New Beginnings, High Expectations

First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of new posts. Since July, Manna Project has been transitioning from last year's Program Directors to the new ones of 2008-2009. This being said, everyone, including myself, has been very busy feeling out our programs. However, that being said, now we are set in and rolling along smoothly (more or less) in our programs.
This coming year there will be four of us running the Child Sponsorship program in La Chureca. Mary Rose Conroy, Christina Colopy, Maddie Jalandoni, and myself (Tressa Hoekstra) are the new directors of the program. As there are four of us, we want to expand the program from 45 children to 60+ because of the need we see in the community. We have all fallen in love with the children and the families that we serve in the community, and are excited to expand opportunities for more children and their parents.
Since we have been here there have been a few exciting updates: one of the children has received glasses to help fix a problem he has had since birth, we are lining up a surgery for a child with a hernia, for the last two weeks we have been assisting the staff to give vaccinations to all the children in our program and their siblings, and have seen countless smiles from all of the children. We seem to be gaining the trust of the families very quickly, and we would like to thank the past staff (Erin and Marcela) for all they did to help us transition smoothly.
Coming into Chureca was very strange for me at first; all I could see was the devastation, dirt, and sadness. Though I continue to see these things (La Chureca is not a place conducive to living healthily), I have also begun to see life in it - the joy of learning and the excitement of the children when they tell me the new things they are learning in school, the anticipation as they wait for their milk, oatmeal, and vitamins, and the enthusiasm as some show me their responsibilities at home (including feeding the pigs). Already I have learned so much in just the two months I have been here. Chureca is now my office, the mothers my friends, the children my joys and the reason I return day after day.

I'm excited for the year to come, and to keep everyone updated on what is going on in our program. Please email me if you have any questions or comments or anything interesting (tressa.hoekstra@mannaproject.org)!