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 Kids Alive Guatemala’s Trauma Competent Caregiver (TCC) Training Coordinator for foster families. She is a missionary and …
read more »Fuego, one of four active volcanoes in the country, erupted in 2018, killing nearly 200 people
Much of the local cuisine is based on traditional Mayan foods, but street food, “antojitos,” are also popular, with ingredients such as tamales, fried plantains, and black beans
The marimba is the national instrument and its music is heard widely in the country
God is working in
San Lucas!
Please pray for...
Our new and soon-to-be young mothers
Upcoming court hearings that will determine foster placements
More accredited foster families to care for girls
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
Oasis and La Arquilla are havens of safety for girls who were victims of sexual violence, arriving at our door by court-ordered protection. Girls in the Oasis residential homes are between the ages of five and 17 and live in family-style homes and receive comprehensive care; many of them, even older girls, attend school for the first time.
Caring for these precious girls involves proven neuroscientific care, emotional and spiritual support, and attending to their physical needs. We have a multidisciplinary team composed of lawyers, psychologists, social workers, and teachers, and our residential programs exceed all government and international standards.
The La Arquilla home houses and protects teenage mothers and their children, or young pregnant girls who have been victims of sexual abuse. As with our Oasis program, we provide trauma care, life skills, and legal assistance to the girls during our time of temporary custody. We support and train the girls who desire to keep their babies as they learn how to be mothers, and we also support those who decide to place their babies for adoption.
There are currently over 50 girls in the Oasis and La Arquilla programs, as well as 15 babies and toddlers. Our many accomplishments in the past year include arrests of 11 sexual abusers, baptizing 27 girls who professed faith in Jesus, reuniting 24 girls with family, transitioning four girls into guardianships and placing three for adoption. We are also showing an 88% success rate in family placements.
Looking forward to the months ahead, we hope to find more qualified foster families, complete a Montessori-style classroom in our nursery, expand our pre-independence program with girls at age 15, and continue to push for reforms in the child protection system. We pray that God will allow us to reach our goals as we seek to show each girl the unfailing love of Jesus.
Christian house parents provide a loving, safe environment for these rescued girls. Quality education and trauma-focused therapy help them adjust to life away from their abusers and begin to rebuild their lives. Additionally, we provide legal support while pursuing justice on their behalf.
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