Mission Accomplished

I always try to travel light for a reason. Mainly I just hate lugging stuff around wherever I go. However, when I volunteered in Tanzania last year, I brought an extra over-sized bag of children´s clothes for the orphanage at where I helped out. I decided to bring some children´s clothes again, however, I didn´t have an exact destination. I showed up in Antigua and tried to find an orphanage. However, the orphanage I found only had much older kids and the clothes I brought were for babies and small children. I carried my extra bag on my head for most of the my journey in Antigua in search of an orphanage, but to no avail.

In Xela, I had Gladis help me find an appropriate home for the clothes. Gladis volunteers with a group called Nuevos Horizontes. They support women and children abused by domestic violence and have been in existence for the last 19 years. www.ahnh.org. Nuevos Horizontes is funded by donations and requires about $6,700 a year to maintain. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, they have had to close their day care centers for women who have no where to leave their children while they work.

The women who are also mothers range in age from 14 to 60 and stay in this community center for up to 12 months while they receive appropriate care for both their physical and psychological wounds. The women receive free shelter in dormitory style rooms, food, work training, care and counciling. The children receive schooling and day care and appear to lead normal lives in this center.

When I went to a school room, the kids aged 3 to 6 came up to me and hugged me and made me feel very welcomed and loved. Although, in other rooms, I found babies crying and women curled up in their beds either too sick or tired to get up. I heard about their tragic stories and just wanted to cry myself. I feel better knowing that the women are now safe and hopefully can put their lives back together and start again.

Thank you Tracy for your donation. You can let your children know that their clothes went to a very good cause. In addition to Nuevos Horizontes, I also gave some baby clothes to a family that is caring for a sick child whose mother is seriously mentally ill. The family has taken over care for the 7 month old who has been malnourished. Additionally, Primeros Pasos provides free milk for the baby as well as health care support.