Worldwide Activity Report -- May 1997
FAR042 - GP

Copyright 1997 by The Family

         Every day, in nearly 80 countries spanning the globe, full-time Family volunteers work to bring hope, happiness and God's love to others. Following are some highlights of their recent activities and experiences, as reported by the Family members involved.

Joint project with the Swiss Red Cross
From Ruth, Romania
         In June 1995, while changing planes in Germany en route back to Switzerland, I started a conversation with a man who had offered to help me with my luggage. He introduced himself as Jan, and explained that he was a doctor-cum-administrator with the Swiss Red Cross (SRC). I explained our volunteer work. Upon landing, we exchanged phone numbers.
         The next day Jan phoned me and we later met so that I could tell him more about our work. Jan seemed a bit uncomfortable whenever I brought God into the conversation, but I didn't know how to explain our work without talking about God. They're inseparable. His love motivates us to do what we do, His love inspires others to support our work, and it is He who mends the bodies, minds and spirits of those we help.
         The next time we met, Jan commented that it seemed so natural for me to talk about spiritual things, whereas he had always thought that God and Jesus could only be talked about -- or talked to -- with utmost reverence. I explained how easy it was to have a personal relationship with God and Jesus through prayer, and Jan prayed with me to make that connection. Since then, his faith in God and understanding of His ways have grown tremendously.
         My husband and I moved to Romania, and Jan came for a visit. During his stay, we had an appointment at a school for deaf children where we conduct an ongoing program. Jan was visibly touched by the sweet children, and offered to try to help the school with needed equipment, including hearing aids for some of the children.
         Jan wrote up a proposal to the SRC, suggesting they make a large donation of equipment to the school. The plan was approved, but the shipment fell through due to governmental red tape on our end. Sad!
         Some months later, a company in Switzerland offered to donate a number of hearing aids to the SRC, to be given to a humanitarian cause. Jan found a way around the red tape he had run into earlier and contacted me, asking if I would be responsible to deliver the hearing aids and then report any problems or difficulties the children might have with them. If this pilot project was a success, Jan explained, larger shipments could follow. I agreed to help in any way I could.
         The happy beginning? Forty hearing aids -- each valued at about $2,000 -- reached us safely and will add a new dimension to the lives of 40 very happy children!

Rebuilding on the ashes of civil war
From Victor, Maria and Lily, Lebanon
         Last year we opened the Family's first community in this country since civil war broke out in 1975. The war lasted 16 years, and left this once thriving commercial hub and Mediterranean vacation capital in shambles -- especially Beirut. Since arriving, we have spent much of our time assisting the victims of that war, many of whom still live in abject poverty and are struggling to rebuild their lives.
         Together with a local friend who has been doing relief work here for years, we make the rounds to poor families, dispensing food, blankets, love and encouragement.
         One 65-year-old widow who cares for her 30-year-old handicapped son told us recently, with tears in her eyes, that before we began helping them they often went whole days without a meal. She had such a sweet, soft face and was so broken when she said this, we could barely hold back the tears ourselves.
         Another woman who we are helping was widowed twice during the war and has three small children. Until last month she had a job ironing clothes, but she is now too sick to work and doesn't have any other income or way to meet her children's needs.
         The need here is staggering, and we're just getting started. Please pray with us that we can find more sponsors who are able and willing to help us supply these poor people with their material needs as we minister to them spiritually.

"His eye is on the sparrow."
From Lily, Kenya
         Each week we help a home for street children with large donations of food, clothing, teaching materials and other goods we collect from local businesses and concerned individuals. The home, located in one of Nairobi's worst slum areas, cares for about 400 children from very poor backgrounds, whose parents either can't be located, or are in prison.
         One day while making a delivery to the home, I noticed a five-year-old boy who had been badly burned around his mouth and on his chest. He had been scalded by boiling porridge, I was told. His chest was infected, and the bandage hadn't been changed for days. He was in a pitiful state!
         One of our local sponsors who owns a pharmacy donated antiseptic cream, gauze, and other supplies, and offered to help again whenever there is a medical emergency at the children's home.
         My training as a nurse was put to good use, as it often is in the course of our work with kids in the slums. Infections are endemic there, and medical care is rare. As I applied the medication, I also taught some of the staff how to take proper care of this wound.
         When we returned a week later, he was completely healed. Pulling up a grubby T-shirt to show us his healed chest, the barefoot little boy said thank you in the most wonderful way -- with a beaming smile I won't soon forget!

Lessons for life
From Paula, age 16, Nepal
         Since February we have been doing volunteer work at a third orphanage in Katmandu. As with the first two orphanages and other institutions that we help regularly, we've been able to provide some material assistance, this time in the form of new shoes, and new and secondhand clothes. Our most important and lasting contributions, however, are the friendship, counseling and classes we offer the kids during our weekly visits.
         Here in Nepal, as in other developing countries, health and hygiene standards among the poor are low. Orphans are one of the groups most at risk, so in our classes and other activities we place a special emphasis on cleanliness and personal hygiene. It's great to see these kids transformed before our eyes, and better yet to know that they will carry this simple yet invaluable training with them for life!

Work in minors' jail wins kids and administrators alike.
From Esperanza, Chile
         For about a year and half, members from three Family communities in Santiago have conducted a program in the Tiempo Joven minors' jail. As part of an experimental project sponsored by CENAME (Chile's national agency for correction of minors), we join social workers, psychologists, guidance counselors and teachers in applying a new, more personalized rehabilitation regimen which majors on fostering self-discipline.
         As first reported in the Family's Worldwide Activity Report of January 1996, our involvement soon led to the creation of a music and drama club, through which our teenagers taught the detainees to sing, dance, act and choreograph. Two months of hard work, during which our teens established a deep friendship with the kids, culminated with the presentation of a complete musical play. That first show was such a success that administrators marveled at how such a production had been prepared inside a jail, and the activity coordinator and other teachers asked us to give drama classes twice a week.
         The latest production ran into a snag. As the day of the first performance approached, three members of the cast were no longer there! One of the boys had been moved to another jail, and two had been released. The director of Tiempo Joven made special arrangements for the inmate who had been transferred to be brought back for the day, the two boys who had been released voluntarily returned to practice and perform, and the show went on! The authorities, guards and other inmates were stunned by the wholehearted participation and genuine acting ability of the cast of formerly rebellious and directionless kids.
         We also help with a number of other projects and activities at the jail. Our local sponsors donated two crafting machines to Tiempo Joven's vocational training facility, and we helped arrange a foreign aid grant that made a new agriculture and ecology program possible. After a guard began playing Family-produced motivational cassette tapes for boys in solitary confinement, the head of that section of the prison asked for copies of our other tapes for their program, and praised their therapeutic value. A growing number of guards and teachers now come to us for moral support and spiritual guidance.
         No matter how well the boys respond to counseling while detained, there is no guarantee that they will stay away from crime and drugs when they leave Tiempo Joven. Back in their previous environment, poverty and peer pressure are too much for all but the strongest. Many of the boys try to stick close to us once released. One comes to our house regularly for Bible classes and takes part in our other activities, and others scheduled for release want to do the same. We don't have the time and means to take them all in, but a Catholic priest who serves as chaplain at Tiempo Joven and other jails wants to open a halfway house for them and has asked us to help.
         Sometimes we feel we can't keep up, or that we're failing the boys. But then some word of encouragement comes our way, like the following note (translated from Spanish) which one of the guards gave our teens after the last show:
         Congratulations on the beautiful performance. -- It was a total success. In show business, if you can move your audience, you've accomplished your mission. Judging from the tears streaming down some cheeks, you certainly did that! You are a light for these young people. Don't let anyone quench the fire of God's love that burns so freely in your hearts. Keep being a bridge between men and God with your kindness and beauty. Thank you for your devotion. Keep up the good work! -- Your friend, Alejandro

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         The Family is a non-profit, volunteer organization. Each of the activities you have just read about was made possible through donations from businesses, associations and concerned individuals. If you would like more information about The Family, or if you would like to help sponsor Family volunteers or projects, please contact us at one of the addresses below:

Web: http://www.thefamily.org/family
E-mail: family@thefamily.org


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family