Hola a todos y Dios les bendiga,

As usual, it has been a long time since my last newsletter and so much has happened. I apologize for the delay in updating you with the latest news. I have great intentions but not enough hours in the day! This newsletter will be a long one but I still won't be able to cover all that has happened. I hope you will take the time to read all of it as the newsletter will give you a very good insight into our life and the lives of these special kids. Maybe it is best to print it up and read at your leisure. I promise that I will try to write more frequently and keep the mail shorter.

Uri is 11 years old and has recently been abandoned by his parents. He has been with us for almost a week. His mother and father are separated.

Uri had been living with his mother when she decided to go and live in another state. As the mother was about to leave Uri came running out with his plastic shopping bag full of all his belongings when his mother yelled; “Stop, what are you doing?” “You are not coming with me.” “I would rather look after dogs than look after you.” She left without him.

After this Uri was taken to live with his father who put him out to work. Uri was working on the streets shinning shoes and other than what he used for his meals, all the money he made went to his father who used it for alcohol.

One day a policeman complained to Uri's dad that the shoe shine job that he had done wasn't good enough so the father packed the boy up and took him to the municipal building and left him there.

Police took the boy to the welfare department who then, brought him to us.

At the age of 11 this little boy has known poverty and has had to work to survive and support an adult, he has suffered the loneliness of abandonment, not once but twice in his young life.

Uri is a sweet little boy, small for his age but very intelligent. He believes that what has happened is part of his journey to his destiny! He accepts it all with an amazing calmness. I hope he will continue to live with us and that we can make a difference in his life.

Over the last two weeks we have had a visitor who is from the US but is now living in Tijuana near the border of the USA.

He has, for the past 19 months, been living in a refuge for children, which is situated in the ‘red light' district of the city. Tijuana is a very dangerous city full of crime which is so obvious that you see it on a daily basis.

During his time there, among other things, Steven has helped raise money to renovate an old warehouse which now looks like a palace! This refuge/orphanage houses between 70-80 children, girls and boys of all ages.

One thing that has been on Steven's heart during this time is to rescue children who are being exploited into lives of prostitution. This call has brought Steven into many dangerous situations where he has had to use extreme measures to rescue minors from the clutches of evil.

Recently, Steven felt called to investigate the situation in Tapachula and border towns in this area. At first Steven thought that the reports were incorrect as Tapachula seemed like a safe town with very little crime.

But, actually, on the surface Tapachula looks calm but in reality, it is full of crime.

We had an incident here where a girl that we had some time ago ended up getting involved (at first, not in a sexual way) with a man who was an ex-con. This man is around 40 years old and has been in gaol/jail three times for trafficking in people and drugs.

The girl, 15 years, had always been a difficult person to deal with, causing a lot of problems amongst the other children. She became very defiant and would not listen to reason and left against our wishes.

She managed to get work that didn't pay that much but, did enable her to rent a small room and buy a little food.

Gradually though, this man started following her and interfering in her life even though he had a ‘wife' of his own.

Every job that the girl got, he managed to get her fired, so that she would have to rely on him. He ended up making her work in a bar, not far from the refuge.

He started trying to control this girl in whatever she did and eventually sold her into prostitution for which she didn't get a peso/cent. He had beaten her and thrown her around.

She came to the refuge on numerous occasions wanting to talk.

We suggested she go to the police but she just laughed. We also suggested that she go to a woman's refuge and that we would take her there but she declined saying that she had already been there and it wasn't any good and that he would find her anyway.

This man started hanging around the refuge which put all of us on edge.

The girl told us that she heard the man talking about trying to get some of the other girls in the refuge to work in a bar and, that he was just waiting for an opportunity to get to them. She also told us of the drug trafficking trips he did, how and when they took place.

We told Steven of the situation and set a plan in motion where we decided to get the girl out of ‘harm's way'. We hid her and managed to smuggle her out on the floor of the van and took her into a safe house while Steven organized for her to leave the state to go to another refuge that is only for young ladies.

The man started hanging around the house even more, obviously trying to find out where the girl was.

In the meantime, on Steven's heart once again was to rescue another girl of 15 years that the first girl told us about, who worked in the same bar. This girl was also being controlled by this man and another from prison. At one stage he held a knife to her throat and threatened that if she said anything he would kill her.

This girl was from Honduras and living here illegally. This job had to be handled differently and finding the right channels to get this girl out of the bar and into somewhere safe was difficult. Finally we found help but there was endless red tape and the days were passing. We were sure that by the time they took action they would have ‘got wind' of what was about to pass and would have taken the girl somewhere else before the rescue could take place.

Steven was getting very agitated waiting for them to move. Finally, last Tuesday they raided the bar with the help of Steven and rescued not one minor, but three! The bar was then closed down. Steven's work was finished. His persistence has paid off. Well done!

Before this, Steven was also instrumental in a rescue, in a house between Tapachula and the beach, of 7 children, aged from 7 – 14 who were being used for prostitution.

Thank You Steven, we pray that God continues to send people like you who will risk so much to rescue the innocent.

The bar is around the corner from our refuge and because of the locality and the dangerous people involved and, knowing that Steven would have been seen at the refuge, we have been a little on edge, watching over our shoulders, feeling nervous when someone is walking behind us.

The border towns that Steven visited, Cuidad Hidalgo and Tecun Uman are extremely dangerous, he said that they made Tijuana look like Disneyland! At one stage he was standing in the doorway of a building, just meters away from a lady who was selling credit for cell/mobile phones (these people work on street corners and sell to passing motorists) when a man on a motorbike stopped in front of her, pulled out a gun and shot her seven times. While the police were dealing with the body, Steven turned to see a man attack and rob another person of their backpack. This man got stabbed in the side and the police didn't make chase after the thief. Steven stood there in disbelief. He was not asked anything regarding either attack!

A lot of prayer cover is needed when you are involved in things like the above. Steven had called for cover and it was obvious it was there, you can honestly feel the difference!

Now, on to something lighter.

I want to tell you of a dream that I had a few years ago, a dream to send some kids from the Mission Mexico refuge to Australia to gain Surf Life Saving experience.

Our beach, which is in the most southern part of Mexico, is not patrolled and many people drown each year due to lack of surf sense, swimming skills and of course, Life Guards.

This dream eventually became a reality for three of the kids, Moacir 17yrs, Jose 15yrs and Maria 13 yrs, at the end of January 2007 when they set off for Australia for the adventure of a lifetime. A wonderful group of people on the Sunshine Coast raised the money to help pay for their tickets.

For their stay, the children were billeted with three lovely families; Quinns, Harringtons, and Eames' from the Sunshine Beach area. The kids trained at the Surf Club and did swimming training. Also, the three attended school for the first term.

The lives of these young people have not been easy. They were born into situations of extreme difficulties and have overcome incredible obstacles to get where they are now.

Watching these kids grow and change so dramatically has encouraged us to look for more ways to open doors for them.

They need all the help that they can get to help them develop. We believe in them and we know that if they are given the opportunity they will achieve.

Getting things organized for the trip, such as, passports, visas, etc. was a nightmare. There were endless rounds of offices to visit as the Foreign Relations Dept. here in Tapachula hadn't done anything like this before, that is, to send kids from an orphanage to another country. Also, we live in an area where ‘people trafficking' is real, where kids go missing every day, so their concern was valid but for us, it was extremely trying.

Australians can travel through most countries but that is not the case for Mexicans and Central Americans. A lot of countries won't allow these people to transit, and some would allow Mexicans but not Central Americans. This caused us a lot of problems and we almost lost our tickets and the dream almost turned into a nighmare, that it wasn't going to happen but, it did! There is a lot of power in prayer, believe me.

The three kids had an amazing time. They found Australia to be a beautiful country and met some wonderful people. They gained their Bronze Medallions in Surf Life Saving, improved their swimming fitness and technique and also, improved their English conversation skills. An additional bonus was that Moacir and Jose greatly improved their surfing skills, the love of their life!

We send our deepest appreciation to the groups involved Sunshine Beach Surf Life Saving Club, Noosa Aquatic Centre and St. Teresa's Catholic College, Noosaville. And, Maria's ballet school in Noosaville.

Thank You to all those involved in raising the funds to bring the children out to Oz

Also, we send a huge THANK YOU to the Quinn, Harrington and Eames' families for welcoming these kids into their homes and providing for their every need.

Moacir, Jose and Maria gave me a card on our way back to Mexico and had written this; ‘Dear Mum, Thanks for teaching us to dream'!

I was a little worried about how the kids would settle in once they got back to the refuge but they have been fine. I asked for some scholarships at the local swimming pool to keep them active but instead of giving us three scholarships, they gave us 15!!! The only stipulation was that they have to attend three competitions a year. After three weeks of swimming, four of the younger kids entered their first swimming carnival. Angel 8 yrs did very well, averaging about half way in most strokes.

All fifteen have improved so much, it's just amazing to see.

Yesenia 12yrs is one of the fifteen and her development is so encouraging. Because of the abuse Yesenia has suffered, she was withdrawn, bad mannered and lazy. This is her third year in grade one! They would not put her up because she could not read. She seemed to have a mental block to learning.

After one month of swimming Yesenia is smiling, taking a pride in herself and helping wherever she can. It is an amazing change, the best therapy she could have.

While in Australia we attended a couple of fundraisers for our new refuge. One was in Melbourne and the other in Sydney. The Melbourne one was an Art Exhibition/Sale organized by Lenore and Sally Boyd and their families and also our nephew Joel Gailer. The Sydney fundraiser was an Auction organized by Deborah Grossman and her dedicated group of supporters.

Together these fundraisers raised $62,000.00!!! How wonderful is that?? What a difference you have made. A big ‘Thank You' to all who donated works of art for the exhibition and, items for the auction. Both fundraisers created an incredible amount of work for all those involved but all the hard work has paid off! Thank you to those who provided the locations where the functions were held and to the people who donated the food and beverage at both occasions. THANK YOU, to each and every one of you, you are amazing!

Tanya Gordon is another wonderful person who is raising money for the new building. Tanya has had a beautiful CD recorded titled ‘Braver Than You Think You Are'. Tanya and her husband Dale have decided that you can download the CD for free and if you feel inclined you can send a donation to help with the construction of the refuge or, you can order a hard copy directly from her. All money raised is for the new refuge. Take a moment and visit Tanya's web page www.tanyagordon.com Details of how to donate are on the web page. What a great way that you can help to build a home for these kids. The CD's would make great Christmas presents and the money is going to a good cause!!

Thank You so much Tanya, we love the CD!

We have received a few wonderful donations lately. An Anglican church in Arizona USA upgraded their van and kindly donated their old one to us. It is in much better condition than the one we have. We are so thankful!

They also donated some lap top computers.

Harmon Hall in Tapachula gave us 10 computers after they upgraded.

Veronica Balatti from Australia also donated us two used lap tops. Thank you all so much.

We have 33 children at the moment and all but two of the children are using the computers with educational programs and, the older kids are using them for research for their homework and keeping in touch with friends and volunteers around the world.

Over the years we have had wonderful volunteers who have come and donated their time to work at the refuge. As most of them would have found out, it is not easy. The conditions are not the best and the children are not sweet little angels and often they do not appreciate the labour of these people. What we have to understand is that these children come from backgrounds where they haven't been taught to respect anything. It is a long, slow process. You need to have a lot of patience but be strong as well or they will walk all over you!

I must admit that they are a lot better behaved when I am here. When I am not, they push their boundaries.

To all those volunteers that were here when I was in Australia, thank you. I imagine it was a lot harder for you because of my absence but know that we appreciate your help. To all the past volunteers, we still think of you, thanks for caring.

Know that the children are growing and changing. ‘It won't happen overnight but (I believe) it will happen!'

I walked into a little shop the other day and nobody came to serve us so we left to find another. I had an older boy with me and he commented; “You know, three years ago I would have just taken what I wanted and walked out.”

So, you see, we are making a difference!

Now, before I close. We are starting on the new refuge next week!!! Finally, after so long, this is great news! We have had the plans modified as our numbers have increased since our first plans were drawn up and there were a lot of things that needed to be added. In the future we will put the plans on the web page for you to view. www.lovelifehope.com

Please pray that everything runs smoothly for the construction and that we can get donations of the materials needed to minimize the cost.

Paul Callegari and his wife Marion are coming over from Australia for 12 months to work on the construction. We are looking forward to their visit.

Also, a young Aussie, Kirrily Howarth is coming very soon to help out at the refuge. Kirrily and her family have been working very hard raising money for the new construction. Thank you so much, you are a blessing.

We now have a sponsor for our surf program and are very excited about that. Norm Innis and his wife Veronica from Sunrise Beach, Qld. have decided to help us with this project. Thank you so much for offering to help, we appreciate it very much.

The children have developed so much in this area and I am amazed at some of the huge waves that they attempt to ride. They are starting to draw the attention of a lot of people.

We still need help in this area as a lot of the smaller children need one on one attention out there.

Finally, we have ‘GOOD NEWS'! In January next year our daughter Brooke and son-in-law Paco; our daughter-in-law Lupita and son Aaron; and, our daughter-in-law Ana and our son Rohan are expecting their first child each. Three new cousins for Luke and Jesse! Please pray for the safe arrival of each child. Thank you.

God bless each and every one of you.

Thank you for your faithful support, together we can make a difference !

Please keep us in your prayers.

With love,

Pam and Alan Skuse

Mision Mexico

Dando Amor, Vida y Esperanza AC.