| "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" James 1 : 27 |
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| The Children's Home |
| Christmas time in the home |
| "La Gota de Leche" (The Drop of Milk) is a local children's home, run by the government, for orphans, abused and abandoned children. There are currently around 30 children living in the home, but the numbers vary since some children are there on a temporary basis because of family problems. There is another boy's home for the older boys who are over 8 years old, so most of the children we work with here are girls. All the children go to school and the living environment is good and the staff of nannies, social workers, psychologists and educators are always looking out for the children's best interests. The children have suffered so much and many have heartbreaking stories, but God can "bind up the broken hearted" and that is our prayer for these children - that they find real healing and peace in God's love for them. |
| Two years ago three children who were living in the prison, were taken to the home by social services and we started visiting them regularly. We began to build up relationships with the staff and the other children in the home and really felt that God was opening a door for us to start a new work with these children. We started going every Saturday afternoon to do a bible club and took the girls out to church with us on Sundays |
| We've seen big changes in the way the girls interact with us since we first arrived at the home to visit. The girls are so much more open and chatty and are such lovely, affectionate children. We feel we've been able to get alongside them and build strong friendships and having that base, share our faith with them, show them how much God loves them and teach them from the Bible. The government changed at the end of the 2005 and all the staff changed too and we were a bit worried about what that would mean for our involvement with the girls, but God has been right alongside us and the new director was very cooperative and very happy for the girls to come to church with us and for us to have bible classes with them on Saturdays, so that was a real answer to prayer. Sometime we have to watch we don't fall over when we arrive because the kids come running up to hug us all at once and almost knock us over! |
| Building Friendships |
| Christmas at the home |
| Parachute Games |
| Last year on Saturday afternoons from 4-6pm we went to the children's home to do activities with the girls. We always started by singing, which they love, and had a bible teaching time and a memory verse. Some days we watched a video related to the bible story, other days we coloured in or play games. The parachute is very popular and there's not much point explaining the rules of the games, because they just make up their own rules and madly move the parachute around! An average of 10 children came daily to the holiday club at church in July 2006 and the same number were attending church with us on Sundays. |
| We also did some special activities with the girls so they could have a change of scenery from the home. They are only allowed out with specific permission and with someone responsible for them, so they didn't get out much. In December 2006 we had a special day out - the kids piled into a truck and we drove all round town, went to the park and went out for ice cream. On Boxing Day there was a Christmas party, where all the kids from the children's home, the prison and the community all came together and we had dinner and had a special visit from Santa with the presents. |
| The girls with Santa at the Christmas party |
| Time for ice cream! |
| "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me. " Mark 9 : 37 |
| Because of recent changes in regulations, it is currently not possible to continue the activities in the children's home as we did last year. Things are now very strict regarding outings and it is much more difficult to arrange activities. There are around 10 girls in the children's home who have prayer partners and the director is happy for that to continue and allows us to visit and do crafts with the girls and go to the home to spend time chatting to them, so although they cannot leave the home, there is still a door open to visit and share with them. Please pray for continued good relationships with the director and staff , that God would guide us as we get alongside these girls and that in His time, the doors would open again to be able to take the older girls out for a Bible study. |