In early November, I went on a trip with Art Ambassador for a Colorful World. AAFCW was taking a groups of artists to Guatemala with an organization called Xela AID. Primarily a painting trip, the ten days in Guatemala included several days in the Guatemalan highlands bringing art to the children in that area. 

One day, while we were setting up to paint portraits of local women, Leslie Baer Dinkel, the founder and chair of Xela AID, asked me and another painter, Bunny, if we would discuss an issue that was taking place with one of the children. Martina, an 11-year-old girl, whom Bunny was sponsoring in the education program, had drawn a very disturbing picture in the classroom downstairs, indicating to the staff that something was very wrong at home. The staff brought in Martina’s mother, Rosario, who tearfully confirmed that Martina's drawing was true. Martina’s stepfather and grandfather had been routinely physically and mentally abusing Martina, her younger sister, Julia, and Rosario while the two littlest girls, ages three and four, looked on. Horrified, we listened to the details of the abuse. They needed our help, and there was no question in my mind that we could offer it.

Rosario would have to leave her house with her four girls immediately. This very frail mother, only twenty-eight years old, had to agree to all the terms set up by the staff, who had dealt with similar scenarios before: the two men were forbidden to come near her and her daughters; she would work at a paying job at Xela headquarters; she would learn to read and write; and she and her and older daughters would attend therapy sessions from the on-site therapist. She readily agreed.
 
The Xela AID staff went to work immediately: within a half hour, they found her a new house. Simultaneously, another staff member set up a job at the Xela facilities for Rosario, on a salary twice what she made picking potatoes in the fields. Within moments, the staff began the process for all of the daughters’ enrollments in school, in the sunny Xela classrooms in the same building. The staff called the lawyer to begin restraining order proceedings. It was then I learned of the extreme corruption of the police, making the enforcement negligible. I looked at Leslie and her staff in pure amazement as the phone calls ended and the pieces started coming together in rapid succession. I signed up to pay for the house, the furnishings, and Rosario's salary to ensure a safe home and some financial independence for them. Bunny would be paying for Martina's education. Together we committed to helping this family in the coming years. Rosario stared tearfully in disbelief. She explained she had never been loved or helped by anyone. It was overwhelming for all of us. Unbelievably, all of these expenses for an entire year will come to less than one-month’s rent in the United States.

Rosario has a lot of hard work to do, changing her life and her childrens' overnight. We knew it was hard for her to understand, let alone promise. There would be formidable challenges. But we had to try.
 
We brought Rosario and her four girls into the room next door for a wonderful hot lunch. The sad faces we had seen in the morning vanished. As we watched them finish every morsel on their plates, we wondered when they had last had a hot meal. We had found out that morning that it was Martina’s birthday, and her sister Julia's was the Sunday before. After this wonderful meal the Xela staff had prepared, they topped it off with two large glowing birthday cakes. Joy erupted from everyone in the room and the singing began. Moments later, Martina and Julia sang their Happy Birthday song together. The family had not had a birthday celebration for ten years. 

After lunch, the six of us drove Rosario and her four girls to see their new house. Unlike her one-room house with a single mattress on the dirt floor, this house had several rooms, glass windows, electricity, running water and doors that locked. It overlooked the hills. More smiles and screeches of joy broke out, especially when Martina and Julia discovered the playground next door.

I have been receiving updates about the family, which will be in my next blog post.