First a few updates;
- Erica and Sebastián are doing really well and still
smiling constantly. Erica said Saturday that life has improved a lot in her
house though she sometimes still fights with her brothers! See the photo………
- The Alpha course is going well with a lot of people who
live nearby interested.
- Granny had a good birthday!
Last month was brilliant with lots of great activities
but the highlight was definitely the Mother’s Day service. Each Sunday school
class performed a song, dance or sketch (I was Mum in the sketch for my class
and also performed a hastily made-up dance with them!!), and then the Mums
were given presents and we shared cake and juice. It is always a big event for
the church so they hold it outside to fit everyone in-there were over 50 local Mums
and over 150 people in total!!! There was a competition to find out
which Mum had the most children. The Mum with 10 kids was narrowly beaten by
one with 11!! She received a big food parcel from the church! Everyone had a
great time and in an area where a good time usually means getting drunk to
forget about the difficult lives and stresses it was really good to see
families laughing and enjoying themselves together in church.
Some pics (unfortunately camera battery ran out so none
of my dazzling performance! : )……
The church regularly asks the people in the community
what it can do to support them and improve their lives and the lives of their
children and they asked for a programme called ‘Copa de leche’ or glass of milk
where kids can come every day and receive a drink of milk or yoghurt or tea to
improve their nutrition. The food is provided by the government but must be
prepared and distributed by the centre. Last week, after months of waiting the
church were given the go-ahead to start the programme so from Monday, 80
children are coming to the church Monday-Friday to receive some food aid. They
are children like Erica who some days are lucky if they get one meal.
Wednesdays and Fridays I spend the day in the nursery
with children from 0-4. It’s definitely been the most challenging of my tasks
adapting to communicating and getting the attention of such little ones but it
has also been great-the place where I get the most hugs and smiles! My Mum’s
been a big help in giving me lots of ideas of what to do with them-here’s a
video of them printing with apples-will she eat it???
There are 20 kids in total who attend Monday-Friday. It
is free but the Mums have to prove that they are working and need childcare.
The kids get breakfast, a snack and lunch and for some of them it is all they
will eat all day-7 out of the 20 kids are under weight for their age and the
nursery is working to try to improve their nutrition. Here are some photos so
you can see just how cute they are……
Thanks for reading, keep in touch! Lots of love, Jo xxx
P.S. Pray-ers;
1. People who came to the Mother’s Day service.
2. ‘Copa de leche’: the people of the church already work
so hard, pray for strength and more volunteers for this great new service.
3. The nursery workers, Carina and Andrea, and all the
kids.
