Guatemalan Girls Benefit from Arkansas Couple's Giving
By: Bob Clausen, KARK 4 News
Updated: October 2, 2012
Often, after church, we spend time reflecting on the sermon of the week, as we should.
We also figure out where to eat brunch and how to enjoy the day with family.
For one Arkansas couple, Doug and Amber Westgate, one Sunday after church turned into a mission.
Not to dissect a sermon or get brunch, but to serve hope, two-thousand miles away in Guatemala.
Much of the world sees Guatemala as a violent, unsafe country. There's plenty of that, no doubt, but there are caring people who are meeting needs and reaching out for help and changing lives.
Doug says after a Sunday service focusing on the needs of Guatemalan orphans, that reach, found them.
"We walked out in the parking lot after church and my wife and I looked at each other did not even discuss it.
"We're going, no questions, we're going," is what Amber remembers saying before Doug spoke.
It's been five years since that day and countless trips to The Prince of Peace Orphanage.
http://www.princeofpeacegt.com/
All the girls at Prince of Peace are the lucky ones, some never get this far.
"They have either been abandoned or abused or they have just had nothing," Doug says.
"One of my favorite little girls they found on the street at five years old, performing in the market for food to buy. She lived on the street by herself at five," Amber explains. Now she flourishes at Prince of Peace.
It is an orphanage and school, run strictly on donations. And what people like Doug and his wife can carry.
"One time we brought all of the girls brand new Easter dresses because every girl should have a new Easter dress and they did that year we brought them all Christmas gifts, but we bring hope," says Doug.
Doug and Amber know those material things are nice to share with the girls, but it's the gift of hope these girls hold on to the tightest.
"The goal for the home is not for the girls to forget where they came from. It's really to break the cycle of illiteracy and poverty so they can give back to the community," Doug explains.
There is no better example of being there for your community than when Doug and Amber made an unscheduled trip and Amber has no doubt.
"We were meant to go," she says.
They went to check on a woman taking care of more than two-dozen children. They all live in a small one room tin hut with a dirt floor. When they got there they found a little girl bleeding profusely from her head after a fall.
"We quickly rushed her to the clinic that is funded by the home. She had to have nine stitches. Without them, who knows what would have happened," Amber recalls.
It's what did happen that keeps Doug and Amber and so many others going back.
They'll tell you they are "meant to go." And not just to bring gifts and donations but also a little elbow grease.
"Unconditional love, that only a parent can give to a child. Some of have never experienced that," she says.
Click here to see all the work volunteers and donations are doing at Prince of Peace on the organization's website.
We also figure out where to eat brunch and how to enjoy the day with family.
For one Arkansas couple, Doug and Amber Westgate, one Sunday after church turned into a mission.
Not to dissect a sermon or get brunch, but to serve hope, two-thousand miles away in Guatemala.
Much of the world sees Guatemala as a violent, unsafe country. There's plenty of that, no doubt, but there are caring people who are meeting needs and reaching out for help and changing lives.
Doug says after a Sunday service focusing on the needs of Guatemalan orphans, that reach, found them.
"We walked out in the parking lot after church and my wife and I looked at each other did not even discuss it.
"We're going, no questions, we're going," is what Amber remembers saying before Doug spoke.
It's been five years since that day and countless trips to The Prince of Peace Orphanage.
http://www.princeofpeacegt.com/
All the girls at Prince of Peace are the lucky ones, some never get this far.
"They have either been abandoned or abused or they have just had nothing," Doug says.
"One of my favorite little girls they found on the street at five years old, performing in the market for food to buy. She lived on the street by herself at five," Amber explains. Now she flourishes at Prince of Peace.
It is an orphanage and school, run strictly on donations. And what people like Doug and his wife can carry.
"One time we brought all of the girls brand new Easter dresses because every girl should have a new Easter dress and they did that year we brought them all Christmas gifts, but we bring hope," says Doug.
Doug and Amber know those material things are nice to share with the girls, but it's the gift of hope these girls hold on to the tightest.
"The goal for the home is not for the girls to forget where they came from. It's really to break the cycle of illiteracy and poverty so they can give back to the community," Doug explains.
There is no better example of being there for your community than when Doug and Amber made an unscheduled trip and Amber has no doubt.
"We were meant to go," she says.
They went to check on a woman taking care of more than two-dozen children. They all live in a small one room tin hut with a dirt floor. When they got there they found a little girl bleeding profusely from her head after a fall.
"We quickly rushed her to the clinic that is funded by the home. She had to have nine stitches. Without them, who knows what would have happened," Amber recalls.
It's what did happen that keeps Doug and Amber and so many others going back.
They'll tell you they are "meant to go." And not just to bring gifts and donations but also a little elbow grease.
"Unconditional love, that only a parent can give to a child. Some of have never experienced that," she says.
Click here to see all the work volunteers and donations are doing at Prince of Peace on the organization's website.
Comments
Please go to www.princeofpeacegt.com to read about some of the girls and to do what you can to help. Sponsoring a girl is an amazing Blessing. Mission trips are available & Donations are greatly needed to fund new teachers & additional housing. Thank you & God Bless!
Doug W.
October 3, 2012 at 9:44 am
