Renovations Have Begun!

Renovations began today on the new school building on "The Other Side". The "crew" came this morning to start the work. They began by tearing down walls of old rusted tin, carrying in all the necessary tools and supplies and making room for new windows and walls.

For the duration of the construction both classrooms were moved downstairs to minimize the noise and disruptions for the children and teachers. As of right now there are about 90 children at the school with hopes of making room for up to 300 once the renovations are completed. This is so exciting for all of us!

A big "muchas gracias!" to those in the states that are making this work possible. We couldn't do it without you.

"Painting Lemonade"

When Lemonade International was getting started early last year, our friend, Chris Waluk (a local high school science teacher) had a great idea to connect local high school students to the students at the schools in La Limonada. He asked art teachers from high schools all over the district to consider having art students paint a portrait (or produce some other form of artwork) of the students from a photograph provided to them. He called the project "Painting Lemonade".

Check out this video Chris put together of the students here in the Raleigh area as they worked on their projects...



...and here are the students in La Limonada as they received the gift of art...



A big "thanks" to Chris, and all the art teachers and students!

Lemonade International Fund-Raising Gala

Dear Friends,

You are invited to join us for an evening of great food, wine and entertainment and to help us launch our first full year of "bringing hope to the people of La Limonada".

Date: Tuesday, April 14

Time: 7-9pm

Location: Caffe Luna
136 E Hargett St
Raleigh, NC 27601

The evening will include a short film presentation about our work among the urban poor of Guatemala City as well as a silent auction and an opportunity to contribute and pledge your support.

Tickets are available for $40 each or $350 for a group of 10 and can be purchased by clicking "Donate" at www.lemonadeinternational.org.

If you are not able to attend or if you live out of the area we invite you to contribute to this fund-raising event by making a secure, tax-deductible donation (one-time or monthly) to our general fund by clicking "Donate" on our website or by mailing a check to:

Lemonade International
PO Box 26204
Raleigh, NC 27611

Parking for the event is available in the parking deck accessible between Blount and Wilmington Streets. Additional street parking is available on Blount and Hargett Streets.

If you are on Facebook please go here and let us know if you will be able to attend.

If you have any questions please contact bill@lemonadeinternational.org

Thanks so much for all you have done to help transform the lives of the people of La Limonada!

Guest Blogger: Bethany Streng

{Bethany Streng, a friend from PA and sponsor of Dulce is here in La Limonada for the week. Here are her words from her experience so far...}

"Dulce held my hand on the walk through the ghetto, stopping and waiting very patiently as I paused to take photos of the sights on the way. She quietly rattled on a few times, which I mostly didn't understand, so I just smiled and nodded. We stopped at a black gate on the walkway. Dulce opened the latch and walked through, letting her tiny hand run on the solid concrete walls of the house next door. Up another small walkway and we were at the door of her house. She knocked timidly and waited for it to be opened. Her mother opened the door with an enormous smile and a greeting of "buenos dias!"

I had the enormous opportunity of making the trip down to Guatemala and La Limonada to meet my sponsored child, Dulce. I have sponsored children in Africa through another humanitarian organization, but when Lemonade International was started by people close to my heart, I knew it was an incredible opportunity to be able to help in a community of need where my friends had visited and spent time.

La Limonada is such a desperate place. Desperate for light, for hope, for some kind of sign that there are better things to come. The two schools in La Limonada are beacons of light in that dark, despondent place. The look on the faces of the children each day is incredible. They are so full of joy, of hope, of trust for good things in the future. It is simply amazing. They love to love and to be loved. That is so evident in each small face.

I was able to spend about an hour with Dulce and her parents. The time was nothing short of delightful; hugs, kisses, smiles. I attempted to converse with them in my very limited Spanish, but most of our discourse was translated. Somehow, even with the language barrier, I felt as if we understood each other. Maybe not the words directly, but the emotion and the meaning behind it was clear.

Before we ended the visit, I had the greatest honor of my trip so far: I was able to pray for the family. Standing in the kitchen, laying hands on Dulce and speaking the love of Christ over the family was phenomenal. It was evident that this family relied completely on God to get through every day by their response to the prayer. I am so incredibly blessed to be able to experience that kind of bond with a family to which I have a unique tie.

As we all hugged goodbye, Dulce's parents asked when I was coming back again to visit. They said that I was welcome in their home any time with open arms."

There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow. -- Orison Marden.

Check out Bethany's blog - www.bethanystreng.blogspot.com -
and follow more of her experience in La Limonada.

Nearly Half of Guatemala's Children Suffer from Malnutrition

An article in today's edition of the Latin American Herald Tribune (Caracas, Venezuela) reports that "45.6 percent of Guatemalan children suffer from chronic malnutrition and that their physical growth falls below the average established by the World Health Organization".

This study was conducted among 459,808 children in 15, 076 public schools throughout the country. It is important to note that some of the poorest children in the country do n0t attend school and therefore were not included in the study. If those children were to be included in the study the percentage would have been much greater.

The article also points out that "according to official figures, 52 percent of Guatemala's 13.3 million people live in conditions of poverty or extreme poverty".

Thanks to our child sponsors and incredible partners, the children at the two schools are provided with a healthy meal every day and families living in impoverished conditions in La Limonada are provided with food.

Parenting School

It costs nothing for the children to attend the program at the two schools run by Tita and her team in La Limonada. The only requirement is that their parents or guardians attend "Parenting School" once a month.

Wednesday morning we held our first one at the new school. Parents, grandparents, aunts, neighbors, whoever is responsible for sending a student to the school showed up bright and early. Some were still half asleep at 7:45 am. This program is about prevention and that happens by not only reaching the children, but reaching their families as well.

Tita and Priscilla (the school psychologist) talked about how important it is to show love and care for your children, and let them know it is never too late to start. Their attendance at the meeting showed how much they cared for their children just by being there.

I think the parents left feeling encouraged that someone sees that they are trying to give their children a hope for a better future.

Food for the Month

It is a very exciting thing for us here to be able to purchase food for the 300 kids at both schools for a whole month. The task is by no means small, with 6 oversized shopping carts full of food and a very long receipt, but it is such a thrill to know that there is another 30 days of healthy meals provided for the students.

The children are always very excited and so helpful to carry everything down to the school...

A very big "Muchas Gracias!" to those that help make this possible.

Amarilis - Continued

Thanks so much for your prayers for Amarilis. She was released from the hospital earlier than expected after a successful surgery.

The following details just became clear in the past couple days. The surgery was needed because while the doctors administered an epidural... damage was done to a vein in her back. It took three days for the doctors to realize this and when they discovered it they had to rush her in for emergency surgery. The surgery seems to have successfully repaired the vein and she should be fine in the next couple weeks.

But the extent and present state of the Uterine Cancer (Endometrial Cancer) is not known at this point. She goes for her final scheduled chemotherapy treatment in about a week and will go for tests following that to determine what the next steps should be.

The medical care she is receiving at the community hospital in Guatemala is very poor. Please continue to pray for her over the course of the next few weeks.

Thanks so much!

Update On Amarilis

Back in September we let you know about our friend, Amarilis, in La Limonada who had been diagnosed with Uterine Cancer (Endometrial Cancer).

With the help of partners like you and friends of Tita's like Rick Grove of Life Of Hope... together we have helped pay for several chemotherapy sessions for her.

I just talked to Tita today and she let me know that Amarilis had to be taken in for emergency surgery. The surgery lasted for about three hours.

Please pray for her and her six children who are left at home while her husband is with her in the hospital.