We’d like to wish you a very Happy New Year, and thank you once again for your support. We’ll be coming out with our year-end report soon, but before that, we want to spend some time updating all of you on some of our girls. I just returned from Honduras and Nicaragua and have a lot of news, photos and videos of our girls there. It was a great trip, and most of the girls are doing really well. This week, we’ll start with Honduras. As soon as I can figure out how to prepare the videos for uploading on Vimeo, we’ll post the link so that you can see them.

I visited Camila and Klaudina just before Christmas, and it was simply a delight to see both of them. They are thriving in their schools, which is just wonderful. Klaudina is speaking English absolutely beautifully. She finished her initial classes at IHCI, and the foundation will pay for adult conversation classes to keep her practicing. The board agreed that without continued practice, she’ll lose so much of what she has learned. I was fortunate enough to attend her graduation from her English courses at IHCI, which was really fun. Seeing all the younger and adult students receiving their diplomas and so proud of their accomplishment of learning English made me cry a little. Klaudina received her diploma as expected, but what she didn’t know about was an award for “best student” in her class. She was completely shocked! The foundation will continue to support her in her regular school (where she is also excelling) as well as her English classes at IHCI.

Klaudina accompanied me around El Centro in Tegucigalpa for a day, and we had a great time. We visited the cathedrals there, and an art museum with both modern and prehistoric art pieces. It was fun talking art and color with her (she’s incredibly talented, and made her own dress for her graduation). Klaudina confided to me that she wants to find work in another country, and travel to England and the U.S. one day. She has turned  from a sweet girl into a really lovely young woman, as you can see from the pictures here. We’ll get more posted on her page soon, but here’s a small sample.

Klaudina, our contact Lidia and Klaudina’s mother Isabel, at lunch in Tegucigalpa (click to enlarge)

Klaudina and Christa at the airport picking Christa up. Note Klaudina’s shirt! (click to enlarge)

Beautiful young lady (click to enlarge)

Graduation with some of her classmates at IHCI (click to enlarge)

Klaudina and a very proud Isabel (click to enlarge)

Klaudina with her IHCI diploma and her award for “Best Student,” a Webster’s Spanish-English dictionary (click to enlarge)

Klaudina’s end of the year letter to us and to all of you (written entirely in English) read: “Hello, my name’s Klaudina. I want to tell you how grateful I feel for the that you have done for me. Everything’s OK at school, I like to be there with all my friends and the teachers that are my friends too. This year hasn’t been the best for me because I have had some problems with some homework that the teachers haven’t wrote in my report cards, but at the IHCI it has been a great year. I progressed a lot and I feel like I can talk with whoever in English. Well, I think I can, ja ja ja (ha ha ha).  This Friday, December 13th is my graduation of the twelve grammar levels of the first program. After two years I feel so happy. I hope you keep helping me. 2014 will be The Best Year Ever. Thank you so so much. Good bye and GOD BLESS YOU!!!”

We are so proud of Klaudina, and believe that she is on her way to a wonderful future. Thank you—to all of you—who have donated money to help Klaudina and all our other girls achieve their dreams. And again, a very Happy New Year. May your year be filled with love and joy, peace and good works. Like Klaudina, we think it will be The Best Year Ever!

Christa