A Christmas Party for Daniela's Family

 Merry Christmas! As the clock ticks towards the beginning of another brand new year, we all begin to look at our lives and evaluate where we are, and where we would like to be in the coming year.  Fresh starts are what New Year's is all about.  I like that.  There is something energizing about a fresh start, don’t you think?  Well, as the Porter family stands on the precipice of this new year, we are very excited.  We can see that God is opening doors and propelling us forward towards the formation of our own non-profit organization, Lupita’s Hope.  By faith, we plan to take the necessary steps to found this ministry, trusting that where God guides, God will provide.

Last week, we had a fun day with Daniela's family.  Ana, the mom/grandma of the family, and all her brood including her daughters, Nelsy, Denora, and Lupita, along with their nine children, took the two hour bus ride from San Julian to come to our house for a full day of Christmas fun!  We prepared Panes con Pavo, the traditional Salvadoran Christmas meal, with our friends Marina, who is a national missionary and dear sister, and Jorge Campos, our ministry partner and ‘old’ friend!   Marina showed us the ropes for preparing a Salvadoran style turkey. Very different than the traditional turkey we make in the states, but, DELICIOUS!!!  The sandwiches are

Kathy and Marina preparing the food

prepared on large French bread rolls, and include the yummy turkey, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, lettuce, watercress, and they are topped with the tasty red sauce that is cooked and basted over the turkey, and a hard-boiled egg.  The red sauce is prepared with grilled tomatoes, onion, ground pumpkin seeds, and lots of other spices which are blended up to make the sauce to put over the bird.  You drown your sandwich in this sauce, and BOY is it messy!  But, sooo good!  The kids all played with Jonah and 

Maddie’s old toys…Legos,  American Girl dolls, and all their clothes and accessories…and Hotwheels that have been collected for years between Sam and Jonah.  They had a ball!

  After we ate our delicious dinner, we all gathered in the living room where we handed out gifts to each child.  Oh, they were excited!  What fun we had watching their happy faces!  The children were very grateful and we were covered in hugs and kisses.  The moms were each given a jar of David’s famous home-made pico de gallo, which they LOVE!  (They had all enjoyed eating it many times while we lived in San Julian).  Later in the afternoon, we all enjoyed some sweet bread and coffee over lively conversations. At the end of the day, we all piled into our van (yes, 15 people in an 8 passenger van...here in ES, this is completely normal)  and carried them home!  A lovely day was had by all! 

Kathy and Marina with their creation

Enjoying the Meal

Maddie having fun with the girls

The girls working on a puzzle

Jonah, Jorge and Daniela chillin'

Rebecca, one of Daniela's sisters

Lupita with her daughter Keyri

Pan con Pavo, a Traditional
Salvadoran Turkey Sandwich

December 2013 Update

It’s been a month and a half since we have been back from our visit to the states.  We were encouraged and blessed by so many dear friends and family while we were home.  We had the opportunity to share our vision for the young women of El Salvador with several churches.  A highlight for us was our trip to El Paso, Texas.  It has been six years since we left Juarez, Mexico.  

Calvary Chapel Sun City, in El Paso, which is just across the border from Juarez, opened their arms to us while we lived in Juarez, and we fell in love with the church and Pastor Terry Gray, his wife, Kim and their lovely children.  CCSC has been faithfully supporting our family since we left Juarez.  We had not been able to make it back to El Paso to visit CCSC since leaving six years ago.  This year, we knew that we wanted to make that 4,000 mile round trip!  We prayed about it, and God provided what we needed to do it!  My mom, (Kay) even offered us the use of her car for the 10 days we would be gone.  What a blessing!  In El Paso, we spent four awesome days reconnecting with dear friends, and we had the opportunity to share at CCSC what God is doing with us in El Salvador.  I cannot tell you how encouraged and blessed we were for those four short days. 

Jonah and Maddie LOVED the time they had to renew their friendships with the Gray kids!  They didn’t want to leave El Paso!  

Brooklyn & Luke looking over
their new baby sister

Of course, being in Washington with our families was food for our souls.  What a family we have!  From our precious mothers, to our darling grandbabies…WE ARE SO BLESSED!  We arrived just in time to be present at the birth of our newest little angel, Katherine Ellen Willard.  For those of you who don’t know, Katherine is my mother’s name (you know her by Kay!) and Ellen is my middle name.  Mom and I were so touched that Tyrone and Courtney chose to name their fourth child after us. Okay, I might have cried! J

We have been getting back into the swing of things, as well as beginning new adventures.  Jonah and Maddie began going to school for the first time in their lives the first week we got back.  They are doing well so far and we are thankful for all your prayers for them.  Please continue to pray as we have been having issues (sigh) with the school.  Pretty big issues with  the teachers and administrators being very disorganized. It has been very frustrating.  The kids are enjoying the new friends they are making, though, and that has been encouraging to them. Not a week after we got back David came down with pneumonia, and was more sick than I have ever seen him in 32 years.  After six weeks, he is still struggling with his health.  We were blessed to be directed to a good doctor in Usulutan, which is about an hour and a half away from San Salvador.  Yesterday, our dear friend, Marina, took us to Doctor Edgardo, and he told David that he currently has acute bronchitis. He was given 2 different inhaler meds, along with another anti-biotic.   It has been a slow recovery process.  This has put the brakes on our life, and has been very difficult for him.  Please pray for his health.

We began the process of working with Daniela the week we came home. She came for a weekend visit so she could take some testing to help us make some decisions about what school would be best for her.  We are still working out all of the logistics and need your prayers for each step we need to take.  Since returning, we have had to make some changes in our original plan to have Daniela live with us during high school, as it was made clear to us that, legally, we could have some issues with separating her from her mom, (while under the age of 18) and from her daughter, who is four.   Even though her mother wants this, and her daughter would be well taken care of and visited often, we want to operate within the laws.  The laws are becoming very strict in relation to separating families.  The idea of the law is good, but the implementation has been complicated and has resulted in grave problems for children that live in places like La Casa de Mi Padre.  The courts push to return them to their parents/families which sounds good.  But, if you are returning a child to the same circumstances that led to him being removed from the home, what are you accomplishing? We have known of children who have died as a result of this, and some at La Casa that have experienced very serious, life-threatening circumstances.

 Ideally, we feel that it would be for the best for her to live with us, as she would be able to focus much better on her studies. Also, counseling, discipleship, teaching life skills, and a healthy family dynamic would be easier facilitated by her living full-time with us.  As a result of this law, called Lepina, and since we are still under the legal umbrella of La Casa’s organization, at the present time,we have decided not to have young women in our home under the age of 18, until we have established our own non-profit. (Which we are working on.)  After prayer and counsel, we have decided that we will continue our plan to fund her education through high school, while we invest in these other areas of her life, as she continues to live at her home.  Then, after her high-school graduation, Lord willing, she would move to our home and begin university studies and work.  This was a hard adjustment for us to make emotionally, as we felt strongly about having Daniela live with us for maximum impact. But, we have peace about this decision.  We want to follow the laws of the land as much as is possible, as we are guests in this country and want to have a good testimony.  By the 20^th of December, we will have made our final decision on which school Daniela will attend.  Please pray for guidance!

Pray!  Pray!  Pray!  

We shared our vision and passion for women in El Salvador, while we were in the states.  If you live outside of our area and were not able to be a part of that, we want to share that with you, so you, too, would be up to date.  If you are interested, go to the previous blog post titled "Lupita's Hope Video" and the one following called "Violence Against Girls in El Salvador."

We shared with you about Daniela’s aunt, Lupita, who is a young woman that has been a friend of ours since before moving to El Salvador full-time.  She is a hard-working, sweet young, single mom of a 19 month old daughter.   Since knowing her, we have wanted to do something to make a difference in her life.  God is moving on our hearts and on her heart, and there is a strong possibility that she will be making the move from her family’s home in San Julian, to our home in the capitol.  She is passionate about not going down the same road as her family has for generations.  She desires to study and work and make a future for herself, her daughter, and for her future family.  Not only this, but, she desires to bless others, and make a difference in her country.   She just needs an opportunity.  We have been praying and waiting on God about Lupita for years.  We feel that with the re-focusing of our priorities with Daniela, God is directing us to move forward with Lupita. She is an adult and there would be no legal problems with her coming to live with us.  We have been talking to her about this for some time, and Monday we will be meeting with her to make some decisions.  Please pray!  Since she is the main breadwinner for her family of 13 (mom, daughter, sisters, nieces and nephews) making the decision to move away puts the financial burden squarely on her sister’s and mother’s shoulders.  She knows that her family needs to take responsibility for themselves, but, it’s a hard thing.  They have been dependant on her for a long time.  God has been answering our prayers for provision for Lupita.  We are so thankful to see Him moving on the hearts of those who are coming alongside us to bless young women in El Salvador! 

  

This Monday, we have invited the whole family, (all thirteen) to our home for a Christmas party.  We will eat panes con pavo. Translation: Breads with turkey. This is a typical Salvadoran Christmas meal.  It is a large sandwich on a French bread that is stuffed with turkey, cucumbers, tomatoes, watercress, radishes, and then the main ingredient is the red sauce that you smother it in. YUM!  We plan to bless them with a little something for each of them for Christmas, and to just spend time with them.  We are looking forward to this day.  We plan to communicate our vision for Daniela and Lupita with more detail Monday, so please pray for wisdom and words!  They will take a two hour bus ride to San Salvador to come to our home, and we plan to take them back home to San Julian in the evening.

Pray for us too that God will protect us from Satan’s attacks.  We know as we begin to help young women in need, Satan will be looking for ways to tear it down.  The spiritual battle has been intense, and we feel it most in our marriage.  We need protection both physically and spiritually that may do His good and perfect will for our lives here in El Salvador.

Sharing at Calvary Chapel Longview

Kathy with Kim Gray, wife of Pastor Terry
at Calvary Chapel Sun City

Eating with some of our friends in El Paso

The Porter clan get together in The Dalles, Oregon.
Our nephew Jeremiah is the pastor of the church.

We also had the opportunity to spend time with our son, Sam

Lupita's Hope Video

Here is a short video we put together to introduce Lupita's Hope to you.  This was part of our presentation we gave to the churches we visited while we were in the states.

Violence Against Girls in El Salvador

As we were preparing to share in the U.S. about the ministry God has called us to here in El Salvador we found this article online that that clearly spoke about the things we have seen while living here, especially in the rural areas like San Julian.

San Salvador, El Salvador - Endemic levels of sexual abuse and gender based violence have made El Salvador one of the most dangerous countries in the world for girls and women, amid entrenched "machismo" attitudes and a criminal justice system that too often fails victims. More than seven sexual attacks were reported every day in the first three months of 2013 - a 17 percent rise in 12 months, according to official police figures. Two thirds of the reported 636 rapes and sexual offences were committed against children under the age of 18. El Salvador has a population of 6.2 million. While much of the country's escalating violence over the past decade can be blamed on street gangs and drug traffickers, the most risky place for girls and women is still at home.  In January alone this year, police received 243 complaints of domestic violence - a 23 percent year-on-year rise. Information gathered by the feminist organisation Ormusa (the Organisation of Salvadoran Women for Peace) reveals that most sexual assaults involve girls aged between 12 and 17 and take place at home. Sexual crimes are usually committed by a close relative or family acquaintance while the mother is out working. One in three pregnancies in El Salvador involves a teenaged girl, often the result of abuse, according to NGO Plan International.  Too many girls end up in relationships with much older men in order to escape poverty or violence at home, Roxana Ramos, a primary care nurse working with pregnant teens in Chalatenango, told Al Jazeera. 'Tip of the iceberg' Women and girls also bear the brunt of kidnappings - another violent crime which blights the country and causes huge anxiety among the population. In the first four months of 2013, almost 500 kidnappings were reported - 60 percent involved girls and women, according to the National Civilian Police (PNC). It is widely believed that PNC figures represent only the "tip of the iceberg" of actual crimes committed, as fear, mistrust of authorities, social stigma and a lack of awareness among many women about their rights keeps many from speaking out. Conviction rate figures are not publicly available.  A prevailing machismo attitude among the police, prosecutors and judiciary in particular continues to be a huge obstacle to justice for women. In 2012, six women were murdered by partners who were serving police officers, according to the Observatory of Gender Violence against Women.  Rodrigo Bustos, director of Plan El Salvador, said: "Violence against girls and women is one of the biggest challenges facing the country, and we know for a fact that it is not getting better. Adolescent girls are at huge risk of sexual abuse from older men within the family… in some cases the mothers know but are too powerless or scared to do anything." Bustos added: "The roles assigned to women are very fixed: take care of the home and family, and be submissive to all men in all relationships. Violence occurs when women won't submit to this. Our only hope is working with young people, boys and girls, to change these beliefs." Girls and gangs Gang violence peaked in El Salvador in 2011 when it was ranked as the world's second most dangerous country by the United National Office on Drugs and Crime - with a murder rate of 69 per 100,000 people. That year 628 women were killed - a 225 per cent increase since 2000.  Few girls are fully initiated gang members in El Salvador but tit-for-tat killings of girlfriends, sisters and other girls working within the gang structure had escalated until the two main gangs, Mara Salvatrucha 13 and Calle 18, called an unexpected truce in March 2012. The murder rate has fallen by 50 per cent since then, but one woman and four men are still murdered on average every day. Most rapes, assaults and even disappearances within the gangs remain hidden from official figures as they are rarely reported. Sara Romero, a 20-year-old from San Salvador, became involved with Calle 18 when she was 13. She was raped by five gang members when her boyfriend, a neighbourhood gang leader, was in prison.  "I never even considered going to the police. I didn't want to cause trouble for my gang by getting the police involved," Romero told Al Jazeera.  The perpetrators were beaten-up badly as a punishment, one died as a result, but not for the rape per se, rather for the disrespect they had shown Romero's boyfriend.  "As Sara's case demonstrates, the level of violence inflicted on women by the gangs is extreme. But, it is also easier for society to point to the gangs as the violent ones," said Jeanne Rikkers, a youth violence expert at the human rights organisation Fespad.  "It's much harder to accept that girls in their own homes are being raped by their fathers and brothers, and that's something this culture needs to come to terms with if we're going to address the issue of violence against women." New legislation A radical new law designed to improve access to justice by identifying specific crimes and sentences for violence against women was introduced by President Mauricio Funes' left-wing FLMN government on January 1, 2012. It came after years of campaigning by feminist and human rights organisations.  "The law recognises for the first time that gender based violence exists and that it violates the human rights of women," Silvia Barrios, a lawyer at Ormusa, told Al Jazeera. "It also obliges every state institution to tackle violence against women."  The legislation was followed by a zero tolerance campaign launched by President Funes and the country's first lady, which has been lauded as an important step towards reducing the stigma that victims face.  A handful of recent cases suggest some signs of progress. In a widely reported incident in May, a 29-year-old man was refused bail after being arrested for throwing boiling oil over his girlfriend in a drunken rage.  "For him to be denied bail and the newspaper to publish his picture in the newspaper rather than hers, the victim, is a huge step forward," Barrios told Al Jazeera. In another high profile case, Luis Villatoro, a former parliamentary adviser, was jailed last month for six years for a series of physical and verbal assaults on his ex-girlfriend.  Omar Flores, a lawyer from Fespad, said the sentence set a precedent for El Salvadoran women who he hoped would now feel more confident in reporting similar abuses.   But, despite these noteworthy examples, implementation of the legislation has so far been slow.   Here, boys are bought up to think they own girls and women - that they have the right to use their bodies however they want. Bessy Martinez, rape victim Several senior judges have denounced the Special Integrated Law for a Life Free of Violence against Women as "unconstitutional", insisting they would not implement it in their courts, Barrios said. Amnesty International said the law would only protect women if attitudes within law enforcement changed.  "We are still hearing about women left in dangerous situations due to the failure of police and justice officials to ensure protection orders are delivered and complied with. There are cases of the judiciary failing to apply the new law, resulting in lesser penalties for perpetrators," Esther Major, Amnesty's El Salvador expert, told Al Jazeera.  "Officials must be properly trained and, crucially, held to account, when they fail to ensure women are protected from acts of violence." Bessy Martinez, a 20-year-old from rural Chalatenango, was raped in her own home at the age of seven by her step-father's nephew. Martinez is a child born out of sexual violence - the result of her mother being raped at the age of 16. Neither mother nor daughter has seen justice.  "The boy who raped me was only 16 or 17, but he was always trying to touch us young girls as we bathed in the lake," Martinez told Al Jazeera. "He told me that he would kill my family if I told anyone, so I kept quiet for many years. I blamed my mum for leaving us alone with him, but when I eventually told her what had happened, she was angry at me." Martinez is now part of a youth group sponsored by Plan International, supporting other young victims, but also trying to shift the attitudes of her peers. "Here, boys are bought up to think they own girls and women - that they have the right to use their bodies however they want," she said. "That machismo culture is our biggest problem and that's what we are trying to change." *Names of victims have been changed to protect identities.

Source:  Al Jazeera  June 7, 2013  http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/06/20136493135956422.html