Heber and Robin

I've stopped working in La Policia as there are now so many volunteers working there from another organisation they really don't need me too. I'm now working a few hours a day at Elim.

Heber is still at Elim but Robin has run away yet again. Hopefully he will come back. I worry about him as he seems to have fallen in with a bad crowd. He needs lots of support but often rejects it. His story is not a happy one but its not for here.

Heber seems to have settled dowm reasonably well here but I think his brother's disappearances are bad for him, as it's destabilising. He only gets to school one day a week which is not going to allow him to catch up on all his lost education. Jeremy, who helps his mother Nilda run the orphanage says that Heber has good command of Spanish, better than Robin who uses lots of slang.

Heber tells me he wants to be a tourist guide, a dream for lots of kids here, so I've offered to pay for English lessons for him at Maximo Nivel, starting in January. Nilda has agreed to this as long as he settles down here and does not run away. Maximo have also agreed and will look at giving him a bursary if he does well in the first six months, by attending regularly and passing his tests etc. He will go for an hour every day and will have use of all their facilities. I will introduce him to some of the staff as he may need a little support from time to time.

I hope he can take up this chance. It gives him an incentive to settle down here over the next few months and do well.