From: David Ashby 

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Good evening to all of our supporters,

With the help of our teachers, volunteers and Hogar staff, the children in our programs are thriving and learning.  The Honduran school year ends next month, but at the Hogar de Amor, The Jungle School and Solares Nuevos campesino village, we will provide Vacation-Care classes with a teaching staff of volunteers from around the world.  The emphasis will be on continuing math and reading instruction, English and computer skills as well as sports and creative opportunities such as music, drama and art.   We are also starting plans for our Christmas events, as this special holiday is only a little over 2 months away (more on that later).

  Through the generosity of a variety of donors, this past weekend was busy and fun for many of our children. The El Porvenir Grandma’s Kids went on an outing to swim in a river, have lunch at KFC and then ice cream cones at the mall.   The next day, our Hogar (Childrens Home) children also had an outing, which also included a visit to KFC for a BBQ chicken lunch (2nd photo). There was a special program at the mall that they enjoyed, including Garifuna dancing and a band.Our Jungle School children went way up the Cangrejal river road, above the school, to a festival, where our folkloric dance troupe performed (3rd photo). We also had some professional photographers at the school to take photos of the graduates who will be leaving us and going on to High School next year (4th photo).

  The Hogar children recently went on a very special outing to the Cuero y Salado biological reserve, where we went out in boats on a lagoon, and saw many species of monkeys, birds, alligators, bats, etc (5th photo). The ride to the reserve was on a motorcar, which was a big treat (6th photo).

  It is no news to any of you that times are tough, and we very much appreciate your continued support for the 180 children in our programs.

  Last week our oldest teenage girl ran away from the Hogar.  She wanted the excitement of a boyfriend and may now be required by IHNFA to leave our care.  Another one of the girls is showing serious signs of depression as the result of prior neglect.  We have also had another break in. We are dealing with all of these problems as best as we can.

  At the Jungle School, a retired Honduran Colonel continues to try and take our land and school away from us but have reason to be optimistic that this will be legally resolved soon. The Dept. of Education is threatening to shut us down for not complying with some ever-changing bureaucratic requirements.  We have faith that these too will be problems that we will surmount.

   Due to our severe economic situation, we have had to cut back on some features of our programs, i.e. lunch for the children at the kinder in the campesino village, however our volunteers still provide morning classes every day. We hope that with your help, we can find sufficient new sponsors for all of our children to continue to give them hope, education, opportunity and most of all LOVE.

Thanks for your support and for joining us in caring,

Dave