The storm came up fast in the late afternoon

When the storm began to turn the sky black and whip up the river, at the Backpackers we were getting ready for a celebration that would see the volunteers and some of the children from the Orphanage come down the river to join in a big dinner in honour of one of our major sponsors: PERENCO

I was sitting on the deck cringing with each lightning strike; the enormous crackle after each strike was frankly a little terrifying. The boat carrying the kids down the river was late; we sat staring out at the river, watching the sky grow darker and the waves grow bigger and the lightning strikes come closer — waiting with horrible apprehension.

As I tell you this story,  my eyes tear up …..

The children were late by about half an hour when we saw a small zodiac towing the Casa boat full of children.

We were all dead silent, our hearts in our stomachs, our hopes that they were late because they had turned back — dashed. Yesterday, I asked you to imagine the enormity of the job of raising money and caring for and educating 250 children in this poverty-stricken country; today, I cannot even ask you to imagine the horror of watching an open boat full of children who are crying and crying and crying as they are towed toward the dock. We gathered on the dock, hands over mouths and eyes full of tears, hearts full of fear; what happened?

A lightning strike came so close to the boat that the driver and one of the children, Jose, went into convulsions, and the other children were in severe shock. The driver and child were rushed to the hospital and we huddled around the other children trying to calm them down, they could not stop crying and shaking.

Many of these children have suffered horrible abuse and abandonment, it is a constant worry caring for the emotional well-being, working to help them feel like they have a home, a family that cares about them, a safe place in this world were they can study and will have some hope for their futures. Well, you can imagine how an experience like this would send them into a panic-stricken state of shock that takes them right back to earlier traumatic events in their little lives.

This morning, everyone is O.K., the boat driver and the child spent the night in the hospital and will also be O.K.  But, what is not O.K. is the constant lingering sense of insecurity that shrouds all the children and everyone working here, each and every day. The accident yesterday cost in many ways; the children lost their sense of happiness in being brought down the river for a special occasion and their sense of trust that we will not let anything bad happen to them — they had to get back into that boat to return home to the orphanage.  It cost money as well, everything cost money: the hospital bill was almost $800 US dollars .  The money has to come from somewhere — it is inconceivablethat this organization should fail to find the funds we need to survive and continue to care for all these children, but money to pay a hospital bill can mean no money to pay for essentials.

This morning, Angie and I were having our breakfast together and she began to tell me stories, and what remarkable stories!

And there are more, many more wonderful stories — there is the story of Elmer, who was raised at the orphanage and is now a Law student studying human rights — and, yes the Casa finds the money for his education.  There are stories of children who grow up and leave the Casa and get themselves involved in crimes and all sorts of terrible trouble — but they are always welcomed back: every child that grows up here is always a part of the family, and just like any family, like any good mother, Angie never turns her back on these people no matter what.

But the one story that I want to tell over and over again is the story of how this organization MUST survive, and grow and find the funds to provide a home, proper nutrition, medical care and education for 250 children.  It is simply not possible not to survive, it is not possible to abandon these children — there is no where else for them to go — except of course to the streets.  All our funding comes from donations and the small businesses that the Casa has built in order to both become sustainable and to train and give the children jobs when they finish their schooling at the orphanage; the government does not help at all, and last year when the whole world was feeling the after effects of the US economic crisis, the Casa was in extreme dire straights with no hope of contributions coming to cover payments; it cost $40 thousand US a month to pay the bills: teachers salaries, utilities, rents, insurance policies and so much more.

The situation appeared hopeless.

So what happened?

Well, if you read Angie’s story you will discover that instinct is a most powerful force — and right now, we are driven by the instinct to become self-sustaining. To get the orphanage onto a solar system for energy, to build the Backpackers into a thriving business that will not only train the kids and provide them with jobs once they finish school, but also earn the money we need to send them onto universities, to pay the bills.

It feels wonderful  to be able to help in any little way I can. You  will hear more from me about this cause, and I hope we can  share together a  little of the heartfelt goodness that comes from helping to ensure Casa Guatemala survives and thrives and that the children grew up strong, educated and unafraid of the world that is theirs.