Four New Children in
the Sunflower Home!
Early, December 29th, two women walked through our gates with a bunch of kids and carrying several bags. Their story.......
The children in the photo used to live in the jungle where the father was an alcoholic and abusive to the mother. After he died the children and mother moved to Lima and then to a town about 8 hours away from Sacred Valley. The mom came by herself a year ago to El Girasol after hearing of our home and at that time talked to Leo.
The mom has ovarian cancer and is being treated, but is told she has very little chance of recovery. The children above are her two oldest children and her sister's kids. (She has no idea where her sister and brother in law are.) She is keeping her two youngest until the time she can no longer provide care for them, at which time they will come to us as well.
Many tears were shed by the mother, the children, and those at the Sunflower when the mother said her good byes. We told the mom we would take good care of her children, that they would have food, clothes, and would go to school. The mom stayed pretty strong while saying goodbye but as you can imagine, the pain was intense.
Donated beanie babies, were given to each child after the mother left, and before too long the kids were playing. Thanks to all for every donation made. These helped transition a traumatic experience into one of peace and belonging. Obviously these children will still go through tough times, but at least that day they played.
Please Sponsor One of these New Children for the Upcoming Year:
  (Francisco Derllez Poma, age 9 & Jarisa Ebalin Poma, age 8 - children of the mom with ovarian cancer)
(Maria and Christofer are the 2 kids whose parents are MIA. They are love starved and delayed.)
Your help sponsoring one of these children would be greatly appreciated - www.sxhu.org. |
Spotlight:
The Life of Jhoel
By Jhoel
(Dictated to & translated by 2007 Summer School Teacher Colleen Burns - photo when Jhoel first arrived last spring)
Who am I?
My name is Jhoel. I am six years old. I speak in Quechwa and can speak a little Spanish. I am in the first grade with my friend Yeri. I like to play with my new toy car and teddy bear. I like to eat too. My favorite food is potatoes. I like them best as French fries. I am a happy boy.
Before The Sunflower
I lived in Calca. Calca is a small city in the Sacred Valley. I lived with my brother in a house. I lived with my uncle too. My uncle Ernesto brought me here to The Sunflower because my mom left the valley, but I don't know where she went.
Now
Now, I live here with my brother Yeison and friend Yeri. I like this home because we have balls. In the morning, I wake up and wash my head. After breakfast, I go outside, collect my clothes, and go to the school. After school, I leave the school and come here. I do my homework, read, and play. At night, I eat and sleep.
What is The Sunflower?
The Sunflower is beautiful. All of the children live here. We are brothers and sisters. We have food, jackets, pants, shoes, and sandals. I learn many good things here. I feel good here.
My Future
After high school, I want to go to the university to study English and work with tourists. I want to live in Calca and have a beautiful house. I will be very happy.
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Thank
you for being part of the Southern Cross Humanitarian Family. Bridging
cultures, awakening hopes and dreams-one child at a time- we will make
the world a better place.
Sincerely,
Laura Chabries-President
Van Evans-Chairman
website: www.sxhu.org
email: laura@sxhu.org
Office:
2607 E. Casto Lane,
Salt Lake City, UT 84117
For copies of newsletter, you can go to www.sxhu.org. All past issues are archived.
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Tax Information
(If you have a tax advisor, it's best to check with them regarding your personal tax situation)
Expedition:
· If over half the time is spent at the orphanage (which our expeditions do), the entire airfare is deductible.
· Cost of side trips should be deducted
from the expedition total, since only expenses related to the voluntary
portion are deductible.
. For Machu Picchu the cost is about $400.
. For Machu Picchu & Lake Titicaca, the cost is about $300.
General Donations:
· For
donations to Southern Cross Humanitarian, you can use your thank you
letters or cancelled checks for your tax files.
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 Make a HUGE Difference with No Cost to You!(Last quarterly check from Albertsons was for $1,096!)
Register your Albertsons Preferred Customer card with Southern Cross Humanitarian as your charity.
By doing so, Albertsons will donate 1-3% of all your purchases to
Southern Cross. This is a fundraiser where small amounts by many
people can truly make a big difference!
All you need to do is email your name, address, phone# & Preferred Card#, to Ken@sxhu.org or complete the registration form on our website on our "How Can I Help" page. Registering Albertson's cards of
friends, neighbors, relatives and co-workers is an easy, no cost way to support Southern Cross and spread the word.
This is also a great service opportunity for high school &
church youth groups as well as a qualifying Eagle Scout project:
register people in front of a local Albertsons store - for more
information contact Ken@sxhu.org. |
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Putting
in your 2 cents can make a big difference! Bookmarking and using
GoodSearch, an internet search engine powered by Yahoo, is a great no
cost way to help SXHU! Just enter Southern Cross Humanitarian for your
donation in the messages field and you're ready to search. It costs you nothing, but each time you search they pay SXHU a penny.
Email everyone in your address book and ask them to use goodsearch to benefit the orphans in Peru. 200 searches a day will help us earn enough to support a child at the Sunflower each year.
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Greetings,
Building Bridges between cultures is the foundation upon which Southern Cross Humanitarian sprang. Our symbol, the chakana, is the Incan representation of the Southern Cross Constellation described as having the symbolic power to "puentear" or "to bridge" heaven and earth. We invite all of you this year to join us however you can in extending our reach to help and serve more children in more cultures than ever before.
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 Christmas and New Years at the Sunflower Home!
"Papa Noel" was able to visit El Girasol this year with the generosity of many amazing people, groups and organizations. Big thanks to our Board Member Natalie Mano, Kurt Reintjes and the Ryser family who all flew down with "sleighs" full of goodies to distribute. Stockings hung, the nativity scene acted out, and individualized gifts were all part of the fun. Special thanks to our anonymous donors. One bought new shoes for all the children and the others brought the gift of music to the Sunflower home with guitars. Our house parent, Juan, is a trained instructor and is excited to start giving the children lessons.
 
New Years at the Sunflower home was celebrated with the best of both cultures! Juan Carlos outdid himself this year (yes that is hard to believe) with a fireworks display rivaling  any international event! Games, noise makers, treats, dancing and lots of love flowed in abundance. Big thanks to all the December Expedition folks who helped make it such a great party! Lots of us are already making plans to get down there next year. It's guaranteed to be the best New Year's eve party you'll ever have! Come join us!
Photos from Christmas and NY will be posted on our easysite page. If you donated items, letters, etc, check those pages for photos of your donations. We encourage all Expedition members to post their all their photos! www.Easysite.com/SouthernCrossHumanitarian
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December Expedition Caps off a Great Season!
Nearly 100 women waited at the doors of the Sunflower home for newborn training. We are making  a difference and thanks to an amazingly well prepared December Expedition group, these women were not disappointed. All were given training, kits and hope.
With over 60 people on the trip, projects were abundant and included not only the smashing New Year's party, but building a roof on our new dorm, stables on the farm, medical exams and on-site psychological work with our children, and inauguration of the gardens with Inca Paz just to name a few.
A big SXHU welcome goes to Joselin, our new chef, who joined the Sunflower family this December! He and his wife are in their 20's and have a baby. He studied 1 year at a culinary school in Cusco and worked at the Casa Andina hotel of 4 stars until he was laid off for economic reasons. He wears a chef coat, uses vegetables and protein in all his meals. The kids are LOVING him!
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 New Year's Resolutions & SXHU!
· Completion of the final dorms
· Groundbreaking for new home in Otavolo, Ecuador!
· Water Project - Providing continuous water for both our Sunflower home and the local community
· English Immersion Boot Camp (Summer School)
· Greenhouse remodel
· Computer Lab (see below for more details)
· Dairy
· Laundry Room (3 washers and dryers) and storage
· Finish Intern Wing
· Complete Administration Wing
· Continued support of the Anta Home & others
· Establish 10 more Drop in Centers in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia & Ecuador
· Sunflower Dual Emmersion School - Planned and ready to open March of 2009 - (Objective to have our children become self-sustaining)
· Hygiene, School and Newborn kits distributed throughout expeditions - building cultural bridges of trust and good will
· Complete Sunflower home - (Use as a model in other countries)
For those of you specifically interested in helping us get the computer lab up and running - we have a few people who have already ordered "green computers" from the following site for our children. When we have enough confirmed interest we will contact Oscar Becerra, Head of Education Technology in Peru, and ask him to match computers for the children at the Sunflower since he purchased them for so many other children in Peru!!! http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/60920.html
| For additional information on ways you can make a difference through SXHU, contact laura@sxhu.org.
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Heartbeats!
"When people donate their time, they are giving of their valuable heartbeats"
· Shopping for new shoes was a hit again this Christmas. The children went hand and hand to the market where they were able to pick out their very own shoes! Many thanks go out to the people who sent money down for this cause. Their smiles say it all.
· Mikell Stringham & friends from SLC, UT. created and presented a hygiene assembly for our Sunflower Children.
Remember those tablets showing the plaque in your mouth? Those were used as well as a liquid showing the germs left on your hands even after washing. Hopefully the impact will be long term! (Photo courtesy of Rachel Thurston)
· New Born Kits on the December Expedition!
Barbara Payne and Beth Bigelow brought 50 newborn kits down to Peru on the Dec. expedition. They are ward humanitarian leaders with connections to a diaper factory; so... they gathered all of the diaper scraps that won't fit into the machines and made their own diapers. In addition to completing the newborn kits, with zip lock bags, they sewed cloth drawstring bags for each of the kits as well.
Brian Babcock brought 60 newborn kits with his son Carter who was working on his Eagle Project!
Bonnie & Edwin Gibbs brought 127 kits, 115 they made themselves! They started telling friends, family and ward members and even put up little signs at church, talked to different businesses,  and followed up with letters.
· Folks from Atlanta, Georgia gathered with Chapter Presidents Jenni & Chuck Kuck to help with Mitch Stanton's Eagle Scout project - together they filled and supplied 20 hygiene kits, 20 school kits, 20 fleece blankets, 20 sheet sets, 20 stuffed animals, and 7 large boxes of pullups!
· Thanks to Joanie Daily and her classes at Skyline High School in Holladay, UT. for hosting SXHU Humanitarian presentations. We love coming, educating and motiving groups to serve.
· Quillows anyone? Patti Johnson of Kamas,  UT organized the making of Quillows for all the Sunflower children. Quillows are quilts that can be folded to make pillows. Cool gift, perfect for traveling and oh so wonderful to make a new child feel loved and welcome.
Please let us know how we can help you help Southern Cross. We would love to give you lots of support. For more info email laura@sxhu.org.
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Great progress was made last year,
thanks to all of you who supported Southern Cross through donations, expeditions, spreading the word, and sponsoring and attending our fundraising activities! Below are just a few of the things we accomplished by working hand in hand:
· New Year's Eve Party at the Sunflower hosted by the Dec/Jan expedition members
· Second dorm completed - bringing the capacity of the home to 44 children
· Fence and gate built around the home giving our children at the Sunflower improved security
· Support of the Anta Girls home for about 20 girls
· Summer school with Colleen Burns, a Wisconsin school teacher
· April concert featuring "Because We Sing", an all male chorus, Heritage Elementary 3rd grade and Kearns H.S.
· Quinn Brady, of Cupertino, CA, became our first Chapter President. We now have chapters in Idaho Falls, SLC, Atlanta, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Wisconsin, New York, and Chicago. Chapter Presidents go the extra mile with SXHU by promoting and raising funds in their local areas
· Child Sponsorship program revised to include Team Sponsors, allowing more people to participate, and Patron Sponsors for those who have the ability to participate at a more committed level. Many thanks to our dedicated sponsors!
· Albertsons Community Partners program started - the Shelley Young Men / Young Women registered nearly 300 shoppers. Our last quarterly check was for $1,096. We encourage all youth groups to help us!
· First SXHU Dinner/Auction in SLC raised $60,000
· Peru Director Leo Gavancho and Columbia Director Rosario Mendes came to the SLC fundraiser
· Goodsearch fundraiser pays a penny a search raising over $400 for the year
· Eaglecrest Elementary of Lehi, Utah won the state PTA reading incentive program contest with their "Reading for Alpacas" raising funds for the orphanage
· First adoption occurred when Percy was adopted by Tiffany Brown - they now live in Washington State
· Summer expeditions brought electrical power to the Sunflower as well as completed the bathrooms
· First fish out of our new trout farm caught in August!
· First annual Harvest Festival & Booth in Idaho Falls
· Rosairo Mendes joined Southern Cross as our Columbian director. We are establishing three new drop-in centers in Columbia.
· Final Sunflower dorm is now under construction. We have at least 10 children waiting to move in!
· Natalie Mano, Kurt Reintjes, the Ryser family and many generous donors provided a wonderful Christmas for the Sunflower children
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You can make a donation TODAY through PayPal, using your Visa, MC, Amex or Discover Credit Cards --
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Mail to: Southern Cross Humanitarian 2607 Casto Lane,
Salt Lake City, UT 84117-6302
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