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- a portrait of our girls’ house director For a moment I have to wait in front of the girls’ house office, because Yanet is just having a conversation with two of the girls. “There was a little dispute I had to settle” she says with a smile when she waves me in a few minutes later. Before I begin my interview I have a short glance at the small room, which is both office and Yanet’s sleeping quarter, and what instantly catches my attention are the drawings and letters pinned all over the wall behind her desk... presents from the girls that show in a touching way how much affection they have for Yanet… The 30 year old with the happy laugh has been the director of our girls’ house for four years now. Born in Cuba she committed herself to social work Yanet likes pets, Tina Turner and baseball, already at a very early age. With sixteen she began and she speaks pretty good English. to work as a volunteer for the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa, caring for children and sick and elderly people in her free time. Having finished high school at twenty she decided to become a member of the Order and was a nun for four years. Later she left the order but continued to work as a volunteer. Through Sister Kolbe, the former director of the girls’ house, who was also member of the missionaries of Charity, Yanet initially got in contact with NPH. With twenty-six she decided to leave Cuba and follow the offer to become the new head of the girls’ house in Guatemala. At first Yanet had been planning to stay only for one year, but since then she has prolonged her time over and over again, and now she says she doesn’t want to leave. “I really love my work here!” she says. “It is just great to share everyday life with the girls, both the little and the important things! Of course it can be very tiring sometimes… But then again there are so many situations where you see the girls happy and have fun with them, and you think it was a hundred times worth the stress” Unquestionably, patience is something very important if you have to keep the order in a house of more than 120 girls coming mostly from problematic backgrounds. But fortunately Yanet has got a lot of it. “The way she deals with the really difficult girls is amazing.” says Marion, a volunteer-tia in the girls’ house and a good friend of Yanet. “She hardly ever looses her temper, and always has enough energy for her typical humor and good ideas.” On her free weekends Yanet often organizes activities for her girls. This week, for example, she went on a camping trip to the Pacific coast with a little group, and a few weeks ago she hiked the volcano Agua. For summer school at the end of the year Yanet is planning a special project: She wants to take a group of children from the home on a one-week trip to a poor rural area in the mountains of Zacapa. Only two months ago Yanet visited the little community high in the mountains for the first time and was shocked by the incredible poverty. “Those people hardly eat anything else than tortillas, and they are so cut off from civilization that they were scared when they saw one of us