Thank you for caring about orphaned and vulnerable children in Guatemala. Today we want to share a story about two young sisters who are directly benefiting from your prayer and support. 

Our team in Guatemala writes—

Yolanda* was always hungry.

She had learned to ignore the pains and the rumbling of her stomach, and she taught her younger sister to do the same.

Her life was never easy. Her dad left when she was young, and her mom brought home different boyfriends—most of them not kind.

So her sister was her whole life.

They did everything together. They would often walk through the fields, trying to find any scrap of food left behind by workers, or they’d walk into town hoping someone would give them something to eat. Sometimes someone would take pity and would give them a few quetzales (a quetzale the equivalent of 13 cents in the U.S.) to buy eggs or tortillas.

Then they’d walk home, looking for firewood as they went, so they could build a fire and fix their meal.

And then the unthinkable happened.

One day, while warming tortillas over the fire, Yolanda started chasing her sister for fun.

“Tag! You’re it!”

Only, she misstepped, falling into the fire and badly burning her leg.

Trying to be strong for her sister, she wrapped her burned leg in an old shirt. But she could no longer walk into town to beg for food. And over the next few weeks, her sister grew very hungry and tired. Soon, her eyes were sunken and she no longer had any energy to play.

Their mom finally took them to the local hospital where Yolanda and her sister received treatment for malnutrition and for the burn on Yolanda’s leg.

Yolanda’s sister got to leave the hospital before she did.

Yolanda kept asking the doctors and nurses when she would see her sister again. They explained that was now going to be living in a safe place, but Yolanda wasn’t sure how her sister would be safe if she wasn’t there to protect her.

Would she have enough to eat?
Were the men going to leave her alone?

Finally, 5 months after being separated due to the hospital stay, Yolanda was reunited with her sister at Village of Hope, a ministry of Lifesong.

Today both girls are safe. They eat 3 meals a day. And for the first time in their lives, they’re going to school. And every single day, they are learning about the eternal hope they have in Jesus.

Your prayer and support make stories like this possible. Thank you for being an important part of this story.

*Name changed for protection.

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