Lies and Betrayal

When our children's home started to grow to over 20 children 8 years ago I hired a woman, Patty, to work with us. She had years of experience working both in children's homes and hospitals. Patty soon became a very important part of our home and I learned, over time, to give her more responsibilities. Although married, she was basically a single mom. Over the years I personally paid for her two oldest sons to go to private school in Antigua. And when her daughter started kindergarten I was more than happy to send her to a bilingual school in Antigua so she would get the best education possible.

Several years ago I had offered to have Patty's daughter, Maria Jose, study with my two girls. Maria Jose learned English very quickly and also became a part of our family. She not only attended private classes with my daughters but I personally paid for her horse back riding lessons (three times a week) show jumping competitions and violin lessons. Maria Jose was with us more than she was with her mother.

My daughters told me, one day, that Maria Jose had a secret. Something that was troubling her but was afraid to tell Gaby and Daisy because she knew I would be angry and her mother would lose her job. Needless to say, when a child tells you something like this that there is most likely truth to it, but it was impossible to say anything to Patty without her daughter getting caught in the middle. So I said nothing. I assumed it was most likely about stealing and lying which is so common in Guatemala. So I waited and watched.

Within a short time I found that Patty had stolen money. I had confronted her, with the person she was suppose to have given the money too. There was no way to lie then. I was heartbroken and devastated that she would steal from me and from the children. Later that day she gave me her resignation letter. In the letter she thanked me for all I had done for her and her family. I offered for her daughter to continue all her classes with us and although Patty had stolen and lied I did not want it to impact Maria Jose. My two girls and Maria Jose were very, very close and to break up that trio would be cruel. But Maria Jose did not return to classes. My girls were devastated, as I am sure Maria Jose was. Not only did they miss Maria Jose terribly but someone they loved and trusted had betrayed them--Patty.

I was sure this was not the last of Patty. Things don't go away that quickly in Guatemala.

We found out little by little that the money Patty was to pay a service provider was not the first time she had stolen. We found that she had been stealing for quite some time. Money from the children's home as well as food and clothes. She wasn't stealing out of necessity but out of greed. Rather than prosecute and have it impact Maria Jose I just let it go. I was angry, hurt and felt terribly betrayed.

We found several other employees that were involved in the thefts and fired them. These women were furious and I knew we would have problems.

These are the people, and we do know this for sure, that made anonymous calls to the PGN about us. They called the PGN about one case in particular, a little named Carmen. She came to us when she was a day old. The mother lives on the streets in a nearby town with her ten year old son. The mother is not only homeless but has significant mental problems and we felt we could not have her sign any legal documentation until we could be assured she was aware of what she was doing. In the meantime we cared for Carmen as we would any of our own children.

I found a wonderful Guatemalan family to adopt Carmen but we first had to deal with her legal situation. This information was somehow leaked outside the home to the employees we fired and they made constant calls to the PGN in Antigua about Carmen and that fact that we would not give her back to the birth mom. This was not true as the birth mom had only come to the children's home once and that was to place Carmen with us. One of the fired employees took the birth mother to PGN and the court in Antigua. It was clear to the PGN rep as well as the judge that there was no way the birth mother could care for Carmen. In the meantime, Rigoberto Duarte from PGN shows up and we go to court. I brought the family that was interested in adopting Carmen and asked that we continue to be allowed to care for her while the Guatemalan family talked to the Central Authority. Our lawyer suggested that the family call Rigoberto Duarte and express their desire to adopt Carmen. Duarte's response, and he screamend this at the woman wanting to adopt Carmen, that she would never get her hands on the child. He was furious she called him at the court in Chimaltenango and demanded she tell him who gave her the phone number. This woman called me sobbing. I had warned her.

I know this is a long story and you might think that it has nothing to do with the current situation. However, it has everything to do with what is going on now. The PGN came to our home based on anonymous calls. The last raid, 8 years ago, was based on an anonymous call.

Guatemala is a country that has been devastated by war and poverty and it shows up often in the people of this country. I have seen some of the most vicious attacks on people verbally and physically and for basically no reason. People steal with little conscious. Most people have little to no self esteem and once they feel they have a small amount of power they run with it. The smallest of things can become major issues because people don't feel they have the right or the ability to fight for the bigger issues.

As the story grows and grow I think it is important for you to know how this all began, as something fairly small.