Manos Extendidas Day Care Programs resumed mid February. We now have about ninety 3-6 year olds. Most of the kids this year are all new which meant we had to gather their personal information and add them into the system for assistance. This is always a very time consuming task as the information needed to enroll them in the program is not always readily available. For example, children are required to present their birth certificates for verification of identity and birth date. Some of these children are not even registered as being born, there are no records. It is as if they did not exist. Some are living with grandparents or aunts, some of them were abandoned by the parent(s) when they were quite young, even days old.

Some of the children suffer physical and sexual abuse.  Our hands our tied. Although these cases are few, one is even too many. Our hearts wrench to be in this country and not be able to do anything about such atrocities to God’s precious little ones. While most of these children are receiving the food we give them at the centers, the 2 days the centers are not open each week, these children have no food at all and go to bed hungry.

Recently, the ministry came across one family that had four children sharing one small bowl of uncooked rice and sharing one small glass of juice. There was no other food in the house. The father has abandoned the family and the mother tries to make ends meet, but fails to make enough to provide for her family.

Time and again we are reminded of the need for a children’s home. The stories are sad, yet we know that our FATHER in Heaven knew these children in their mothers womb, in fact, the word says, He was intimately acquainted with them even from the time of conception and He definitely has a plan for their lives. (Psalm 139 & Jeremiah 29)