Caroline's Promise News

To read about Iana, a young girl in Plastic City, Guyana click here . Stephanie continues sharing how we can make a difference for a young girl in Plastic City. "Iana’s ear problems and hearing loss have affected her educationally and in building healthy relationships. If her years-long ear infections and their possible cause are not addressed, her hearing loss will progress. This will greatly affect her future. Recently, Iana’s grandmother approached Angie, who serves for CP in Plastic City about getting help for Iana’s ears. It is important that Iana's family be able to financially participate in her tratment, and over the last 8 months, her grandmother has saved approximately $40 towards medical tests for Iana. This is an extraordinary amount that she has set aside! Angie arranged for Iana to be able to see an ear specialist (ENT) at a private hospital in Georgetown, Guyana. We learned that a hearing aid will not solve Iana’s situation. Since Iana’s middle ears were so full

Written by Stephanie, team leader to the 2011 short term team to Guyana. Iana is a 9 year old girl who currently lives in Plastic City, Guyana with her “grandmother”. Iana's mom was AmeriIndian and her dad is of African decent. When Iana was 3 weeks old, her mother died of TB. Iana’s father has very little interaction with Iana, though Iana craves him to accept her. Many family members related to her biological father live in Plastic City. Her mother’s family live in the interior of Guyana. For various reasons, close family members could not or would not take Iana in. Iana’s great aunt and uncle stepped forward to take this 3 week baby into their home. (Iana’s father was their nephew.) They refer to themselves as Ian’s grandparents, which is what we call them too. I met Iana in October 2010, on my first trip to Guyana. She was a quiet, taller 8 year old with searching eyes. I noticed that she often had a rag held to one of her ears and couldn’t hear well out of that ear. She occasi

From Angie Hemric , our coordinator in Guyana: "Leadership – Theresa Style! Posted on December 16, 2011 by bridge1014 Theresa and Beni were glad to be the first ones to see me as I made my way into Plastic City on Thursday. They wanted to talk over a plan with me before the rest of the children began swarming. The core group (many who don’t go steady to school and did not go to the school party) had been wishing, from among themselves, for a PAL Christmas party. So Theresa and Beni were looked to by the group to share the idea with me. As we stood by the wall the duo walked me through the groups thinking and I quietly admired the thorough planning. I was also stirred by the genuine desire from the children to do the party from within their own means. Naturally I said yes, with only one clarification. I gently reminded them that this was not a core group party, but a core group planned party. Therefore it needed to be open to anyone who we know as a PAL kid. All were in agreeme

We are excited to partner with a new Greensboro business, All About Baby Boutique ! To kick off this new venture we will be hosting an Open House this Saturday, December 17 from 10am - 4pm. This adorable new boutique is located close to UNC-G at the corner of Spring Garden & Blandwood. We will have our fair trade gift items and free gift wrap! Check out our newest items, including this cool Quetzal Peace Bag from Guatemala. At $20 this makes a great gift for any teen or young adult. The bag comes with our without the peace sign. You can also order this bag online .

Looking for a fun, practical gift? Our Caroline's Promise t-shirts are on sale! Regularly $20 we are now selling them for $10! Choose from the short sleeve or 3/4 length styles. Priced for great gift giving! Order online here .

This post was written by one of our volunteers, Joanne, sharing some of her thoughts about child sponsorship. "Last week we had quite a few of you respond to our urgent request for new sponsors to children at Casita that no longer had a sponsor and would lose their place in school if they didn't get another soon. We are SO THANKFUL for how quickly you took action! Thank you! On Saturday, Caroline's Promise had Breakfast with Santa, (thanks to the hard work and initiative of Susan and Amber Gravely) which raised some much needed funds for Caroline's Promise. I (Joanne) took my son Justin with me so we could both help out at Breakfast with Santa. While we were there Justin was looking at the sponsorship album where we keep pictures of the kids in the sponsorship program... those who have sponsors, and those who are still in need. Justin found a little boy he wants us to sponsor. I told him that we would have to talk it over with daddy. Then last night, in preparing m

Eight years ago today we were united with Baby Caroline. She was five months old, living at Hannah's Hope in Guatemala City. It had been such a long process, but definitely worth the wait. The day before we flew to Guatemala we put our application for non-profit status in the mail. In some ways it seems like yesterday, in others it seems like so very long ago. God has definitely blessed the ministry of Caroline's Promise. When we think of all the people we have met simply through this ministry we are overwhelmed! When we think about the faces of the children we have interacted with over the past eight years we are humbled. All of the blessings that come with Caroline's Promise are nothing compared to the way our family was changed the day she was born. We can't imagine life without her, messy room and all! Each year she understands more about why Caroline's Promise exists. When she was two someone asked her what her name was and she said "Caroline Prom