April 2004 - Casa Alfa - A home for Street Girls

The girls� home has got off to a slow start. As we said in the last letter 3 girls went into the home with their babies and stayed for a while, but all left on the same day because of fights with each other. Then a girl called Sar�a went to live in El Alfarero. She just stayed a few nights before running away. She returned the next week, but again just for a few days. Although this is not how we imagined things to be, the staff from the boys home have been encouraging us, reminding us of how it took them 3 months to get any boys to stay with them. Now they have more than 20 boys.

Since starting this letter we have had quite a shock as Sharon, who was the girls� home director has decided to leave without much notice. This means that El Alfarero is once again closed. Although we were very upset at first, we heard after just 4 days that Yany and Salustio, a couple from our old church would like to take her place. You may remember them from our letters last year as they were a couple who we thought would be good for this position, however at the time their pastor thought they were not yet mature enough. They now have their pastor�s approval and a couple of weeks ago they started joining in with our first contact work, on the streets and in the projects. David is also giving them other orientation and training in working with street kids whilst we decide whether they really are the right people to take over running the home and when will be a good time to reopen. At the moment though we are hoping to reopen at the end of April if we can make sure that the staff will have enough support while we are in the UK.

A couple of weeks ago when David went with the team out on the streets he talked to a girl called Paola. She is a girl who has been coming to the project for over a year , has a great relationship with us and has been one of our most faithful attendees but until now has not wanted to leave her abusive boyfriend. However this time, when she talked to David she told him that she is now ready to leave him and would like to go into a home. This was very hard for us to hear, just a week after we had closed the home.

The second phase of the building work has nearly been completed now and should be ready to live in by the time we reopen. We thank you and also thank God for all the money we have received over the last year in buying the land and with the construction. It has been an incredible amount and we only need about �1,000 more to finish paying for the work.

-Please pray for Salustio, Yany and their daughter Kenia as they continue to prepare themselves for working in the home. Also for Jimena, our other worker in El Alfarero.

-Please pray that God will prepare some of the street girls to come into the home.

A while ago we heard of a policeman who it appears randomly fired rubber bullets at a group of street kids. Three of them were hit, one boy in the hand, another boy (about 12 years old) in the eye and a girl, Shirley in her forehead. The boy who had his eye shot went to hospital and lost his eye completely. Shirley was breast feeding her baby when the policeman opened fire, she got up, was hit and fell unconscious. She didn�t have to stay in hospital but had a huge bruise on her head and has had very bad headaches since the incident. The policeman involved has never been found. Living on the streets is very dangerous. Lives are put at risk every day, in fights, suicides, disease and even from police violence.

-Please pray that many of those who live on the streets will come and live in El Alfarero or El Camino.

During the Christmas break (a while ago now!) we spent a few days up at El Camino. Jasmine and Gaby just loved it there, enjoying the countryside. Jasmine really became much more confident with meeting people and had a lovely time with her new friends. As I have already mentioned there are more than 20 boys now, between the ages of 10 and 18. One of the younger boys (who is unsure of his age) called Angel (a fairly common boy�s name here) particularly struck me because of his huge, cheeky smile. His smile is so big he looks as though he has always been happy. However, about a year ago he says he watched his Dad kill his Mum and then himself. After that he started living on the streets.

Living in the boys home has given him so many opportunities that he otherwise would not have had. He has all his basic needs met, including having an education, meetings with a psychologist, and getting to know God. His life has been turned around and he has a hope and a future.

-Please pray for Angel as he comes to terms with all that he has lived through.

Just now the main leaders of El Camino are taking time out from the home to study on the Discipleship Training School (DTS). Whilst they are away Gaby and Natan are living at the boys� home so that Gaby can be in charge of the kitchen. This means she does all the shopping and cooking (with the help of some of the boys) for about 30 people each day. She is proving to be very reliable once again in her duties and is making good friendships with many of the staff and boys. At the moment she is thinking and praying about doing the YWAM counselling course that we did 2 years ago. This will be either in Argentina or Chile, probably starting in September.

Our House

We are at present trying to sell our house. We have talked about it for some time and have at last got a sign up outside! We would like to move to another area, on the road that goes out to El Alfarero as that will take a lot of time off our journeys and help us support the staff out there better. It is also an area where there is a good nursery and an English speaking school for our girls to go to. We have seen a couple of houses that we (well...I) like but have had no definite interest in our house. We don�t plan to buy another house just now as we would like to try out the new area before committing ourselves, and also that area is more expensive. There is a system here by which we could put down a large deposit then have loan of a house instead of paying rent.

-Please pray for us that IF now is the right time to move that things will go quickly and smoothly as its not too long now before we travel.

Thank you once again for all your support, we hope to see many of you in a few months time.

With our love, Sarah, David, Jasmine and Gaby. xxx