How to HelpNewsletters |
July 2005Submitted by editor on Sat, 04/12/2008 - 23:04.
Well, Latvia is certainly developing very fast! We are glad to say that there have been some very positive changes in the field of child protection and family support but sadly the situation still remains very bad for thousands. At the end of last year Save the Children issued results of a survey conducted anonymously amongst 1061 children across the four regions of Latvia. The survey revealed that:
There is still much work for us to do and we often sit with our heads in our hands considering how we could help more children in protecting them, alleviating their suffering, helping them build abetter future and helping them know and receive the comfort and strength of a caring, heavenly father. We have been praying that we might be able to work more hand-in-hand with local churches to be able to reach more children in need and we are glad to say that we have just had our first glimmer of hope with this. It is a fact though that churches generally are struggling financially, especially in the smaller towns, and they need our, and your, support to be able to open and run a children's centre. Thank you so much for all your support so far, please continue to remember us in your giving and prayers! Helen Vipass, Director
Back to School
The children need lots of support to get through school both with tutors and materials, thank you for supporting our work so we can provide these!
Tough to Survive One of our 18 year old boys left us in January determined to live an independent life. In March he was back at home with us. It's particularly tough for young people to begin independent life here in Riga since prices for accomodation have risen greatly, a one-room bedsit costs 100 Lats ($185) a month to rent but the salaries Oleg was offered were all under 120 lats a month. All the same God is answering our prayers for support for our young people and has provided help this year for six of our former resident children to begin independent life.
Day Centre Kids
Recently one of our little girls was crying because of the cruel treatment she'd got from other school kids who'd told her she was dirty and ugly and had a horrible alcoholic mum. 'You pay no attention to what those kids are saying' said one of our children's workers confidently 'soon you will be much more beautiful than them and your mum will be the very best mum!'. The little girl cheered up no end because she knew that she had real friends who were really helping to make that happen.
Profile: House-mum Natalia
When asked what had been her biggest joy during her time with us she said that she had seen so many concrete answers to prayer in the lives of the children she has cared for but having been able to help return at least some children to the parents they always longed for was no doubt the best. No matter how loving we are it's natural that a child's heart pines after his mum or dad; we feel that pain too and are so happy when parents get their lives straightened out. For the children that have remained Natalia is so grateful for the friends God has sent them, for the new 'aunts and uncles' that welcome the childrento visit them at weekends or during holidays. The children truly feel they have a family!
A Need for Foster Families In Latvia children from children's homes usually stand out from the crowd. Typically they are not so well dressed but also bear the marks of years of abuse and neglect in the expression of their faces, in their mistrust of anyone around them, in the behaviour that comes with fear and very low self-esteem. Several people have commented on how secure and happy our children at Hope for Children seem and how they look just like other kids and we know that we must work to establish more of such homes as ours. We see though that because of the very heavy burden of raising eight troubled children who each demand so very much attention and the increasing demands of the State administratively on children's homes we must reduce the number of children per carer and concentrate more on recruiting and supporting christian foster families. In Latvia right now there are very few foster families but we pray that with the Lord's help we might be able to inspire and support those who truly have God's heart towards orphans to take the step of taking such a child into their family.
Work with Families So many mums in distress have been so grateful for the sympathetic listening ears of Jusma and Helen our family-support centre workers. Practical help in finding a job or place to live also means a lot since few can afford the phone calls or internet access this demands. Staff have been busy giving out food and clothes and also transporting furniture; many families that turn to us don't even have enough beds! For some mums the seminars, and the friendships formed with other mums through them, have become something they really look forward to.
Please Remember to Pray for:
On the matter of giving We cannot thank you enough for the financial support you have sent us in the past. There have been lots of trials for us in this area and we truly value the gifts you donate. Ahead of us is a particularly expensive time as children return to school, please know that your gifts always greatly help protect children, alleviate their suffering and build a better future for them! To send contributions, please see "how to give."
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One of the most encouraging fruits of our efforts is when children successfully finish their basic schooling. With excellent grades one of our boys has just finished grade 12 (final year of school) and three children have finished grade 9 (last year of compulsory education), one of them again with excellent grades. These were all children who had an extremely rough start to life. One child for example, was homeless for many years and lived without any official status in Latvia, another street boy had only finished one grade in school by the age of 14.
Thanks to your support we have been able to send off children from very poor families to enjoy living by the beach for up to seven weeks. Normally these kids would be running around a rather dangerous district of Riga avoiding the conflicts and problems at home. The staff at our day centre work hard to build the children up in every way and to help them know and feel they are precious. One of our most difficult boys behaviourly, who was really switched off school, changed so very much this year that he received nothing but praise from his teachers at the end.
Natalia has a long history of working with children, in fact she worked for nearly 30 years as a school teacher before she came to work in our children's home three years ago. It was back in 1995 when she first heard of our work through a radio programme and thought how good it was that such homes for children existed. Just after working for a camp in 2001 for poor families and children in care she heard our director speaking about Hope for Children in church. In Natalia's words "when I heard that there was a new apartment for another family-style home and a house-mum was needed it was like lightening struck me, straight after the meeting I went up to Helen to ask more about this".
The establishment of more day centres for children and family support centres, for cooperation with the local churches in this. For all the resources needed to be provided.