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On August 1, 2012 our Architect Ely Jimenez Del Cid was featured in an article that discussed his involvement with a project on building an orphanage and a guard house for children in Guatemala.

Guatemalans aided by local group’s mission

Posted: Wednesday, August 1, 2012 12:15 pm | Updated: 11:24 am,

Wed Aug 1, 2012.

By Kyle Jarvis Sentinel StaffSentinelSource.com

In Guatemala, a country plagued by corruption and poverty, local groups are teaming up to make a difference for children there.

Little Lambs International, a New Ipswich-based nonprofit Christian organization, recently sent 40 volunteers to the Central American nation to begin work on a complex to house and educate orphans, and has gotten some help from an architect who was eager to give back to his homeland.

In Guatemala, there is a great need for housing, especially for the nation’s estimated 370,000 orphans, said Jamison VanDyke of Rindge, vice president for Little Lambs.

“I’ve been around the world, but I fell in love with the people of Guatemala,” he said. “There’s a lot of corruption going on in the adoption system there, so there’s a real need for something like this.”

The group plans to build 20 townhouse-style dorms in Jalapa to house 10 orphans each, with full-time house parents in every building, educational activities offered during the day, a church, and medical and dental facilities on-site, VanDyke said.

Also planned is a “mission house” that will house the volunteers working on the project, complete with a full kitchen and living space for up to 60 people, he said.

The 110-acre site was paid for out of pocket by Little Lambs President Paul Somero, VanDyke said.

“There’s no other orphanage anywhere around there,” he said. “We’ve raised about $250,000, and we’ve already built a guard house, staffed full time to maintain and protect the property.”

Founded in 2008, Little Lambs’ mission is to “help out orphans worldwide,” VanDyke said. “But the first stop is Guatemala.”

He recently traveled there for the 18th time, leading a group of volunteers that included Jedadiah and Bethany P. Paquin of Rindge.

Jed Paquin works for SVE Associates of Keene, an engineering and land surveying firm.

“A lot of us are in the construction field,” said VanDyke, who owns a concrete company. “I grew up going to church with a few of the guys from SVE, and I talked to them to see if they’d be willing to give the time off (to employees) and maybe to provide a little (financial) support, and they did both.”

Jed asked Bethany, his wife, if she was interested in going, and both were left with an experience they won’t soon forget.

“I was really overwhelmed by how warm and friendly the people were,” she said.

Over a week in late June and early July, Jed put his surveying skills to use while Bethany led daily Bible studies and activities while helping to distribute items like toothbrushes, and both were touched by the Guatemalan spirit in the process.

“I was struck by how little they have,” she said. “They lacked things we would consider basic necessities, but they were still content and happy. They don’t have clean water, there’s no plumbing or electricity ... it was definitely a humbling experience. I feel like we gained more than we gave, just by realizing how much we take for granted and how discontent we can become with our own lives. It changes your way of thinking, about how much more we should be giving.”

This was the first time the Paquins have traveled to Guatemala, but Bethany said they hope it’s not the last.

For Jed, it was rewarding to use his skills in a way that benefits people who really need it, Bethany said.

VanDyke said Little Lambs hopes to build more partnerships with companies like SVE, while a few others have already stepped up.

“Hutter Construction (of New Ipswich) donated a lot of tools and equipment,” he said. “SK Management (also of New Ipswich) gave a lot of money, and sent down a lot of tools.”

And it wasn’t just local tradesmen pitching in. VanDyke gave a presentation to an architectural firm in Boston recently, where he met Ely Jimenez Del Cid, who grew up in Guatemala before coming to the U.S. to study architecture.

“When we told him what we wanted to do, he broke down and cried,” VanDyke said. “He’s been doing all the drawings for free.”

Del Cid said it’s like “a dream” to be able to use his skills to help the people of Guatemala.

“I was really emotional when they told me,” he said. “I can feel what the people feel down there, when they have no hope coming from anyplace, so it brought back everything I felt when I was growing up there.”

And while he hasn’t yet made it back to his homeland since coming to America, Del Cid is looking forward to the day he can return.

VanDyke hopes to have the first children housed by 2014, and the entire project completed by 2025, he said.

“Every day I’m thinking about this project,” Del Cid said. “I’m just waiting for the moment I can go down there and see the people using those buildings.”

u Information: littlelambsintl.org. The organization’s largest fundraiser, an annual summer golf tournament in Nashua, is scheduled for Aug. 20.

Kyle Jarvis can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1433, or kjarvis@keenesentinel.com.