One of the families helped by CFCA

I am in Guatemala thus week with the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (www.cfcausa.org), an organization formed by Catholic laypeople in 1981 with the mission of lifting people out of poverty in the Third World and equipping them with the education and job skills to forge a decent life. I met one person who benefits from the program.

Meet Armando (center), Lesli Andrea(l) and Ingrid Elizabeth, a family sponsored by CFCA in Guatemala. Armando, a laborer for Toyota who was able to purchase a small home, adopted both girls with his now-deceased wife.

Lesli Andrea, 11, was abandoned by her birth mother when she was 4 months old.
"When I came across this little girl, she was very abandoned," said Armando. "She was in the mud when I found her."

Armando and his wife took her in, but Lesli Andrea had multiple health problems. She has a thyroid issue that will require lifelong attention and has undergone several surgeries. Lesli Andrea had to have an operation on her lungs at age 7 and has since endured two open heart surgeries and removal of her gall bladder.

Armando and his wife also adopted Ingrid Elizabeth, 10, after convincing her birth mother not to abort the child and instead let them raise her.

"I am very impressed with this family. Just from the human side, the store of this wonderful couple taking in these girls is wonderful," said Bob Hentzen, president of CFCA.

The girls' adoptive mother, Armando’s wife, died of intestinal cancer when Lesli Andrea was 5 and Ingrid Elizabeth was 3. CFCA has enabled Armando to provide for his two girls, including such items as school supplies and uniforms, food, shoes and other personal clothing. Much of Lesli Andrea’s medication comes from CFCA sponsorship.

"We are grateful to God for coming across our sponsors," said Armando.

Lesli Andrea still has the same interests as most girls her age. While she fills the role of mother of the house in the morning, she enjoys attending school in the afternoon. The fifth-grader’s favorite subject in school is math, and she enjoys playing with her younger sister in her free time.