Hello everyone, it has been a few months since our last post; things have definitely been happening, but we have been too busy to update the website! We’ve finally done that, and new updates are arriving every day. We have a lot to report!

Please do check out the pages for Achecaina, Mirielle, Bencille, Emili, Krisbell, Raquel, Khusbu, Bharosha, Sumira, Kritisha, Loyda, Valentina, Thalia, and Jeni A. A lot has happened with them in the past few months. Here, we’ll just give you a brief synopsis.

In Haiti, Achecaina and Mirielle are studying online from home now, since it is too dangerous to go to school. We have paid for tablets for both girls, since they can’t study without them. Do check out their pictures; they are growing up so fast! Achecaina is in 10th grade and Mirielle is in 9th. Bencille has finished her first year of administrative sciences and has enjoyed everything very much. It still remains to be seen if her school will start again in December, but we will support her whenever she can go back to school.

In Nepal, Kritisha, Khusbu, and Sumira are doing great in school. Kritisha is excelling despite having come from a lower level community school. Plus, she just discovered sports, since they didn’t have sports competitions at her old school. Sumira is apparently the fastest girl at her level; she won a medal at her sprinting competition. Bharosha retook her physics test for her state exam and she passed – what a relief! She still wants to go to medical school, and is now considering going to another country to study. In the meantime, she is teaching the preschool children at her old school and apparently she loves it!

Valentina and Thalia are doing great in Guatemala. Valentina is worried she won’t make the honor roll, but with a 91% average, we don’t think she has to worry. Thalia is thriving, despite living far away from her family. She has a lot of friends and is learning signing and lip reading really well. Loyda has had some health problems, including problems with her hands. This has stopped her from practicing and rehearsing with groups, so her teachers suggested she leave school to work on recovering. We are sad that this has to happen, and are going to figure out how we can help her with her hands. In the meantime, she is not sitting idly by. She’s working on researching traditional Guatemalan music and helping out at the cultural center. Please read her letter to us; it is really a wonderful thing to hear how she thinks about music. And it’s made us more determined than ever to figure out what is happening with her hands and to continue to support her. She won’t be able to reenter the Conservancy due to her age, but we’ll help her find something!

Finally, Jenifer Anselm is receiving her diploma on December 6! She finished her three years in biomedical equipment engineering and it turns out that was more like an associate’s degree here in the United States. She was accepted to two universities for her bachelor’s degree and she has chosen to attend the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), which has the only program in the country for exactly what she wants to study. We are over the moon for her, and plan to attend her graduation in three more years.

There is a lot more in the website, including letters and photos from many of the girls. We’ll be doing updates a lot more regularly now, as the school year is ending in Nicaragua and Guatemala, and as these girls are growing up, there is just a lot more to report. Thank you all for your support of them. It has been such a delightful journey to watch them grow up, develop their own voices, and come into themselves. And of course, none of this would be possible without your donations and support. We love our daughters, and we hope you do, too!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and hug your loved ones.

Christa, Janeece, Meghan, Leslie, Birgit