Cristina

This is me with Cristina (standing next to me in the back row), a 16-year-old girl who lives in the orphanage, and her family, who lives in Managua in the shack behind us. Her mom (far left in the back row) sells bags of water all day in the market to support Cristina's 7 younger siblings, her older sister and her sister's 2 young kids, her older brother and his wife and their 2 kids as well as 2 other of Cristina's nephews who were abandoned. In all, 16 people live in the shack, 12 of them kids. They live very close to Ivonne and her family and Ivonne has been trying to help get the 7 younger siblings into an orphanage. Their living conditions are just terrible. So heartbreaking. Vinny and I had chipped in some money to buy food and supplies for them, so Ivonne and Pancho bought all the stuff and put it in a plastic tub (there was actually so much that what didn't fit in the tub filled a big sack as well), which I went with them to deliver to the family. We brought about 20 pounds of rice, also beans, pasta, powedered milk, cups, plates, soap, and Andreita even donated a lot of her old toys. The looks on their faces when we brought everything to them was just priceless. The kids all cam up and hugged me and had huge smiles on their faces. I am just praying we can help the kids more. Cristina's mom wants them to be able to live in an orphanage, since they'll be in a safe environment, have enough food, clothes and be able to go to school regularly. Ivonne has been working with Mi Familia, which is like the Nicaraguan equivalent of Social Services, and it's looking hopeful. Now the challenge will be to find one orphanage who can take all 7 kids so they can be together and we won't have to split them up. Ivonne had looked into Casa Bernabe a few months ago and was told no, because there was no room, but that was before the 8 kids got adopted, and 5 or 6 other kids have also left the orphanage (2 older girls who ran away, one of those girls' younger sisters, another girl who returned to live with her grandfather, and a couple older boys who aged out of the orpahanage. Plus, another girl is being adopted. So maybe there will be enough space for them at Casa. I pray for that to happen. It would be so much better for Cristina too if her siblings can be with her. She has been so depressed and wants to leave the orphanage. Two of the girls who are getting adopted and have left the orphanage are her cousins but they are really more like sisters and that is so hard on Cristina to have them leave. She has friends at the orphanage, but Brenda and Ivania were her closest friends. I really don't want her to leave the orphanage too, because she has such a better chance at life if she can stay and finish her education and maybe go on to the University. Her future is much bleaker if she goes back to the environment her siblings are in now.