Hogar De Amor y Protection al nino - The Orphanage

 We have been in Mexico for over 10 days now and at the orphanage for over a week.

Hogar De Amor (the orphanage) was started by Dennis & Diane Unrau who reside in West Kelowna.  They started it over 30 years ago, and it's incredible to see what it has become today and the amount of children they now serve.

Below is an overview of the main complex. (the orphanage owns a few other buildings with older kids and group homes along with the school - Adonai)

The pictures below are from Casa Cuna

Upstairs Kitchen

Upstairs common area

One of the kids rooms downstairs

organizing shoes for the kids

The top building  (on the google map image) located on the north part of the property, is called Casa Cuna which is where our family is staying.  It is a 2-floor building that is probably around 10,000-12,000 sq feet.  

In Casa Cuna, the main floor is for the kids 0-4.  There are currently 18 kids staying here from 3 months old to 4 years old, some with special needs and other issues.  The main floor has a large commercial kitchen, and bathrooms for both girls/boys, 5 bedrooms for the kids with bunkbeds and cribs ( Ninos & Ninas separated), along with 2 rooms for some of the workers to stay.  They have a common area, play area and TV room.  It's a beautiful space for the children.  The outside area really is fantastic (will share a video) with a large open courtyard that has a playground, a little trampoline, toddler bikes, and a variety of outside toys.

The upstairs of Casa Cuna is where we stay, along with other volunteers or when teams stay.  There is also a room for the caretakers and their family, and 3 of the workers as well.  The workers in Casa Cuna are with the kids all day from 7-8:30 providing meals, laundry plus caring for those crying ones at night...they are long days for these workers.

Our room has 3 bunk beds so we all have our own single bed with a common area bathroom which we are the only ones who use (all the other rooms have their own bathroom).  There is a good-sized kitchen with a refrigerator/freezer and stovetop, so we can cook our meals here. There is also a family room area with couches to hang out with as well.

It feels like home so far.  The days are long, they go by so fast, but we are surrounded by some amazing people.

In our next blog post, we can share some of the things we are doing and what a normal day looks like, and a tour of some of the other buildings.

Casa Cuna Tour Part 1: 

Casa Cuna Tour Part 2:

Upstairs of Casa Cuna:

We have arrived in Mexico - salir de Canadá llegar a México

 After a long travel day from Kelowna to Calgary to Manzanillo, we arrived on Dec 31st.

Our first destination will be H'ogar Deamor Orphanage located in Colima which is about 125 km inland from Manzanillo.  The orphanage is closed until January 3rd so we will await pickup from Stephan the director of the organization.

We had some time to talk with Micah, Amara and Izaiah about what they want to do, and what they want to accomplish on this trip.  

It will be interesting to look back and see what they learn, and how that differs from their expectations.

Here is a video of Micah: 

Here is a video of Amara: 

We are going to enjoy a few days of relaxing and having some fun before heading to Colima!

Zilkie Missions Trip 2024

 Zilkie Mission Trip 2024

We are delighted to announce an exciting new chapter in our lives.   On December 31^st 2023 we will be flying to Manzanillo, Mexico, and making a short trip a few hours away to a place called Colima.

We will be spending the month of January serving at the Hogar D’amor orphanage and school, http://www.hogardeamor.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/hogaramor.  We will be helping with projects, ministries, teaching and loving and serving children at the various schools.

If you have heard of Colima before that’s because Val & Wayne went to Colima to serve at this same orphanage in 2001 for 6 months. In 2012 Erin took a team of youth to Colima as well.  The team in Colima is very excited to welcome our family as they haven’t had Canadian visitors in several years, and there is lots of work to be done.

On January 30^th we will be flying from Guadalajara Mexico to Guatemala City, Guatemala.   We than drive about 4 hours to a small town called Guazacapán, (Poza de Agua in Guazacapan) which is surrounded by mostly rural communities and villages.

After hearing from over a dozen people who had been to Guatemala and a place called Fe Viva, we felt the Lord prompting us to explore further.  The founders are from Kelowna and Jay went to school with their daughter-in-law.  There were too many connections not to ignore God’s direction and after meeting Kim & Lynn Weller ( they were here in Kelowna in September visiting family) we were absolutely sure this is what God has planned for our family. 

Fe Viva -   https://www.feviva.org/ , has numerous ministries including, clean water filters, smokeless stoves, schools, soccer programs and much more.  They have a large compound and employ nearly 20 full time staff.   This is one of the poorest areas in the world, and the 3^rd most common cause of death is smoke inhalation (many children) which is why they provide a smokeless stove program to thousands.

It takes a lot of planning and sacrifice to get to this point.  The Lord has blessed us with an amazing and supportive company Jay works for to allow us to go and be supportive.

Our WHY:

We feel called by God to go and serve and live out our faith in Jesus in places of extreme need.  We want to sacrifice our time and our comforts to meet the basic needs of people living in poverty.  We want to experience this all as a family.  From Izaiah, Amara and Micah, we want our kids to see how fortunate we are living in Canada, and how little people have and live with, and how content they are. 

How to get involved:

1. You can donate to our church to get a tax receipt - this will help with some of the costs of our trip and will go directly to the https://www.powerscreekchurch.com/giving (just add in the notes section where you want it to go)

2. Colima, Mexico - You can donate directly through Hope for the Nations Charity and receive a tax receipt.  This will help fund the valuable work they are doing here: https://www.hopeforthenations.com/agents/hogar-de-amor-y-proteccion-al-nino-ac/

3. Guatamela - Fe Viva - You can donate directly to Fe Viva on their website, just click donate and under the Canada section you can donate through Pay Pal and receive a tax receipt.   https://www.feviva.org/

 

PRAY:  

-          Prayer that we would be helpful & useful to each ministry

-          For our family- that we would grow together and deepen our faith

-          We would have opportunities to make deep connections with people we are working alongside

-          For safety/ protection/ health as we travel & day to day ministry.