Dear Family & Friends,
As many of you know, our family has been involved with an orphanage in the south of Santiago, Chile since we moved here 7 months ago. The Hogar de Ninas la Granja is in desperate need of our help. One of the walls surrounding the facility is falling apart and must be replaced. The safety of the girls is being jeopardized every day, as the orphanage is located in the La Granja/La Pintana area and is very dangerous. Years ago, before the opposite wall was built securely, a man entered the orphanage through a hole in the wall and raped a 4-yr old girl. This just shouldn’t happen. We need your help! Please view the photos attached which show the condition of the wall, a precious little girl and a short video of the orphanage.
The Hogar is over 40 years old and provides for 77 girls from the ages of 3 – 17. Over 90% of them have experienced some sort of abuse. Less than half of these girls never leave the home except to attend school, as their families are either non-existent or deemed unfit by the government. The other half of the girls are able to leave on weekends with their families under strict supervision. Casa Esperanza (or House of Hope) is a separate facility or home created by Vision for Chile, a non-profit organization. The girls leave the orphanage at 18, and move to the House of Hope for technical and computer training, life skills, and to attend university which is fully funded by donations.
The orphanage is funded in part by the Chilean government (SENAME), as well as the CMA (Christian Missionary Alliance), but it’s still not enough to provide everything for the girls and to maintain the facility. The funding they receive is only enough to provide the girls with necessities, with nothing left over for repairs or maintenance. A team of volunteers from the States will be arriving in 10 days to replace this wall, so the labor will be free. However, there is no funding for the materials to build the wall. The projected length and height of the wall is over 131 ft. and 12 ft tall constructed of concrete blocks with an estimate of $10,000 USD.
We desperately need to join together and make this happen for these precious girls. Please help us raise this money by going to the website www.visionforchile.org and clicking on “Involvement”, then “Donate“. Those who choose to donate will receive a follow-up letter and photos of the completed project. Any help you can give will be such a blessing! Thank you in advance!
Blessings!
Kelley Galatoire
