Adventure Life partnered this year with our amazing travelers, Karol & Richard Popkin, for a grant to the Hogar de Niñas girls shelter in Granada, Nicaragua. The girls come to the shelter as orphans or if they are not able to live at home due to abuse or poverty. Out of these troubled backgrounds, the nuns at the shelter strive to give the girls structure and love in their daily lives. One key ingredient in their rehabilitation is psychological support and healing. The funds from Adventure Life and the Popkins allowed the shelter to hire a psychologist for this reason.
The driving force behind all of the work at the home is to protect and educate the girls, giving them a chance for a better life and future. We are thrilled in having the opportunity to partner with Mr. Popkin and the sisters at Hogar de Niñas!
Our wonderful travelers, Richard & Karol Popkin, have sent us an update from the field:
At the Girls Shelter in Granada, it is quite clear that the work of the Psychologist continues to pay huge dividends. For the first time, when Karol and Margarita handed out new dresses to each and then had a "Fashion Show," we had zero girls standing off in the corner or otherwise acting out. Three years ago, there were half a dozen or so. By last year, only three. This year, one hundred percent of the girls had huge smiles on their faces and participated happily and wholeheartedly. It was wonderful to see. What a difference. In all, we brought them about 200 pounds of brand new clothing, plus medicines and school supplies, and an incalculable number of hugs!
Photo by Lynessa Nelson
Below is a letter from the shelter's Sister Ligia and Sister Esther:
Estimado Señor Richard.
Gracias por su comunicación, efectivamente hemos recibido la cantidad de $2,400 dolares para 6 meses para salario de la Psicologa, realmente ha sido una ayuda muy positiva para las niñas,ya que tienen garantizada su atención psicologica que les ayudara a ir saliendo de sus traumas psicologicos y patologicos, por los que fueron ingresadas al Hogar de niñas Madre Albertina.
Cada seguimiento psicologico que hace la Psicologa con las niñas, es secuencial,practico y efectivo y los resultados van en dependencia del grado de la secuela que le ha quedado a la niña de acuerdo al trauma, pero en lo general, les ayuda a ir recuperando su salud mental y emocional.
Nos gustaria saber cuando nos volveran a visitar y compartir con las niñas, seria un gusto volver a verles.
Que nuestro buen Dios les bendiga.
Sor Ligia y Sor Esther
A Summary translated into English
Dear Sir Richard,
The hiring of the psychologist has paid off well! Positive changes have been noted within the girls. They are finally getting the help and attention to their personal traumas within the Home and by the aid of the groups and help of the psychologist. Each follow-up with the psychologist is very sequential, practical and effective. They are focused on helping improve the mental and emotional states of each girl's health. Due to the amount of support, there are positive reports!
May our good God bless you!
Sister Ligia and Sister Esther
Our agent Jessica was very helpful with the whole process and always responded in a timely way to all of our questions.
K Van
1 day ago
Chern was very patient snd helpful.
CaBaba
2 days ago
Cruse ship was great. Fantastic food and service. Cruise itinary got changed so not what we expected, but not an major issue. Japan portion was great. Drivers/guides arranged by 80 Days were great. Hotels were mostly ok. Did not know that most hotels outside of major cities do not allow shoes to be worn in the hotel. again a minor inconvenience. Overall a great trip. Adventure Life communications were timely and much appreciated as far as changes/requests.
Peter Goff
3 days ago
We were a group of three that initiated our research by independently searching for the best agency to help us in the somewhat complex experience of traveling to the Galapagos. We chose adventure life because they were the most responsive in the website provided the most comprehensive overview of the trip. Their reviews were also very good.
Adventure, life splits up its booking process in two parts. First Jeff, the booking agent helped us decide which experience best suited are interests. We chose a small 14 to 16 group sized yacht. Once the booking was made with Jeff, we were handed off to Coleene, who oversaw the complex process of assembling all of the necessary documents and making sure we had everything we needed to make the trip go smoothly. The adventure, life website, then becomes your personal place of reference for all things related to your trip from door to door. It’s a lot of information to assemble, especially for three travelers, but the website makes it easy and Colleen‘s gentle reminders kept us on track. In all, from the beginning, we had four months from the time we started our research till the time we departed. We felt that was, a good amount of preparation time and don’t think it would be wise to do it in less than four months. Mostly because I think you have more options with that amount of time. There were others on our trip that took six months and more from the time they started planning.
The trip itself was outstanding. We ended up on an excellent yacht (Galapagos Angel II) with a great group of guests that we were able to connect with and put together a really nice google photos album to share.
Jed
1 week ago
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.