financial support for Paso a Paso to sponsor the children to attend school, and we would like to support the families with nutritional supplements once a month.

We will do a follow-up trip in the fall to see the progress of our students and check on our women in job training. We hope to do a painting project and some life training skills for the women. If we have the funds we will install a wood burning stove for a family in need.

The needs in Barrio la Cruz are great and we are asking that everyone consider how they may be able to contribute as we can not do it on our own.

“She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.” Proverbs 31:20

Next month, our pastor, Cesar Rolando Garcia, who is blind will be sharing his testimony with us on the website. I will have it translated. He has a very powerful story and can’t wait to share it all with you.

We are very proud that we have over 30 children that are attending secondary school or above. We have paid for all their initial fees and some of these children have sponsors. Unfortunately, we still have about 20 children that need monthly sponsorship. Paso a Paso was not able to provide for the other 20 students to pay their fees in full. This has left several families still in need. We paid at least 50% of their fees, but for many of these single family homes it is likely that the children will end of dropping out if the rest of the fee is not paid. I urge you to consider sponsoring a child or giving a donation to our education fund.

Last year we had a great success rate. We had 92% of our students pass onto the next grade and they want to continue their studies! The year prior to our sponsorship program, we had less than 50% even attend school.

Please pray for the students and their families as the school year begins. Pray for perseverance, provision and protection.

The women and men who are starting up our job training program are in need of support, prayer and financial. We hope that these individuals will succeed and help in training others.

“But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.” Psalm 9:18

You can help one or more of these children and our sponsorship program this coming year by giving a gift that could sustain them for the school year to come. In addition to the school sponsorship we also train several of the mothers to sew, cook and more. This area of our ministry requires a lot of support.

Please consider giving a gift this season that will make a lasting impact on these families. If you are interested please email and we can provide a Christmas Letter for your gift or you may donate on line.

Please pray for the children, their families and the community this Christmas season; that they would see the love and hope that Christ can bring to their lives despite their circumstances.