Some children have been born in this camp, while others arrived later as refugees with their parents and still must adapt to the situation. Like the little girl who is holding tightly to me with both her arms and legs and freezes when I gently try to put her on the chair next to me… tears still welling up in her big brown eyes. She is new in school and is so insecure. I keep her on my lap a few minutes longer…
This is at one of the little primary schools where our students from the Children at Risk School in Holland have been helping for two months. Johan and I traveled to be with them for the last two weeks before we go with them to the next country bordering Syria where millions of refugees have also arrived.
Improvised primary schools for Syrian children
After it became clear that many Syrian children stranded in refugee camps had not been going to school, people started to teach them in small improvised schools. Sometimes these schools are led by refugees themselves, or in other cases by local people who then offer teaching jobs to some of the refugees. Often the teachers have had no prior training, which makes it extra challenging. But it is wonderful to get to know these courageous teachers in their makeshift schools and see their great dedication and love for the children. And it was, of course, exciting to see our students in action too!
Teaching the teachers
The teachers that are working in those primary schools craved input and training themselves. So they gave our students a long list of topics they wanted to study and problems they had encountered. Our students divided the different themes among themselves to prepare lessons, then gave those teachings on various days. They so enjoyed seeing how eager the teachers were to learn new things, and they could take their time because another group of volunteers was taking care of the children during these teacher-training sessions.
Free
Those teachers were so pleased. “We had been trying to have classes like this before, but it was always too expensive to arrange for such seminars, and here you guys come and offer this for free!?!”
Yes, we are so grateful this was possible. We and our students had paid for our own travel costs and stay. Some had saved money through the jobs they had before the Children at Risk School started, while others, like ourselves, have been sponsored by a group of friends for an extended time. We were pleased to be able to help these refugees, often families that had lost everything. We could be an encouragement to them, demonstrate to them that they are not forgotten, and show them a little bit of God’s enormous love for them.
Play and laugh
What a reward it is to see these children, who have gone through so much trauma, play and laugh again. The little girl who had held onto me tightly for over an hour slowly stopped sobbing and started to look curiously at the brightly colored toys. A little later she wanted to play, and by the end of the morning, she sat proudly on a little chair at a desk with a pencil, trying to write in the new notebook before her.
More Children at Risk Schools in Holland
We are extremely thankful that this first Children at Risk School at the Heidebeek base of YWAM Holland was very well co-lead by Joke, a young lady from Holland. She did an excellent job and will continue to offer and lead the next CAR school in January 2019 at Heidebeek. For info, see the website: https://ywamheidebeek.org/nl/dts-training/children-at-risk/ That means we can now focus our time and efforts in other countries and locations.
African students
This week we are teaching at one of the YWAM bases in Switzerland, where many of the students are from different countries in Africa. Some of them are directing primary schools in their countries of origin and want to be better trained. We are teaching here on the topics of children at risk, like street children, sexually abused and exploited children, but also about refugee children and how to deal with the traumas they’ve experienced.
In Africa there are millions of children who have had to flee their villages and towns because of violence and war. Some flee with their parents, but an alarmingly growing number have lost their parents because they were killed or disappeared. You don´t hear a lot about it in the news, and more and more, we meet people who don´t want to hear or read about those huge problems. For many it seems so hopeless. “Well, what can I do about it?” they ask, and then answer their own question: “Nothing!”
But that is not true. We can always pray (this is often underestimated, but soooo needed) and support churches and organizations that help these children and families.
Scratching
During all the years of our work with street children in Brazil, we often heard people say: “Well, you can only help so few--you are only scratching the surface!”
But now there are a lot of those ex-street kids who were saved through this “scratching the surface!” They got to know the Lord, have studied, have good jobs, are married and have children. Some became missionaries themselves and are now helping children in hopeless situations. The “scratching of the surface” has yielded a growing impact!
So, please don´t believe the lie that doing “something small” doesn’t make any difference. God wants to extend His kingdom and He invites us all to participate. Together with Him, we may witness how children and families are saved and brought to healing.
Back to Brazil
In September we hope to return to Brazil, which is still officially our country of residence, but because of all our travels, we haven´t been there for quite some time. We are planning to meet with the various Children at Risk School ministries and leaders in South America. Then we plan to visit those locations in 2019 for teaching and encouragement.
We need help
We usually don´t talk about finances in our newsletters, and we are so thankful for all the people who have regularly supported us financially over many years. But during the last few years, our support base has been slowly decreasing. Some of our long-term supporters have passed away, while others were forced to stop because of financial crisis. We have always had enough, but sometimes we are down to the bare minimum. So we would like to ask those who are receiving this newsletter but are not (yet) supporting us financially, if you would prayerfully consider doing this.
We hope there will be people who can start supporting us on a monthly basis, but of course one-time or sporadic gifts are also very welcome. Please check our blog on how to give—you can find the link here. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to write us.
Prayer points
This is at one of the little primary schools where our students from the Children at Risk School in Holland have been helping for two months. Johan and I traveled to be with them for the last two weeks before we go with them to the next country bordering Syria where millions of refugees have also arrived.
Improvised primary schools for Syrian children
After it became clear that many Syrian children stranded in refugee camps had not been going to school, people started to teach them in small improvised schools. Sometimes these schools are led by refugees themselves, or in other cases by local people who then offer teaching jobs to some of the refugees. Often the teachers have had no prior training, which makes it extra challenging. But it is wonderful to get to know these courageous teachers in their makeshift schools and see their great dedication and love for the children. And it was, of course, exciting to see our students in action too!
Teaching the teachers
The teachers that are working in those primary schools craved input and training themselves. So they gave our students a long list of topics they wanted to study and problems they had encountered. Our students divided the different themes among themselves to prepare lessons, then gave those teachings on various days. They so enjoyed seeing how eager the teachers were to learn new things, and they could take their time because another group of volunteers was taking care of the children during these teacher-training sessions.
Free
Those teachers were so pleased. “We had been trying to have classes like this before, but it was always too expensive to arrange for such seminars, and here you guys come and offer this for free!?!”
Yes, we are so grateful this was possible. We and our students had paid for our own travel costs and stay. Some had saved money through the jobs they had before the Children at Risk School started, while others, like ourselves, have been sponsored by a group of friends for an extended time. We were pleased to be able to help these refugees, often families that had lost everything. We could be an encouragement to them, demonstrate to them that they are not forgotten, and show them a little bit of God’s enormous love for them.
Play and laugh
What a reward it is to see these children, who have gone through so much trauma, play and laugh again. The little girl who had held onto me tightly for over an hour slowly stopped sobbing and started to look curiously at the brightly colored toys. A little later she wanted to play, and by the end of the morning, she sat proudly on a little chair at a desk with a pencil, trying to write in the new notebook before her.
More Children at Risk Schools in Holland
We are extremely thankful that this first Children at Risk School at the Heidebeek base of YWAM Holland was very well co-lead by Joke, a young lady from Holland. She did an excellent job and will continue to offer and lead the next CAR school in January 2019 at Heidebeek. For info, see the website: https://ywamheidebeek.org/nl/dts-training/children-at-risk/ That means we can now focus our time and efforts in other countries and locations.
African students
This week we are teaching at one of the YWAM bases in Switzerland, where many of the students are from different countries in Africa. Some of them are directing primary schools in their countries of origin and want to be better trained. We are teaching here on the topics of children at risk, like street children, sexually abused and exploited children, but also about refugee children and how to deal with the traumas they’ve experienced.
In Africa there are millions of children who have had to flee their villages and towns because of violence and war. Some flee with their parents, but an alarmingly growing number have lost their parents because they were killed or disappeared. You don´t hear a lot about it in the news, and more and more, we meet people who don´t want to hear or read about those huge problems. For many it seems so hopeless. “Well, what can I do about it?” they ask, and then answer their own question: “Nothing!”
But that is not true. We can always pray (this is often underestimated, but soooo needed) and support churches and organizations that help these children and families.
Scratching
During all the years of our work with street children in Brazil, we often heard people say: “Well, you can only help so few--you are only scratching the surface!”
But now there are a lot of those ex-street kids who were saved through this “scratching the surface!” They got to know the Lord, have studied, have good jobs, are married and have children. Some became missionaries themselves and are now helping children in hopeless situations. The “scratching of the surface” has yielded a growing impact!
So, please don´t believe the lie that doing “something small” doesn’t make any difference. God wants to extend His kingdom and He invites us all to participate. Together with Him, we may witness how children and families are saved and brought to healing.
Back to Brazil
In September we hope to return to Brazil, which is still officially our country of residence, but because of all our travels, we haven´t been there for quite some time. We are planning to meet with the various Children at Risk School ministries and leaders in South America. Then we plan to visit those locations in 2019 for teaching and encouragement.
We need help
We usually don´t talk about finances in our newsletters, and we are so thankful for all the people who have regularly supported us financially over many years. But during the last few years, our support base has been slowly decreasing. Some of our long-term supporters have passed away, while others were forced to stop because of financial crisis. We have always had enough, but sometimes we are down to the bare minimum. So we would like to ask those who are receiving this newsletter but are not (yet) supporting us financially, if you would prayerfully consider doing this.
We hope there will be people who can start supporting us on a monthly basis, but of course one-time or sporadic gifts are also very welcome. Please check our blog on how to give—you can find the link here. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to write us.
Prayer points
- Pray for the children who have had to flee, that God will help them heal from their traumas.
- Pray for the teaching staff of the makeshift schools in the refugee camps, that they will know God’s presence and blessing with them.
- Pray for the students of the CAR schools and seminars, that they will experience God's guidance in the work they do, and His wisdom and blessings.
- Thank God for all the children who have already been reached through the years with God's love, which has transformed their lives.
- Pray that many more students who want to reach out to children in need will participate in CAR schools.
- Pray for our plans in Brazil and the various CAR schools that are running there.
- Pray for our ministry, that we will have enough people who will pray for and support us.
