Mantay made alot of Improvements

On Thursday afternoon, we headed back to visit Mantay. This is the place where two Spaniards opened a house for young mothers between the ages of 12 and 18. They teach them how to be moms, provide them daycare so they can continue schooling, teach them a trade, and then when they turn 18 find them an apartment and continue to provide free day care. The couple is amazing.

We know Mantay as the place where we came two days a week for 4 months and took care of 12 children under the age of 3. We were also introduced to cloth diapers - potentially the worst invention ever as they really serve no purpose.

Mantay had expanded the house since we had been there and painted a bunch of the rooms including the kitchen. Also, the field we had to walk through where we had a few encounters with cows and bulls is now a park that the kids can play at.

This is the room that we used to take care of the 12 kids under 3. It was an empty room with a few toys before . . .

They also now have a place to keep all the kids clothes . . .

The kids had grown a lot and since they were only 2 and 3, they didn't remember us, but it didn't take long for them to warm up to us. Although their dog was immediately excited to see us as he ran straight up to us and immediately peed on the suitcase we brought.

Here's Diego, Abram, and Jostin from left to right with Jackie.

Last year, we used about $400 of the donations from our fundraiser to buy the crafts that the mothers make and brought them back to the US which we sold at a craft show raising $500. We used that money, wedding presents, and donations to bring the children over 50 spanish story books, vitamins, toothbrushes, and stickers as well as buy more purses, bookmarks, magnets, etc, which we hope to have stores in the US sell for Mantay.

For more about Mantay, check out their website: www.mantay.org