July 2007

Mision Mexico, Dando Amor, Vida y Esperanza AC

www.lovelifehope.com

Hola a Todos,

Well, as I promised, a smaller update each month!

As you would be aware, every child who lives here at the orphanage, has a sad story to tell. Each child has suffered abuse in some way, they all carry huge burdens and wear the scars of the past.

Recently we received two new girls, one 11 years and the other, 14 years. They arrived on the night of their graduation from primary school looking so very beautiful, dressed up in their graduation gowns. The two, had been attending a boarding school, run by the government, that is for children whose parents cannot look after them for one reason or another.

The two sisters were brought here because their father is in prison and their mother lives in the prison with him where she sells snacks to the prison inmates.

Each weekend the two girls would go and stay at the prison with their parents and return to school early on the Monday morning.

The prison environment is not the place where children should be. It is filled with every type of criminal you could imagine. Within the walls of the prison you find a mini city where you can buy anything you need, including drugs!

We have been informed of the selling of young girls for sex behind those doors. The girls, who are often under age, are recruited on the outside and tricked into the sex trade within.

The two young girls with us have not been subjected to that, praise God, but the older of the two was raped by her father.

The mother supports the father, so now, the girls are homeless.

The two, have settled in well and are now joining in with the many activities that go on here.

Gradually, with love and attention, the hurt will heal. Please pray for these girls and all the others in our care that they will continue to grow in the love of God.

I must inform you of the recent changes in our support details. Those of you who have been financially supporting us on a regular basis over the years should have, by now, received a letter in the mail advising you of some changes. Our agent, the Mission Office, who has been handling our donations, free of charge for many years, will no longer be handling our finances.

For some time now we have been organizing to set up our own entity in Australia but this has taken much longer than intended.

As yet, the details of the new entity have not been finalized, therefore, we need your help to continue to receive your valuable support.

Without your support we cannot continue to do this work that God has called us to do. We rely on your regular donations to do the day-to-day running of this home where, at the moment, we care for 35 children who have suffered so much. These children have grown so much since coming here and have become fine young people that you would be proud of.

One boy recently told us that he thinks he would be dead by now if it wasn't for the good samaritan who found him on the streets and the loving home (Mision Mexico) that she brought him to.

This home exists because of you. Most of the children in our care would be on the streets if it wasn't for this home.

Therefore, we ask that you organize with your bank to do a direct debit into our Mission account until everything has been finalized.

The bank details for Australia are:

Commonwealth Bank

Account name: MSC Mission Mexico.

BSB number: 063113 Account number: 10410249

Account type: Cheque account

 

In the USA please send cheques made payable to Mission Mexico at:

The Peace and Justice Centre

PO Box 16252

Phoenix Arizona 85011

USA

 

Thank you so much for your attention to this matter.

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School is over for another year and the new school year begins in August. The children here did very well with all of them passing to the next level. Yesenia, the girl who was in grade one for almost three years finally passed

with a diploma for third place! We are so happy for her. Now that things have finally ‘clicked', we need to work with her so that she may be able to jump grades.

Yesenia is 12 years old and because of the abuse she suffered in the past she has difficultly learning.

We now have Yesenia in swimming training each day and she is loving it, even though the coach gets a little frustrated with her.

People who don't understand where these kids have come from, can't see the progress as we can. We are excited with any change whereas others get annoyed that the change is so slow.

Her co-ordination skills need to be developed and this is slowly happening but, the positive changes are showing in many other areas as well.

 

Living here at the orphanage is a boy who is almost 16 years. He was abandoned by his parents when he was a baby and has grown up in different homes and had never been registered for his birth. Recently, with the help of a lawyer from the welfare department, we got him his birth certificate. Now he is able to complete his education. Daniel had never had any formal schooling before coming here and has recently completed grade 4, receiving a diploma for first place. His school is now helping him to jump a grade and by July next year he will have completed his primary schooling. When he has completed grade 6 we will put him into an open learning school where he can complete his secondary education in 18 months and therefore, catch up to his peers.

At the moment Daniel is also training to be a chef. We have been fortunate to find a restaurant who is willing to take him on and teach him the ‘ropes'.

The restaurant owner has commented that Daniel is very intelligent and learns very quickly.

Providing for the children opportunities like this as well as an education will ensure these children are equipped with essential skills for their futures.

 

The building of our new home has commenced now and already progress is being made. It's fantastic to see the changes being made and things starting to happen. The boys have been helping Paul, who has come over from Australia for one year to help us. They are enjoying the experience and making themselves very useful!

We will keep you informed of the progress as time goes on and also try to put photos on the web page for you to view.

 

God bless you all. With love, Pam, Alan and all at Mision Mexico.