December was a very busy month for us here at ABBA. A lot to organize and take care of because of all the Christmas parties at the different projects.
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| All kids, mothers and staff of the community center during the Christmas party |
Shelter Elohim
At the beginning of December we organized a Christmas party at the Elohim House, ABBA´s shelter for street boys where I´ve been helping out twice a week in the past year. It was a special day, because we were celebrating Christmas, the end of a working year and we were saying goodbye to two of our ex-street boys who were returning to their families. Alex and João stayed with us for about 8 months, now they were going home. It was a day full of different emotions!
It ´s wonderful to see how God uses our project to give street boys a new chance in life; and it´s great to see how these boys change and grow through the months that they´re with us, till they come to the point where they´re ready to return to their homes... Because most of these boys do have a family, often a mother who normally wants to receive her son back into the family. For the boys, this returning home isn´t always that easy, because they´ve just found their place in the shelter, are going to school, live in certain luxury when compared to their family´s situation and, above all, they kind of feel safe, protected against drug use and crime while they´re with us. For them, moving back home means uncertainty, new challenges, poverty and having to fight against the temptation to fall back into drug use. At the same time, they´re back home, with their moms, something all boys deep in their hearts long for… It´s a big, sometimes hard, step and a huge challenge for them. We´ll keep track of these boys and their families for some time still and we hope and pray that they´ll find their place in the family and stay strong, so they won´t fall back into their old habits.
Community Center Semear
At the end of the month we had another big party: the Christmas and end-of-the-year party of the community center. Now that was a huge party! We enjoyed it so much and so did the kids!
We worked hard and were able to find Christmas sponsors for all of the children & teenagers who had participated in our program over the past year. Different people from different local churches decided to help us with this big Christmas project. So every child & teenager got a bag full of Christmas presents at the party: clothes, shoes, toys etc. It was just amazing to be able to do this for all these kids! You should have seen their faces! Knowing the poverty in which these families live, you can understand how special this was for them, because at home they don´t get any Christmas presents ever.
A barbecue and three 3 Santa´s who came on huge, decorated motorcycles to surprise the kids right in front of the community center, made the party a real success! Afterwards, Robert and Caio were still busy for some time delivering 20 big food baskets to all the families! The families were glad and we were so happy that we had so much to give!
It was a very special Christmas!
God bless you,
love,
Caio & Dorothee
