I received a note today (below) from Montana de Luz, an orphanage for children affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras. As you may recall, earlier this year we able to fund surgeries for three children and replace a Van that had been totaled in a crash.
They do amazing, life altering, life saving work. To our donors who have allowed us to help this amazing mission, thank you.
Since April of 2001, Montana de Luz has been a place of refuge for 65 children with and affected by the ravages of HIV/AIDS. Since accepting the first three children in 2001, we have loved cared for, buried and celebrated the life of these precious and vulnerable children.
Just this past year, we have welcomed three new children! Four year old Erick came to us when he was orphaned after his mother died of AIDS.
Cristal, who is eight, came to us when her mother who worked in the watermelon fields for $6 a day, could not afford to care for her. She sacrificed here own anti-retroviral therapy so that Cristal would receive the live lifesaving medication. She could not afford to send Cristal to school. The child spent her days locked in the dark and dank shack they called home, built into the side of a mountain, waiting for her mother to return. When Cristal told her mother than men were trying to break in the door while she was home alone, Cristal's mother asked MdL to take her in.
Then there is Samuel, who is eleven but looks to be about seven. When his parents died of AIDS, his aunt and uncle took him in but they were too poor to send Samuel to school. His uncle who is an alcoholic would often beat him and Samuel begged the neighbors to take him to an orphanage. When he found out he was coming to Montana de Luz he ran up and down the streets telling the neighbors he was doing to live in a happy place!
With the love, care and support Montana de Luz provides, Eric is receiving the lifesaving medication he needs, has settled in and his extended family visits regularly. Cristal is now in school and shyly shared that she received her first Christmas gift this past year. Samuel is being homeschooled and with support is working through his emotional pain and becoming more resilient every day.
With your support we are able to be a place of refuge for these children and others like them who are finding the way to the Mountain of Light. Your contribution makes this work, God's work, possible!
On behalf of the children, gracias!
Erica
