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By Vicki and Jody Dalia
They started out with 18 children
and then added 50 more. That’s how Jody and Vicki Dalia feel
about their lives as parents and owners of an orphanage in Guatemala.
“We were reading our scriptures one day and we both knew —
we just knew — that we were supposed to open an orphanage,”
says Jody. “The experience was so profound that we never discussed
it; we just started working toward that goal. And it’s been
an adventure!”
It was also one that they had certainly
been prepared for.
Vicki explains that their
own house started looking much like an orphanage in the 1990s, as
they began adopting minority children in the United States. “As
our older birth children were leaving to go to college, it seemed
like new ones came along to take their place. We always had 10 or
11 children at home.”
“Our house got rowdy occasionally,” Jody says with a
smile. “But we were used to it by then. We both had a heart
for kids.”
Jody and Vicki have degrees in the social sciences, but equally
important, they say, was their own childhood experience growing
up in dysfunctional families.
“We were lucky. We both came from educated, upper-middle class
families and we were able to make something of our lives. But how
many children don’t have that background and need a helping
hand?”
They also credit their older children with helping them both raise
their adopted children and build the orphanage. Their decision to
adopt was a family decision. Vicki brought home the photo listing
of children in the foster care system. Everyone agreed that they
wanted to help out. Because of the size of their family, they were
unable to adopt through the foster care system and chose the route
of private adoption.
“Our older children were the biggest help. They not only changed
diapers and fed them, but they treated the adopted children like
they were special. They considered it a badge of honor to have an
Afro-American sibling. And when we started the orphanage, three
of our kids from Spanish-speaking missions chipped in to help. It’s
been a family ministry.”
One of the Dalia girls is surrounded by orphans on
the Casa de Sion orphanage truck.
Jody and Vicki, who currently
live in Guatemala most of the year with 10 of their own children,
say that the work has been a challenge. “It has not been the
children that have been difficult. You expect children that have
been abused and neglected to have problems and act out. It would
be abnormal if they didn’t. Rather it has been staff problems
and the government system itself. It’s one hair-pulling experience
after another.“
They first opened the orphanage in Guatemala City four years old
ago. A year ago, they relocated near Lake Atitlan in the middle
of a million Mayan Indians, surrounded by of some of the worst poverty
in the western hemisphere.
If the men who live in this area can
make $10 in a day, they are doing well. Many are migrant laborers
picking coffee, avocadoes or sugar cane in season — and in
between there is nothing. Many families survive on $18 per week,
and 16% of the population is living on less than a dollar a day.
Much of misery in rural Guatemala stems
from four decades of civil war that tore apart the fabric of society.
To that, add the contemporary culture that is being imported into
the area through television. The traditional art of family life
is being lost. Children wander the streets unkempt and unattended.
Now young women grow up looking at
TV commercials and billboards but don’t know how to raise
the next generation. And for the men there is little opportunity
for improving their lot in life. Good jobs are scare; for many,
life is hopeless. Alcoholism has become a major problem.
“Our first children in the orphanage at the lake came from
a migrant-working family. They moved from plantation to plantation,
dragging their seven children behind them. There was not enough
to eat and their life was too unstable for the older children to
attend school.”
Vicki remembers their initial interview,
“I was talking to the parents through an interpreter while
we brought a snack out for the children. They were very thin and
very hungry and very polite. The parents asked questions while their
children ate. I’m sure it was their best meal in months.
“The parents placed the oldest
four in our orphanage and they have thrived: Manuel, age 13, has
won an art award; Rosa, 9, is top in her class at school; Rolanda,
8, and Carlos, 6, are also doing well. The three oldest have been
baptized. All of the children have gained weight and are more articulate
and happy.”
Vicki said that she learned later that
father was an alcoholic and was unable to manage money well enough
to feed his family. The orphanage pays for the parents to visit
once a month.
Luis is eleven years old and was sent
to the orphanage from the court of a nearby pueblo. His father has
never been in his life, and his mother walked out when he was one.
He was left to the mercy of neighbors and relatives. Some of the
men horribly abused him.
Initially, he was difficult to deal
with. He was angry and labeled by the staff as a troublemaker. They
all wanted to get rid of him. But in the year he has been at the
orphanage, he has calmed down, been baptized, and is turning his
life around.
“This child was
gang material, and now he has a real chance at life,” says
Jody. “He’s made remarkable progress. He is very charming
child when he wants to be, and he’s courageous. He would love
to get into an adoptive home.”
Selena was the first child at the city
orphanage. She was sent to the orphanage straight from the hospital,
where she had nearly died of malnutrition. She was six years old,
weighed only sixteen pounds, and could not walk. Although she has
some permanent development delays, she now hikes to school and loves
to talk.
Vicki says, “Unless she adopted,
she will be with us until eighteen and perhaps beyond. We are responsible
for planning for her life as any conscientious parent would.”
“With our orphanage comes the
opportunity for the children to go to school,” says Vicki.
“There is a public school next door and although it’s
‘free,’ the basic minimal fees are beyond the scope
of many families. We also have several patrons that are paying for
private school for some of the older children.”
The public schools are under funded. The teachers are underpaid.
And there are constant strikes. Jody says that it is not an atmosphere
conducive to learning.
“The children are
doing surprisingly well because some have never previously been
in school,” he says. “All are getting passing grades
and love the opportunity to get an education. But our hope is to
begin our own private school and give the kids a first class education
so that they will have a real chance at life.”
Jody continues, “But our greatest
joy has been the ready acceptance of the gospel by these children.
They beg us to be baptized; we keep the local missionaries busy.
Every single child that is of age and will stay with us
has been baptized. These children, who have nothing, grasp at the
gospel.
“It’s exciting, especially
when we have three or four of our boys in their white shirts and
ties passing the sacrament,” he adds. “We hope in a
few years to be sending out a fleet of missionaries.”
Bilingual American interns
help out with Family Home Evening, seminary and getting everyone
to church. “That’s why we’re down here: to spread
the gospel. More than anything else, it will make the lives of these
children a success!”
Two of the Dalia daughters (center) pose with smiling Guatemalan
orphans.
The Dalias say that there is a constant
need for basic supplies at the orphanage — sheets, shoes,
clothes, and other basic supplies of children in any household.
Used clothes in very good condition and other items can be sent
to the Dalias at their United States address, which appears below.
Cash gifts and monthly support are always needed and appreciated.
The Dalias are currently in a fundraising
drive to raise money for buy 25 acres. “This would mean a
permanent home and the ability to grow,” says Jody. “We
would like to be able to take several hundred kids, to start our
own private school, and become more self-sufficient. The latter
is very important is this most unstable of countries.”
Safe Homes for Children, Inc., is a
501-c-3 non-profit organization. All gifts are tax deductible. Contact
Jody and Vicki Dalia at this address:
Jody & Vicki Dalia
3303 Pond Mountain Lane
Whitetop, Virginia 24292
Their website can be found at http://www.safehomesforchildren.org/casa.html,
and their email address is vnjdalia@yahoo.com.
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