Casa Alianza - Homeless Youth Opening Doors for Homeless Youth

A few months ago, three beautiful girls, Sara, Maria and Rosario, ages 8, 10, and 12, arrived at La Alianza sent to us from the judge in the rural indigenous village where they lived. Like many other youngsters in Guatemala, they have parents who emigrated to the USA in search of a better life, leaving the grandmother to take care of the kids. When their father was deported back to Guatemala from the US, the girls were forced to live with him in very isolated circumstances, where, unbeknownst to the mother, they suffered serious abuse and neglect leading their grandmother to press charges against the father when she found out what was going on.

A court sent the girls to La Alianza Guatemala, because, at the very least, the oldest daughter had been raped by the father and all the girls lived at extraordinarily high risk. They arrived at La Alianza chronically malnourished, with anemia and other serious health and hygiene problems from precarious living conditions. They never had a bed to call their own, and had been sleeping on the floor. They were also the victims of serious labor exploitation at the hands of their father.

After staying with us for many months, the girls have been reunited with their Mother and have returned home with her. While they were with us, they gained weight, got back their health and went back to school. Before they came to us, none of them had ever been promoted to the next grade in school because of the neglect and abuse of their father but last term at La Alianza every one of them has passed all of their courses. They went back home, sad to leave our home and the staff and other girls here, but happy to be reunited with their mother and well enough to play and have fun. Their cheeks are now rosy and they’re able to laugh again. They are aware that they have rights and they have come to understand that they deserve a family life where they are free from abuse and surrounded by unconditional love and respect.