We recently asked some of the young ladies at Oasis and Casa Ester, “What do your sponsors mean to you?” …
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“I enjoyed the sessions. I was able to talk about things that I can’t with anyone else, not even my …
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Renae Wolf is one of Kids Alive Guatemala’s Trauma Competent Caregiver (TCC) Training Coordinator for foster families. She is a …
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Much of the local cuisine is based on traditional Mayan foods, but street food, “antojitos,” are also popular, with iingrdients such as tamales, fried plantains, and black beans
Fuego, one of four active volcanoes in the country, erupted in 2018, killing nearly 200 people
The marimba is the national instrument and its music is heard widely in the country
God is working in
San Lucas!
Please pray for...
Job opportunities in the community for girls who are moving into the second phase of Casa Ester
Development of our Estercitas program, which will provide an occupational therapist to help and guide young women
The upcoming transitions for girls into our pre-independence program
Upcoming medical procedures for our young ladies and health for our staff
Continued protection and health, knowing that while the threat of COVID-19 will eventually retreat, recovery from its impact will be more long term
Prayer requests updated 5/2020
Casa Ester grew out of a realization that many girls who grew up at Oasis did not have a safe family to live with when they became 18 years of age. The emotional scars from their sexual abuse and exploitation are still with them as they begin to navigate adulthood and independence.
In our safe and supportive environment, these young women are enrolled in school, learn skills that will benefit them personally and vocationally, and continue in our discipleship programs. For those coming as a mother with a child, we facilitate education and career support while ensuring the child is enrolled in school. In our Estercitas program, we also support young women who cannot live independently due to cognitive disabilities.
We currently have 22 young ladies in our Casa Ester program and six in Estercitas. Recently leased land will allow us to expand, as we are bursting at the seams in our facilities. Four of the young ladies chose to be baptized and two have gone on to study in university. And a pre-independence program for 15-year-old girls will ease the transition from Oasis to Casa Ester.
Our goals include improving the workspace for cooking, sewing, and beauty school workshops in our Estercitas program, and empowering our Casa Ester girls to be prepared to seek and find jobs as they move into the second phase of our transitional model. We hope to give them the best chance possible to be fruitful, confident members of their communities and families.
Young women are guided with Christian care as they transition to adulthood. They are assisted with searching for employment, life skills, and continuing education. Girls with acute cognitive disabilities are facilitated to lead a life of dignity at the level of responsibility they can achieve.
Once again, we greet you in the name of Jesus from the ministries of Kids Alive in Guatemala!
I want to thank you for being a part of planting hope in Guatemala this year. We rejoice that this is not simply a hope for escaping poverty or abuse or for a better career – you are planting the living hope (1 Pet. 1:3) in their lives which means an eternity with the One who loves them!
It’s been amazing to see God opening doors for the ministry here to influence not just the children we serve but the entire country. They are benefiting from your care in ways that go far beyond their individual cases, and these ripples increase every year.
The prophet Amos wrote that we should “hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice.” It is a privilege for me to lead a team that hates evil. How I love seeing the staff at Oasis, Arquilla, Casa Ester, Source of Hope, and Escuintla Care Center “love what is good” as they lead hurting children to a loving and good Father.
In the coming year, we will implement a pilot program and outfit a dedicated space at Escuintla that will reduce the number of times a sexually abused child must tell her story. Currently 14 different people interview her, causing her trauma to multiply, and our goal is to reduce this to one. We are also working to strengthen the ministry at Casa Ester for young women who, because of special needs, require supervised care beyond the age most ministries can provide.
At Source of Hope School, where heavy rains mixed with volcanic ash from last fall’s eruption of Fuego has made life even more difficult for this community, we continue to plant living hope
in the lives of impoverished children. One of our joys this year is that 67 of
our kids are participating in voluntary after-school discipleship classes,
demonstrating their hunger for the truth of God’s Word.
Because of your support, children and families are being introduced to Jesus each day. He gives them a new identity and we help them learn new ways to respond to the world based on that identity. And we are working hard to turn the courts of Guatemala into “true halls of justice,” helping to make all children here safer.
Thank you for all the ways you help Kids Alive
plant living hope in the lives of children.
Corbey Dukes
Country Director
Guatemala