Things have been busy of late, but Hope has been incredibly blessed!

This week I have had the joy of interacting with our 400 new children at Hope’s new pre-school, who started class November 10.  Rather than write at length, I have included legends on each picture, attached, which tell their own stories.  

Our initial experiences at the school itself have been smooth and without surprises.  Especially the first few days, the children had a hard time adapting, and we started the first week with only half the kids, staying for half the normal time. Many of them were sobbing the whole time they were with us, which got all the others sobbing. But their smiles are emerging and growing bigger every day. 

In the slums, there are virtually no residents with any kind of local extended family to help babysit. If the mother works, she either leaves the toddlers locked up inside the house, or leaves them with a neighbor all day, whom she may barely know. If the mother does not work, she probably does not have things together very well, nor does she have income to provide adequate nourishment to her children.  Statistics show that 65% of the households in the slum are single-parent, so there is no back-up in caring and providing for the children.

Of course, while the pre-shool performs an important service, it is also a means to a larger end, involving a dream to provide a safer and more wholesome environment for the rest of the children and teens in the community. With Christmas break coming up (summer in Brazil), school closed, and everybody travelling, we will wait until February before making concentrated forays in pursuit of this larger goal. 

Things are beginning well!

Blessings,

Philip