We have many great staff members on our team. It would be impossible to do what we do — serve the children in our home and the community around us — without them. Alejandra Diaz is the Director of Dorie’s Promise and has been part of the team for more than eight years. If you’ve met her, you know what a dynamic and delightful person she is.
The story of her journey to Dorie’s Promise and her heart for orphans is below:
I want to start by saying that God has done so many great things in my life that it is difficult to know where to begin.
I am the middle child of three siblings. My parents led by example — going to church and helping people in need. I remember while I was in middle school we went to an orphanage to feed the children, ages two to nine years old, once a month. I still remember the odor of rice and chicken. They would eat the same thing day after day. Many of the children would be crying, looking for attention, because there were not enough people to take care of all of them. It made me realize how thankful I was for my family and the variety of meals we were able to have in our home.
After I left middle school, I continued to visit that orphanage occasionally, sometimes with my family and sometimes with a friend from church. That feeling of knowing you are helping somebody is incomparable — and it’s what kept us coming back. During this time, God started showing me that there are lots of needs around us. Just 10 years later, I understood why He had given me the opportunity to volunteer there and to see the needs of those children. He was preparing me for Dorie’s Promise.
During the eight years that I have been at Dorie’s Promise, I have seen God’s hand at work, taking care of our children. As it says in His Word, He is “a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows…” (Psalm 68:5). The ways God has shown us His love have been many, but I remember some special occasions in particular, like the time when the end of the month was nearing and we didn’t have enough groceries. The very afternoon we realized the situation, a girl came to us saying she had found us through our website. She and her classmates had collected groceries for the — – more than enough food to last us until the new month came. For me, it was clearly God saying, “They are my children, I will feed them.”
It is amazing to see how He knows the desires of my heart. He has faithfully given as I ask. I am blessed with a family — my husband and I have been married for 15 years and have two children of our own, and a place to serve Him while helping others.
I have learned that it is not necessary to give birth to children to love them as your own. I say that I have many, many children — some of them are still here, some of them have found forever families, but in each one of them I have seen God’s face.
I remember one special boy, Angel. I can vividly picture him when he was about three months old and we had an epidemic of rotavirus. He was so little and struggling with a high fever, non-stop vomiting, and diarrhea. We ended up taking him to the hospital. I stayed with him for a long time there because I was so afraid to lose him. While the doctor and nurses worked, the only thing I could do was pray. Two days later, he came back to Dorie’s Promise … and sometime later, I had the blessing of seeing him leave with his adoptive family. We recently received some pictures from him, and I still remember that tiny baby whose only family was here at Dorie’s Promise.
As God’s Word says, I have had times to be happy or to be sad, to cry and to smile, to be worried and to be thankful, to lose and to win, but in all those times it has been God’s will acting in my life.
We go further than just delivering water filters we also provide families with sinks called pilas. Running water is unknown in the homes of the poorer families. The pilas give families the ability to wash their food, clothes, hands, and bodies with uncontaminated water.
The statistics are depressing; 380,000 orphans in Guatemala. The highest rates of infant and maternal mortality in Latin America. 26% of children don’t receive any schooling. Malnutrition claims the lives of 38 children under the age of 5 every day. 1.6 million children living in poverty.
to allow our team members the ability to build relationships with the children of Dorie’s Promise as well as the surrounding communities. Each part of your schedule has been designed with this is mind.
Dulce
Mirna, our 15-year-old student, is the only child currently involved in our home schooling program. She participates in a distance education program, and receives teaching based on a 3rd grade level curriculum. Her curriculum covers the following subjects:
Our preschool program serves seven children between ages 5-7. The objective for the program is to give all children an education that meets or exceeds national standards while meeting specific individual needs.
The school support program includes four boys and eleven girls who attend schools outside of Dorie’s Promise. This program provides needed interventions for girls and boys who may need additional assistance integrating into a new and challenging academic and social environment.
Our medical program has accomplished many achievements in 2012. We have fulfilled all administrative, Health Program, and clinical duties. One hundred percent of the illnesses at Dorie’s Promise have been solved satisfactorily and have not returned or resulted in complications thanks to early interventions, preventive measures, and close monitoring. Every child continues to receive comprehensive, personalized pediatric medical attention. In 2012, their health needs were properly attended to on a daily and as-needed basis and continue to be. Not a single dangerous infectious disease outbreak has happened since 2007 (before my arrival). Every new child presenting to Dorie’s Promise with acute undernourishment has fully recovered within two weeks of coming into our care.
A part of what makes her truly amazing is the smile she gives to Forever Changed missionary groups when they arrive at the ghetto to serve. She always meets us with a large group of neighbors she has gathered together to help with donated supplies. Then she guides the missionaries to homes in the community that have the greatest needs, and we pray with her for the families that we serve. During the day, she often organizes a soccer game with the older children in the community, and sets up piñatas for the little ones. Her tostadas and guacamole are always provided to our missionaries as a thank you gift.
