Vist us, look at our pictures and one thing you will notice is how small the people are here.  The statue may be due to genetics, but most of it is because the diet is so poor, lacking most of the vitamins, nutrients  and fats needed to grow or gain weight.  Here is a stat about Guatemalans in general that may put in perspective what we witness here everyday in Buena Vista:

"...More than half of the population is below the national poverty line and 15% lives in extreme poverty. Poverty among indigenous groups, which make up 38% of the population, averages 76% and extreme poverty rises to 28%. 43% of children under five are chronically malnourished, one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world..." - From C IA website- May 2010

A healthy 1 year old should weigh about 25 lbs and as you'll read below almost of our milk families are under that average.  Since we feel nutrition and education work hand in hand for well rounded development, we are planning to broaden the milk program. Being constructed in 2012, the GATEWAY PROJECT will house a feeding center geared toward providing meals to all the school children.

The Milk and Nutrition Program delivers 2,200kg of powdered milk to the families listed below along with enough oatmeal and Incaparina (fortified soy drink), for the children to have a good breakfast every morning. 

      $25 / month sponsors a family.  Please visit our Help Link to get involved in feeding hungry bellies.  Those needing sponsorship and other immediate needs are marked with green.

Family #1- LOPEZ MARROQUIN

Parents: Julio and Roberta.

This family has 7 children but the twins , Sofia & Azucena age 9 &1/2  along with Elvis age 11 are under weight and short. Twins weigh 42 & 41 lbs, Elvis 55 lbs.  The program started with this family when a father of 3 from Florida visited back in 2010 and noticed the size difference between the children here and his own sons.  He asked, "What could we regularly do to help them grow better?" We did some research and the program began.  Julio works steadily, but it is difficult with his skills and salary to provide more than the basics for his family of 9.

Family #2 RAMOS- GOMEZ

Parents:  Berter & Ana

The Ramos family just welcomed their 4th child and only girl in July of 2011. Her name (taken from an American TV show) is Nancy Fanny Lou- no joke! Her older brothers are Mario (9), Jeffrey (7), and Andre (4).  Andre was very sick, cover in scabies being carried and  by his mom all day because he had no energy to so anything on his own at 2 years old.  We immediately enrolled him into the program, helped get him bug free and started regulary checking on him and his families hygeine issues.  Since then they have received a 12x12 Love Project Home and Andre has been growing well thanks to a FL family.

Family #3 RAMOS- HERNANDEZ

Parents: Donal & Rut

3 of the prettiest girls you'll ever meet smile, laugh & giggle every month we deliver their bags of breakfast and milk.  Keylin (5), and twins Paola & Selena (3) drink their milk everyday.  Selena sometimes asks for a second helping and it shows as she consistently weighs 2 lbs more than her twin sister each time we weigh them over the last year and a half.  This family is expecting their 4th child in January 2012 and thanks to a sponsor from PA, his/her big sisters will be good examples of eating well.

Family #4

Mom: Blanca Susana

Maritzqa- is also sponsored by a friend in PA but is well known to most people who've been here or been on our site.  When her slightly handicapped 13 year old mom was raped nearly 4 years ago by her neighbor, the team here worked hard to move the family from that location.  Maritzqa, although relocated to a 12x12 Love Project neighborhood, her family still is unkept.  We pray for a break in the cycle for Maritzqa and trust God is at work in hearts, even when the environment seems dark.

Family #5-GARCIA

 Cesar & Andrea with children Elizbet (12), Pablo (10) and Josslyn (8)

Ya know a picture is worth a thousand words, but this picture of our dear friend lying in his bed could never tell the countless amount of people who have been blessed by being in this man's presence.  His family is also in a custom build 12x 12 Love Project Home in a woodsy area, a pleasure for everyone to visit.He recieves milk, oatmeal, Incaparina and ENSURE. His Osteoporosis and degeneration of the spine has caused his health to decline rapidly over the past 2 years we've shared life with him.  

Family #6-  MENDEZ

Parents: Guicho & Lydia

Chely (5) & Lupe (2) are slowly warming up to us, but still are very shy.  They are petite, sweet girls just like their mom and are so thankful for their sponsor in PA.  We've helped this family with other housing needs and they tried to have a chicken business as well.

Family #7 -MENDEZ-MARROQUIN

Parents:      & Sandra

Pictured with their cousins (family #6) this is one family that is pure delight to visit.  Even in the streets they are calling our names and hugging at legs asking us to come in and spend time with them.  **They are in need of their own home as all 6 of them are on 1/2 a room on their parents property.**  Sandra recently had major health issues which a family in NM helped pay for but her littlest Teresa, at only 6 months was forced to stop nursing and received 3 months of infant formula and then 3 months of fresh cow milk.  Currently she drinks the same milk as her older siblings Victor Alonzo(9), Jacolyn (6), Cindi Johana (5) who are also enrolled.  Thank you! PA sponsor.

Family #8 - Noelia and her children have been in the program for months.  She is a single mother who is struggling to meet the most basic of needs for her family. The children sometimes see their father, who abandoned them, walking in the street.  The kids are confused, sad and in great need.  Mom works selling vegetables at a tienda for 8 hours and brings home $3/ day.  This is a family of 5 so on the days she works she has $.60/ to use for each person. Noelia works 3 days a week. Providing breakfast for this family is essential to them not going hungry. 

Family #9- LOPEZ-MARROQUIN

Parents: Edevilio & Marilee

Demaris age 3, still can not walk yet.

When she was born she had a cyst on her lower back along her spine.  She sucessfully had it removed, but it caused her leg and foot to be limp.  She received months of therapy which made a bit of a difference, but she needs more to be able to walk instead of walking along furntiture or dragging herself across the floor.  Thankfully her younger sister Julisa, is healthy and both are growing well.  This family has been sponosred by friends in Florida.

Family #10- SOCOP-CAP

Parents: Julio Cesar & Vanesa

This young couple captured our hearts with their joking, calm manner.  Times were rough for this young couple as Julio was badly burned and nearly dead after welding accident which left his wife and then 1 year old son to wait for months to see what God had planned for them.  Julio is a fighter, very confident and slowly with determination and help from a church in NM has rebuilt is his business and lives in a 12x12 Love Project Home.  Rojer (3) is painfully shy but his younger brother, Mark (1) is just a ham!

Family # 11- MARROQUIN- LOPEZ

Parents: Mynor & Rosa

We are soooooo excited because in January they will be getting a new 12x12 Love Project Home which we as a family, have been praying about for over 2 years!  Praise God for a family in PA who will be providing that and for a family in OH who recently asked to sponsor this young, hard working, sweet family. Rosa has 3 children and is also taking care of her younger sister, Zuly.  Kevin (5) is extremely small despite receiving breakfast for the past year.  He does not have an appetite for much, but his younger sister Kely (2) is eating her share and Rosa says sometimes finished Kevin's too.

Family #12 LOPEZ-PEREZ

Parents: Byron & Cristina

One of the most special people we've had the privilege to meet, baby Blanca Alberta was our first desperate case.  We met their family Thanksgiving Day 2010 while delivering food baskets donated by a family in FL. She was almost 4 months old weighing under 4 lbs.  Her mother had no breastmilk and no means to get formula nor get her baby to the doctor.  We immediately took her into town for a checkup where the pediatrician confirmed what we could all see. She was close to dying.  Following doctors oders we provided what she needed to jumpstart her health, visted each week.  Through prayer, God's provision, and attention given to her by her large extended family Blanca just celebrated her one year birthday looking healthy.  She cries each time we try to weigh her so we don't know exaclty how heavy she is, but she looks great!

This family  received a 12x12 Love Project Home, 2 cows as part of Eli's Chicken Club. They are blessed often with food baskets and clothes. 

Family #13- HERNANDEZ-LOPEZ

Parents: Filipe & Paolina

Alexander (1) was a scary sight when we first liftted the blanket to see him. His mother was passing by doing her normal rounds* when she stopped to talk with us and look at our newborn son, Cruz who was 2 months old.  We chatted for a bit then she told us that her son on her back was only 1 month older than Cruz, but didn't look like him.  We lifted the blanket to see and was shocked! He literally looked like a skeleton. Right on the spot we told her about the Milk & Nutrition Program and began delivering formula for him the next day. Out of all the kids in the program, Alexander has shown the most progress, looking fat, all around healthy- We think he may even be bigger than Cruz!

*Paolina is married for the second time after her first husband passed away.  She has 13 living children.  Rosa and her sister Zuly (family #11) and Edevilio (Family #9) are some of her children.  She is now married to Rut's (family #3) husband and step- mother of Felix (Gateway Project).  This famly lives in Tablon, 30 minute hike from Buena Vista, so Paolina comes 3 times each week with all her younger children to visit her older children and carry back her milk goods.*

Family #14- LOPEZ-CHANTA

Parents: Mario & Maria

Maria is mother to 8 children.  She and her family live in a dark, crowded, 1 room home, but talking with her you'd not think she was bothered by it one bit. We would love to give her a better "yard" as her dirt is washing down to the neighbors property.  Their patio is eroding away and is very unsafe.  Their kitchen  is dark, covered in soot and in need of a new stove. All 9 of them sleep in 2 beds, so we are hoping 2012 we can help them with a set of bunk beds. Until the funds are prayed in, we'll continue to get to know this family better and visit them each month.  3 of the 7 children are in the program- Osmar (7), weighs 35 lbs, Mario(4) is 26 lbs & Rosa Guadalupe (2) weighs only 19 lbs.  Sponsor in NM, thank you for helping this family in great need.

Family #15- PEREZ

Mom: Xiomara

Very sad and very beautiful.  This family is special to us.  They are not underweight or short, but they are "neglected".  We put that in quotes because although the mom is not around but 3 mornings a week for 4 hours leaving her 4 children home to care for themselves, the eldest, Vanesa (14), cares for them well doing all the cooking, bathing, and training.  She is an amazing, beautiful and SMART young lady.  She has missed out on her last year of school as she has to stay home to care for Esdrys age 1, special needs brother, Josue (12) and Esau (7).  We are in prayer as a team on how to best help these children on every level.  Relying on God for wisdom we are moving forward hoping to enroll the oldest 3 into school, arrange care for "Essy", and provide their daily needs.  A family in FL has taken them on as a milk sponsor, but would you like to help with the many extra needs this family has? 

Family #16- LOPEZ- RAMOS

Parents: Roberto and Iris

Kevin (2) very small, thin hair, bloated belly.  His family just had a baby girl so economically their situation will just become more stressed.  We thank God that as soon as we saw Kevin in this condition a family in NM chose to sponsor them. As time passes we're looking forward to getting to know he, his sister and parents better.  They live on the same property with families #12 & 17.

Family #17 LOPEZ-LOBOS

Parents: Roni & Marta

These adoreable little girls are surrounded by their cousins, aunts, uncles and granparents.  The property is a pleasant place to visit. Joselyn , Lupe, & Faustina are new to the program and their progress has not been able to me monitored much, but in October they moved into their new 12x12 Love Project Home and are in need of beds, a table and a few chairs which we are hoping to provide for them giving us an in road (even more than just deliverying the milk), to spread Jesus' love to them.

Family #18- HERNANDEZ-JUPE

Mom: Maria Guadalupe.

Introduced to Maria the first week of November by one of team members, we've sat to try to understand this sad story. Dad left his 5 children for another woman who lives about 3 hours away while Maria is living on the property of her in-laws and trying to find a way to provide for all their needs.  We talked with Maria in our kitchen and she let us check over her year and a half old daugher, Jennifer Tomasa who weighs only 14 lbs. A healthy 1 year old should weigh about 25 lbs.  Maria explained that her son Erick had and accident just after Jenni was born, and she had to stay with him in the hospital off and on for 3 months while he had surgeries to repair his stomach.  She weaned Jenni and could never afford a regular diet of formula or any drinkable food for her 6 month old daughter.  Now 1 1/2 years we can see the effects this had on little Jenni.  We're hopeful we'll see immediate improvement in Jenni's demaciated physique. A set of bunk beds.plastic table and chairs and some blankets would bless this family tremendously.

Family #19 -HERNANDEZ

Parents - Natalia & 

We were introduced to Melvin and his parents the week before Thanksgiving, by our friends who oversee the 12x12LoveProject.  Melvin is a 6 year old who contracted meningitis when he was a baby and has been handicapped ever since.  He is skin and bones and we are hoping that providing milk and other nutrition will help him live a more comfortable life and help us show them the love of Jesus.

Family #20 -PEREZ (Maria Paola - mother)

Twins - Jefferson Andre and Melisa Andrea

This beautiful family lives in the village of Tablon and we were excited to meet them a few months ago, shortly after the birth of these twins, #6 and 7 in the family.  We have been visiting them and supplying baby formula to supplement the mothers breastfeeding.  Both are doing great.

Family #21 - Vanessa and children (Jefferson andDanielle)

Just added to the milk / nutrition program, Vanessa, her husband and 2 boys live in the village of Buena Vista.  Danielle was recently sick for around a month but is doing better and we feel that the added milk, oatmeal and incaparina in his diet will help keep him healthy and gain his weight back.