Since our last newsletter, we have taken 51 volunteers to Mexico to participate in a Thanksgiving and a Christmas trip. We have built retaining walls, painted, plastered, poured sidewalks and cement pads, completed plumbing projects, and tiled bathrooms, just to name a few accomplishments. However, if you ask most volunteers what they did in Mexico, they will tell you about playing soccer with the orphans, holding babies in the nursery, and how amazing the food is. To all of you volunteers who make these trips possible, we at A Child's Hope Foundation want to say: MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS!

2010 was the year where volunteers to Mexico have finally surpassed the number of volunteers we have taken to Haiti. 2010 was also the year where half of the volunteers were repeat volunteers (which is so great since they bring so much enthusiasm and experience to share with the new volunteers). 2011 will be the year where we will have brought over 1000 volunteers to developing countries to improve the living conditions of orphaned and abandoned children there. 2011 will see us continuing to work at various orphanages in the rural town of La Mision, Baja California; specifically working to assist Buena Vida Orphanage to expand their facilities.

We would like to especially thank the employees of eBay who gave us a grant of $5,000 last year and recently awarded another grant of $4,000 this year to help with the expansion projects at Buena Vida Orphanage. Due mainly to the efforts of you volunteers and donors, Buena Vida has been able to expand from 11 children to 27 children in the space of about a year! Thank you for your support! We hope to see you on a trip with us soon!

On the November 2010 trip, we had two Eagle Scout projects completed. Lisa Stirland shares with us how the her son's Eagle project went with A Child's Hope Foundation:

My son, Isaac, decided he wanted to do something a little different for his Eagle project, something that would be more personal and meaningful to him and to the people he worked with. He came up with the idea of going to Mexico and helping people in need, and we learned about a group that builds houses for families. Then we heard about A Child's Hope Foundation (ACHF) and realized that they were a much better fit for an Eagle Project. ACHF already had a specific project that needed to be done at an orphanage in Baja California, Mexico and Isaac was allowed to be in charge of that project. I was so amazed by the people at ACHF who stepped back to let Isaac be a leader, and at the same time taught him how to lead. Because other volunteers were involved with this project along with our family, Isaac learned how to be a leader of people he had just met as well as his own siblings, which are definitely two completely different skills!

Our group built a retaining wall that was needed behind a new boys' dorm and it was hard, yet fulfilling, work. The trip wasn't all work though, as we went to the beach for a few hours and also to some nearby cities to look for some souveniers. The highlight for me was when we went to "the dump" and helped serve breakfast to many children and even some adults who needed a good meal. It was a good reminder to me and my family of how fortunate we are to be able to walk to the refrigerator and get food whenever we want...and to have a room that the refrigerator goes in! And yet the people we served seemed to be so happy in spite of their circumstances. The trip was everything I hoped it would be and a great experience for my children.

Norma Molina, who came on the trip by herself, shares her experience working as a volunteer with A Child's Hope Foundation:

This past December, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel with A Child's Hope Foundation to La Mision, Mexico to collaborate in construction projects at the Door of Faith and Buena Vida Orphanages. I traveled from San Antonio, Texas to San Diego, California where I joined the rest of my group.
From the moment I met my group, I knew that this would be an experience I would not soon forget. Before sunset on that first day, I felt we were all one big family even though most of us had never met each other before. We worked well together and we worked hard.

A lot was accomplished during our short stay. While some us worked on the boys' dormitory at Buena Vida, others worked on similar projects at the Doors of Faith Orphanage. Despite the hard work that was done, there was also plenty of time to spend with the orphaned children, which was what I most looked forward to each morning. It is so easy to form a bond with the kids; to know them is to love them. They are so grateful to have visitors; not only to help create a better living environment for them, but to also spend time with them. We played cards, made key chains and bracelets with them, and some of us gals had our nails done by the girls at Buena Vida.

To make a trip like this not only motivates you to want to do more for the people in Mexico, but it also humbles you and makes you appreciate the goods things you have back home. What ACHF does for the children in Mexico is remarkable. I've seen first hand how well the Foundation works with the orphanages and how well the volunteers are taken care of. In spite of the news reports to the contrary, I was never concerned or scared in those places we traveled to. While in Mexico, we had the opportunity to go to the beach, go shopping and enjoy some delicious Mexican food in the nearby cities of Ensenada and Rosarito.

In closing and to sum my experience in Mexico, I only have this to say: I have forever been spiritually moved by the children, the volunteers in Mexico, the people from A Child's Hope Foundation, and the families who took this journey with me. I miss them all and I hope to see them on my next trip.