Good news for the new year!

Since the last entry many new things have happened. After meeting with the Honduran children’s social welfare agency director, and calls from the Honduras Embassy in Washington D.C., (thanks to Senator John McCain’s office), the judge in Roatan finally issued the sentence for Margarita’s abandonment decree.

The social welfare agency had their committee meeting on Dec 12th and officially “assigned” Margarita to me. This is a HUGE step and basically the last part of that process. Now my lawyer takes that paperwork and hands it into the judge of minors so they can issue the adoption decree. I was told this will take 3 months so I estimate 5 months.

Also simultaneously, U.S. immigration will do their investigation to confirm that Margarita is an orphan. I have been translating the documents to hand in and found a social worker in Phoenix to review my Honduran home study which is one of the requisites for immigration. I am aiming to have someone fill my position for our July orientation and hopefully be back in Phoenix by early fall.

Skz has been down twice in the last few months and is coming down again on January 17th with his sister. We will be on the Ranch for 5 days and then travel for a week first going to the lake called Lago Yojoa, then to the north Caribbean coast to a town called Tela. In Tela they have a few national parks with hiking and canoeing. Then off to La Ceiba, another north coast town that has a cloud forest called Pico Bonito. We will hike there, go to hot springs and hopefully visit Cayos Cachinos, a small island chain off the coast with little inhabitants.

I have been to most of the above places but not have done the exploring so I am excited about it too.

Margarita is doing well and I am trying to speak more English with her daily. She understands a lot, especially commands and sometimes she throws a few English words in with her Spanish.

She told me the other day that when she grows up and has lots of money that she wants to buy a child here on the Ranch in the babies house. I told her that the children arrive with their brothers and sisters so they aren’t for sale, not do we buy children but she can donate money for the children. She looked at me and nodded, like that’s what she wanted to do.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year from Honduras.
Write when you can. hc.hn@nph.org
with love,
Monica

Saludos de Honduras

Hi all.
I know it’s been a long time. I do have one bit of positive news regarding the adoption paperwork. The social welfare office publicized Margarita’s photo and announcement stating that if anyone knows any info or the whereabouts of her biological parents to notify the authorities. Since her mother died and father is unknown, we don’t expect anyone to come forward. This is needed for the abandonment decree.

We’ve waited 5 months for that step. The bad news is that the family court in Tegucigalpa sent Margarita’s file to the court in Roatan, the island, because that is the jurisdiction since she was born there. The annoying portion of all of this is that the court sent her file to Roatan in April and nobody knew, neither my lawyer nor the person in the social welfare office who is handling the case. I continue to pray for patience…lots of it!

Margarita is doing good…well, she will have 2 great weeks of behavior and improvement and then have a set back of a day or two. Like this week, she misbehaved in school and at home so I made her walk around the Ranch and collect trash. Problem was that she enjoyed it. She was skipping around the grounds picking up wrappers and paper or the occasional soda bottle. I thought I had to get tougher with her punishment so I then had her sweep patios and walkways and wash a brick wall with a sponge. She didn’t enjoy that as much and seems like she learned her lesson.

Margarita loves the Montessori program that she attends plus she has a ½ hr of English everyday with a teacher from the U.S. Also she still has speech therapy once a week and ergotherapy for her coordination and balance. Once a week she also has religion class that I observed one day because I was curious and also wanted to know what they are teaching her. It was very simple, songs, the Lord’s Prayer and vocabulary of the items used during a mass that are placed on the altar.

What keeps me busy is work, motherhood, legal paperwork and meetings and the children here at the Ranch. Every week we have a different group of “chicas” come over for a few hours. We make popcorn, cake and dinner. Well, I made them Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and the chicas hardly took a bite. They looked at it like it was grubs! I thought to myself what kids don’t like mac and cheese? One of the chicas then asked me “ah Tia…what’s in the kitchen for dinner?” So I went down to the kitchen to get other food for them, laughing to myself. Well of course they want this dinner. It was cinnamon cookies, banana and strawberry cream of wheat.

I am fortunate that my work is very flexible. I usually start at 8:15am and end at 4:00pm. I have a babysitter pick Margarita up at school and then they walk up to our house. I do most of my work on-line, communicating with our international fundraising offices, mainly supplying them with on information on projects that need funding and info on our children and activities on the Ranch. For example, our chicken houses are 14 years old and are falling down. I get the plans and estimates from the engineer, take some photos and then upload that info to our intranet so the fundraisers can use it to look for donors. We haven’t had chicken in months because it’s too dangerous for our farm workers to be going in and out of the buildings and climbing the dilapidated ladders for the feeding system.

Also whenever anyone needs photos of anything, they call me, or design work. Another example is that the director of family service needed a brochure explaining our policies and procedures of new children, so I staged a bunch of scenario photos and designed a brochure that hopefully all the homes can use. (We have 8 other homes in Central America, South America and the Caribbean).

Every year I take a photo of each child, youth, for their godparents to receive during the holiday season. This year this process was extra special because the photos will be used by a non-profit in the U.S., called The Memory Project. Each one of our children will receive a portrait of themselves, painted by a high school student artist in the U.S. It takes about 9 months for the students to make the portraits so it won’t be till next year until the kids receive them.

Skz arrives on the 26th for 2 weeks! He’s agreed to walk Margarita down to school everyday and then go pick her up and watch her in the afternoons while I work. In total it will be about 3 miles of walking for him.

We also will go to the island for a few days so I can try and meet with the Judge and investigate what stage Margarita’s paperwork is at.

Please know that I think about all of you and I would love to here from you when you have time, even if it's just hello.

Hugs,
Monica

More of the same...

As of March 29th we are still waiting for the social welfare office to publicize the abandonment decree in the local newspaper. Now the tricky thing is that the presiding judge over the case wants to send the file to La Ceiba, a town on the north coast of Honduras because Margarita is from Roatan, but there is no Family Court in Roatan, just a general court. The judge named Ruben, was a colleague of my lawyer Oscar. I have asked Oscar to BEG him not to send our case there. After the announcement is placed in the newspaper then the social welfare lawyer takes it to the judge to have him issue the sentence, after the sentence is issued then the decree is issued.

Here’s another problem. The social welfare office has not paid their outstanding bill at the newspaper therefore they cannot place any more announcements! Yes, I will be going to the newspaper to offer a “donation” for the social welfare office outstanding bill, well actually Chris will go because I shouldn’t been seen involving myself in the matter. Chris also went to the social welfare office for me to ask when they were going to publicize it and the woman very nicely said, “Oh yes, the little black girl. Her file is right here. As soon as we get our bill paid we can place the announcement.”

I tried really hard to hold back my tears when Oscar asked me what I thought of all this and I said the “system” does not look out for the welfare of the Honduran children. This judge wants to send a perfectly complete open and shut case of abandonment to another city just because Margarita wasn’t born in either of them. She has been and currently lives in the jurisdiction of Tegucigalpa!

On April 20th, Margarita’s birth mother died in the public hospital in Roatan of HIV related causes, including tuberculosis. She was 41 years old. I went to the island a few days later to get the death certificate. It was not easy! I had to wait at the hospital to get the attending doctor who pronounced her dead to fill out a death sentence form and then take that to the registry. Hours waiting at both of these places. The hospital was filled with crying babies and people waiting on wooden benches. Dogs walking in and out with no one concerned about it. Luckily Nora’s daughter Teshanna helped me find Margarita’s oldest brother Kenny to be witness at the registry. It’s a miracle that it all worked out.

Margarita has two other brothers whom I got to visit with. One is doing well, he is 8 and lives with a woman and attends a good bilingual school. The other one who is 11, has failed first grade 3 times so they didn’t send him back. He runs in the streets all day. Supposedly his father and or step mother are caring for him after Nora died, but he looks bad.It was sad to see this and know there is nothing I can do to help him. He’s lost.

Skz came to visit in April for 8 days. We had a great time and went to Copan Ruins, a town by the Guatemala border with Mayan Ruins. We stayed at a bed and breakfast and also went to a bird sanctuary and a coffee plantation/farm, where we went horseback riding and went to the hot springs. Margarita and Skz continue to develop their relationship and it’s wonderful to see them together. Margarita asks about people in the states all the time and what everyone’s name is. Also if they like certain food like, “does Polly (my mom) like pancakes?” or “do they have ice cream cones in the states?” She also says a lot of funny things like after mass she said, “the whole world loves Jesus, right?”

So the good news is that I will be in Phoenix July 5th through the 12th! Margarita will stay in town with Chris and her son, so I know she is in good hands.
I hope to see all of you then.

Take care and send me an email when you get a chance,
Love,
Monica

Abandoned?

Margarita said to me, very matter of factly, “Mom…I don’t have a Daddy.” I said, “Well you have Mono (Skz), and he can be your dad if that’s okay with you?”
“Okay,” she replied. Since then she’s been commenting every so often that Mono is her dad and that she is going to the states to live in Mono’s house when her papers are ready.

So yesterday, when Margarita was questioned by the Family Court social worker, “Who is your Dad,” she replied “Mono”, that her dad was a Monkey! Unfortunately I was not in the room which made me quite upset, but yet again I don’t have much control in this whole abandonment adoption process.

The reason why we went to the Family Court in the first place was because I was told the day before by the Social Welfare office that is handling the legal aspect of Margarita’s abandonment issues that the Family Court Social Worker and Judge did not believe that they should issue an abandonment decree for Margarita since she has biological family. This infuriated me and my lawyer, who luckily was with me! I am sure that every child that has been abandoned has biological family SOMEWHERE! Margarita’s mother left her in the hospital! I have an affidavit from The Secretary of Health stating that her mother Maggie rejected her and left her in the hospital after she gave birth. Maggie has given away her other 3 children!

The social welfare office sent an investigator to Roatan (the island where Margarita was born) to investigate Maggie and Nora (the neighbor that cared for her the first few months of her life) and wrote a report and this was handled in with my paperwork. The court did not believe their own government appointed social welfare office investigator! Does this sound as crazy as it is?

The advice of the social welfare office was to get in front of the Family Court social worker so that she could meet me and Margarita and hear first hand from me that NO ONE in her biological family ever cared for her, sent money for her care nor ever called. Thank God Chris came with me as a witness because she testified as well that while Margarita lived at her project for 1.5 years that no one ever came to see her or called even when she was thought to be HIV positive.

The disturbing thing was is that the Family Court social worker came up to me, did not even introduce herself and said can I talk to Margarita. I then held out my hand and told her I was her mom, Monica, and then she took her away!

Oscar, my lawyer was with me and while we were waiting he ran into an acquaintance who is a judge at the Family Court. He then told Oscar that he would be handling Margarita’s case and not to worry about anything. He told Oscar that as a Judge he does not have to take into consideration the social worker’s opinion. A secretary then briefly interviewed me and I signed a written statement saying when I met Margarita, when she came to live with me and where we are living now.

The bad news is that the same morning I phoned Nora to try to confirm what she told the social welfare office investigator in case I needed to reinforce what she said and I spoke to Nora’s daughter who told me that Nora had died. Nora cared for one of Margarita’s brother’s, Alberto, who is about 11, but they aren’t sure because he doesn’t have a birth certificate.

Now I have to call Nora’s daughter and get a death certificate, because Nora registered herself as Margarita’s mother. So legally, Margarita’s mother has died and there is no Father listed on the birth certificate.

My friend and co-worker Shannon (video journalist) suggested we go to Roatan and film a mini documentary about the people involved in this case; to support the urgency that they act to finally give justice to this little girl and let her have an identity and a home. If they don’t then we have a story and footage to give to the press.

If you believe in prayer (or sending good energy) please direct it our way over these next weeks as we see what develops with the abandonment issue. Forgot to mention that I cannot apply for adoption unless I have the abandonment decree.


Hugs,

Monica

Day with the Chicas

This is from Sunday January 29th

Thursday was the end of vacation courses so when Margarita woke up Friday morning the first thing she asked was if she could play with the chicas. I explained that the chicas had their chores to do and that she couldn’t just run off and play on the jungle gyms, that she had to participate as well. An hour later, I walked past her and about 10 chicas raking the grass and brush that was cut by the older girls with machetes. She was also stuffing the clippings into a large flour sac which they then drug 200 yards to the incinerator.

After we had lunch she asked to go back again. It works out for me too because I can work without being interrupted and I had just gotten word that we had to take on a new project that we thought the international office was completing. I walked out of my office at 530 pm to go pick her up on the way to the kitchen and 5 chicas came running up to me telling me that Margarita had a headache and a fever. When I walked into their “hogar” home, Margarita was sobbing and I picked her up asking her where it hurt. She said my head, my head hurts. Pelin, the coordinator of the girls’ home then told me that they walked down to the front gate and back, probably 2 miles, plus she had worked in the morning and had done a bit of walking with me even before she went to meet the chicas.

I brought Margarita back to the room and checked her temperature which was 101 and gave her some Tylenol and a banana. Shannon brought over the dinner from the kitchen, whole red beans, avocado, white soft cheese and a whole wheat roll. Margarita had about 3 bites and then fell asleep with her head on the table.

Then arrived 5 chicas to see if Margarita was “okay”. It was so cute of them checking up on her. Margarita’s fever continued the next day and she was miserable. She wouldn’t eat, except jello, and her fever got worse. By 9pm it was 103.7. I called Chris, my nurse friend that lives in the city to get her opinion. She was concerned that in children, high fevers can result in seizures and told me to put her in the cold shower and get some ibuprofen from the clinic to give her along with the Tylenol.

Margarita was not happy about being placed in the shower and starting screaming and sobbing as I tried to cool her off with a washcloth and cold water. I told her that Chris, the nurse, whom she knows very well, said I had to do it to help keep her fever down. She still screamed bloody murder. After I cooled her off and dressed her I ran up to the clinic to get someone to give me so ibuprofen. Merlin was working in the clinic. He grew up at NPH with his brothers and was one of the first children to arrive here at the Ranch, 20 years ago. He is a medical student now and has 2 years left to get his degree.

He came with me to examine Margarita and said her lungs and heart were fine and recommended that I give her the ibuprofen and some antihistamine for her runny nose and check with the doctor in the am if she still has a fever.

She woke up without a fever and slept through the entire night. She still has a cold and doesn’t feel 100% so I took her to our volunteer doctor from the U.S., just in case. Liz, from Maine, thought that it is just a virus and should pass. I hope so too because she will not stop asking about the chicas!

Photos

Hello. Here are some photos. Email me!

Ants in my pants...

Literally. Yesterday I dropped our plastic Snapware lunch container, full of food, right outside the door to my office. By the time I bend down to pick up the surviving food still in the container, the spilled food was already being accosted by tiny ants, which some of them got lost and made their way inside of my jeans.
They pack a mean bite and create a red sore like a mosquito bite and soooooooooooo itchy! I ran to the office bathroom twice, taking of my jeans and shaking them out. The little suckers made about 20 bites on my legs and all the way up to my torso!

Other than that I’m doing fine. Margarita is loving the Ranch and always wants to go play with the “chicas”. The chicas are age 7 to around 16. They live in two large dorm style houses with 3 tier bunk beds and showers and bathrooms in each dorm. When they aren’t in school they have chores, play soccer, cards, whatever they can get their hands on. Margarita is probably the most popular chica here. Everyone adores her and she can play with the chicas for hours while I catch up on work.

Tonight we had mass at 4pm and then ate calzones with the chicas. Mass is actually much better since I left. We have a Priest who is Mexican but grew up in Germany and speaks fluent English too. The chapel is new and amphitheater style so the sides are open. Margarita gets a little ansy during the service but she seems to like the live music, choir and guitars.

It's fabulous having internet connection and I was even able to listen to Sirius Satellite radio on-line the other day while I worked.

Hope everyone is doing well. Hope to hear from you.

Scratching away…Monica

The Ranch

Hello! We are alive and well. Just getting into a routine. We are moved into our room which is about 300 sq ft. It has its own bathroom and shower but no hot water. The Padre (priest) has been kind enough to let me use his washing machine which is a life saver. Previous to that, Margarita and I washed underwear and socks one day and it took about an hour.

I now have a laptop and Shannon (ex-volunteer and current volunteer) and I share a decent size office. We have temporary furniture in the office but will be going out next week to buy desks because the wood tables that are in there now are infested with termites. The Ranch (were we live) now has satellite internet and cells phones do work so I feel much more connected than my time here before.

Margarita is handling the changes so well. I am very impressed with her ability to adapt. She is enrolled in vacation courses at the Ranch school which are from 8 am to 1 pm. She has painting, theater and ballet. At 1pm one of my girls brings her up to my office and then we have lunch (food from the kitchen) which has been pretty decent and I haven’t gotten sick yet. Oh expect for the chicken feet soup….uggghhh, gross!

I went to court last week so that I could become the guardian of Chris’s son Gregory in order for her to complete her adoption. It was no big deal, we just had to show our residency cards. Oscar, my lawyer who is also Chris’s lawyer told me that Margarita’s abandonment decree paperwork was turned into the family court on Dec 12, 2005, so we just have to wait until we have that in our hands to file the adoption paperwork. I hope within the next 3 months.

The Ranch is having the international annual meeting in Feb so we will have about 500 visitors from other NPH homes, offices, godparents, etc. So, lots to do. I helped Shannon finish the annual report and now I’m designing business cards for the directors.

You can still email me at monica.gery@revolutionagency.com
Or at
hchn@nph.org
Love and miss you all!