| Finalizing Our Honduran Residency |
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After waiting for two years, we are finally going to have our Honduran Residency! This is a huge step towards opening Casa de Esperanza and we are so excited to have this behind us. Once this is finished, we not only have permission to live in Honduras without paying monthly fees, but we are allowed to open an office of Give Hope 2 Kids here. With our non-profit recognized in Honduras, we can apply to take in kids!
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| Opening Casa de Esperanza |
 If things continue progressing as well with the legal process, we may be able to open Casa de Esperanza as soon as May or June.
The next big step, besides the legal process, is finding and training the right house-mom, who will care for these kids as her own. This isn't something we want to rush and do wrong.
Everyone that has a Children's Home like we are starting gives the same advice: GROW SLOW! People keep telling us the importance of only taking in a few children at a time and making sure that we create the correct culture for the Children's Home. Then when new kids come, they will learn to adapt to the environment that already is there, instead of creating upheaval. Due to this advice, our current plan is just to take in four children when we initially open. Once we know we have a good system in place, we plan to grow by another two to four kids about six months later.
Another important reason to grow slowly is that we will be taking in kids of 0-3 years of age. We want to be careful that we don't overwhelm our new house-mom, or ourselves.
It is so exciting for us to be standing at this threshold, ready to start what we've planned for so long.
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| Building and Property Development |
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We've continued moving ahead with the building, but at a slower pace while we've focused on the legal process of opening Casa de Esperanza. At the moment we are painting and finishing up the last details on the current two houses. We want to express thanks to all those who helped us with the painting.
We're also just breaking ground for the foundations on the 3rd house for kids. Hopefully we can have this house built by end of the summer, as groups come to help us work.
It looks like we will be able to fit five houses onto the part of the land where we are currently building. These five houses will hold 40 children, which is the current goal for the Children's Home.
Another project we have started working on is a tropical exhibition garden. Right now we are in the planning and experimenting stage, but we hope this can later be a source of revenue and a great way to show people the beautiful things that grow in our area. Besides growing the local fruits and flowers, we are experimenting with the growth of tea and other exotic Asian fruits and vegetables.
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| Working in the Local Elementary School |
 We feel strongly about being involved in the local elementary schools, especially the one in our village of Urraco. As this is the school where the future kids of Casa de Esperanza will attend, we want to help them be a stronger school.
To help out, Jason has started teaching English classes to the kids. The whole school of about 100 kids in 1st-6th grade comes together for an hour of English with Jason in the mornings. When the kids start learning a foreign language at this young age, it will help them when they encounter it in high school classes later on. Jason has really missed teaching and so he is enjoying this chance to be back in the classroom.
With the help of a recent group we also were able to paint the inside of the school's building which doubles as the kindergarten and assembly hall.
Later on this year we would also like to provide a matching program to this school to help them get a couple of computers. Learning computer skills at a young age will be a big help to these kids.
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| Connecting with Our Vision |
We encourage you to visit our updated photo slideshow to see new photos and videos of our work in Honduras. Please also check out our blog periodically to hear recent news.
The ministry of Give Hope 2 Kids and all the work we do depends on the prayers and support of people like you. To give towards our ministry you can mail checks to:
1900 Silver Lake Rd. #314 or  New Brighton, MN 55112 Click Here to Donate by Credit Card |
