Meet Barbara's 1st Sponsored child Marelyn!

Barbara: I think this is the best photo of Marelyn as it shows her lovely hair to great advantage.
Marelyn & Luisa's First Communion Photo - Sunday, November 18, 2007 - Photo from Marelyn's mother


I will start by introducing you to Barbara. Barbara lives in Vancouver, Canada, and she sponsors 7 children through Children International~ two girls, Marely and Eliona in Guatemala, one boy, Miguel, in Mexico, one girl, Nsenzeni, in Zambia, another boy, Mario, in Chile, Pearl in the Philippines, and another girl in the Dominican Republic, Crismairy.
Barbara first began sponsoring Marelyn in October 2004. Barbara has a cool set up for Marelyn with her pictures and description underneath. It is like an electronic scrapbook. She got help putting it together, and it turned out really well... I wish I could do the same for all of my kids, but I can't even imagine how long just the one for Marelyn took to put together!!! Unfortunately, I have worked with it for a few hours and am still unable to copy and paste the scrapbook to the blog. Instead, I am uploading some pictures of her, and maybe I can get the scrapbook pages up later. I am very disappointed that I couldn't figure out how to get the 7 scrapbook pages up here, but I know I need to get this posted because there are many more children to tell you about... Hopefully, by the time I finish introducing Barbara's kids and Mack's kids, I will have it figured out... Keep your fingers crossed. This is the summarized version:

ONE CHILD'S POSITIVE EXPERIENCE OF SPONSORSHIP
WITH CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL

Marelyn Magdalena, Age 10, of Guatemala City, Guatemala
Sponsored by Barbara Since 19 th November, 2004
Character: Marelyn is very sweet, shy and quite affectionate. She is
very attractive with the loveliest dark brown hair and has a deep husky
voice. Like most Guatemalans religion plays a major part in Marelyn’s
life.
Marelyn lives in a one-roomed house with her parents, Luis and Carolina
– both street vendors, older sister, Luisa (11), younger sister, Anita (6),
little brother, Fernandito (3) and her grand-mother. For various reasons it
has not been possible to provide repairs or extensions or move to a safer
location.
Here is her bio:

Age: 10	Gender: F	Date of Birth: 8/22/1998
Height: 4 Feet 6 Inches		Weight: 84 Pounds		Hair Color: Brown		Eye Color: Hazel
2. Health problems, if any: None
3. Attends School: Yes
4. Favorite School Subjects: Art, Grammar, Mathematics
Favorite Pastimes or Sports: Playing basketball, Running
Chores at Home: Babysitting, Running errands
Talents or Hobbies: Painting, Dancing
Languages Spoken: Spanish
INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CHILD'S FAMILY:
5. Approximate monthly income for the family (in U.S. Dollars): $260.00
6. Name of Father: Luis			Age: 31	Occupation: Street Vendor
(If not present, why?)
7. Name of Mother: Carolina			Age: 30	Occupation: Street Vendor
(If not present, why?)
8. Brothers and Sisters:
Name Ana Judith		Age 7	Gender F	Name Luis Fernando		Age 4	Gender M
Name Luisa Carolina		Age 12	Gender F
9. Child now living with: Parents
INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CHILD'S HOME:
10. Description of Home: One multi-use room, Kitchen
Cooking Facilities: Portable gas stove
Sleeping Accommodations: Wooden beds
Home Construction: Walls Concrete block			Roof Corrugated metal		Floor Concrete
11. Facilities and Services:
Water Source/Storage: Running water in home
Electricity: Available
Sanitary Facility: Toilet