Sponsor's update from Luque
14/02/2008
Update from the SOS Children’s Village Luque - June 2007
We kindly greet you from Paraguay and hope that you are doing well. It is almost spring season here and after the long and cold winter that we rarely had this year, we sure are waiting for a warmer weather and some flowers to color up the landscape. Our village in Luque is always full of joy and laughter of the wonderful children that live here. They are certainly special and have a lot to offer and receive. They are experiencing their society and life itself with the guide, comfort and love of their mother and the so important bond created with their siblings that altogether provide them a true home.
We currently have 13 houses at the village forming a small community where the families share their daily life. They take care of the place and try to maintain it nice.
There are 110 children from whom 63 are girls and 47 boys. This year 7 new girls and 11 boys were admitted. They are given a healthy and kind environment, where they can study and develop in a normal surround. All of our children go to school, from kindergarten to 3rd year of high school.
Moreover, our teens also learn an occupation; they take classes and workshops on computer, sewing, cooking, handcraft, gardening, electricity and English among others. In addition, several are also part of the music and dance conservatory, others practice soccer and many form the musical band at the village. One of the teens is the band director. They usually practice a lot, and play at the village for all the families and workers receiving admiration and lots of applauses. Nonetheless, not only their peers get to appreciate their talent since they are invited to play for organizations, national festivals; anniversaries and sometimes neighbors even ask them to serenade a relative for a birthday or any other special event. All this represents a great achievement for them and the whole village is proud of how far they have gotten thanks to their hard work and desire to progress.
Furthermore, at the village is not all studying and working. They certainly have their leisure time as well. Each family organizes activities to do for recreation every so often; some go out to spend the day outdoors, like camping or a day at the park, in addition field trips are also a fun choice. The children sure enjoy themselves in this sort of activities; they can freely play, run and bond with their siblings and other children outside their community.
Not so along, we commemorated the Village’s Anniversary and we organised several activities that would last 2 whole days. The first day, June the 22nd we began with a Christian ceremony and speech, followed by some singing of the children. Then the next day there was a church service and all the families participated, afterwards, we had a traditional breakfast, and the chief meal was cocido with chipa, the former is a hot drink prepared with herbs and sugar, and the latter is sort of salty bread made of corn flour, butter and cheese baked in a rustic mud oven. Finally, in the night we had a cultural activity with the performance of dance and musical groups, Martial arts exhibition and artists invited from other communities. For such an occasion, the SOS mothers fixed delicious traditional meals and sold them successfully, and it gathered some funds.
Regarding the dance and music workshops, there are 60 SOS children and 15 children from the neighbour communities who form part of this project. It is important to mention the youngster, Cirilo, who is the choir director since March, and he is also the director of the orchestra called Apyrey. They mainly play traditional Paraguayan music since it is so very vital to continue with our legacy and make our music known by the little ones; however, they also delight their audience with some popular songs like the Beatles’ Yesterday. Three of the youngsters who are part of the Village orchestra at the same time are members of the Luque Symphonic Orchestra. A very exiting opportunity presented to them recently is the one month tour to Italy, Rome.
Furthermore, it is always significant to take into account the wonderful job the SOS mothers and Aunts are doing, it takes a lot of audacity and determination to undertake such task of supplying our children of love and direction so they can have a bright future. One mother in particular I would like to bring up, Maria Fátima, who is the one that accompanies the musical and dance group and is in charge of the customs the children wear for their presentations and instruments as well. She always goes with them to all the events and seminaries around the country.
Gladly, we are proud to say that there are successful youngsters who have taken the best out of their studies and capacitating years at the village. They have begun the process of independence, have finished their secondary education and are nowadays already working and studying to have a career. Likewise, there are also some youngsters that although have received the same training, do not dare to face the working society or it is difficult for them to find a good job. Here in Paraguay, this is a common issue for youngsters, nevertheless, their families encourage them to keep struggling and working hard in order to achieve their goals.
Here is an instance of an out standing youngster:
Mercedes is a 22 years old young woman, this year she finishes her career in December and after years of effort and commitment, she will get her reward, she is going to be a dentist. She is already working as a dentist aide at the present time, gaining experience on the job. She lives in an apartment along with her sister; it is located downtown in the city of San Lorenzo near the capital. For such a young person she has bright prospects for her future. She says that her dream is to open her own medical centre, a place where children and youngsters from the village can get dental care. She is planning in presenting her project to the organization and maybe get a loan to start her business.
To conclude, we as a big family would like to confer our gratitude for your kind support and we realise that the task we are undertaking would not be possible without jointly liable people as you. Everything that is done to contribute to the caring work of our mothers is just admiring.
Moreover, we also appreciate your correspondence because it allows us to feel your sympathy and the children and mothers to get to know you a little better enhancing the establishment of nice and solidarity bonds.
Child sponsorship update from Asunción
Update from the SOS Children’s Village Asunción June 2007
Dear sponsors,
We kindly greet you from Paraguay and hope that you are doing well. It is almost spring season here and after the cold winter that we rarely had this year, we sure are waiting for a warmer weather and some flowers to color up the landscape.
Our village in Asunción is always full of joy and laughter of the wonderful children that live here. They are certainly special and have a lot to offer and receive. They are experiencing their surroundings and life itself with the guide, comfort and love of their mother and the so important bond created with their siblings that altogether provide them a true home.
The children’s village in Asunción, which is the capital of Paraguay, is formed by 16 SOS families, where 141 children and adolescents share their lives. 61 of them are girls and 80 are boys. This year 12 children attend to Kindergarten and Preschool. In addition, 91 teenagers go to high school and 8 youngsters to college already.
Some of our youngsters and teenagers are also learning an occupation besides going to school. They attend to electronics, languages, mechanics, home electricity and computer workshops. This will help them to have a better chance to compete in the working society when they are adults since it is a quite serious problem that we have here in Paraguay, youngsters have a hard time getting good jobs that allow to sustain themselves, that is why it is so important for them to be academically prepared. Moreover, some of them even consider one of these occupation trades as something they see themselves doing in the future. Others consider it a stone while they get their career.
Also this year, 4 youngsters took the first step towards independence. They nowadays live in an apartment provided by the organization and they have their mothers’ guide and comfort in order to finally achieve total autonomy. Our children have cultural and artistic interests as well. Several study Art at the Asunción Municipal Conservatory and others take dance and music classes. They are always encouraged to pursue these activities after school.
The children now are participating with more frequency of the local community activities. Instances are, the sports competitions that the Soccer Confederation organises, our children participate of the ballet and orchestra presenting several shows outside of the village and with the support and certification of the Municipality. Furthermore, the children attend to the catechism classes at the local church. When the time comes they are baptized and do their first communion. Both important steps in their faith and which are always celebrated with much joy. The church also organizes camps and the children enjoy them very much.
There is a joyful and playful environment in the village. One can see children running, jumping, playing at the park, planning their mischievous but innocent activities and above all laughing so hard as if they cannot contain their happiness. Sometimes, accidents occur during these activities, one child in particular, Bryan, climbed a tree and fell off breaking both arms. Even though it may seem that after this he would be much calmer and sit down most of the time, the exactly opposite happened. It is amazing how fast children adjust to new situations and make the best of them, like this funny boy did. One can now see him playing and running as fast as the other kids with his cast on both arms that keep them up all time as if he was hanging from something.
Not so long ago, 2 mothers retired and other 2 no longer work at the village so 4 houses have new SOS mothers. The situation caused disturbance within the families, nevertheless, the new mothers are doing everything in their power to win their children over and gain their trust as to create a family bond. Gladly, they are achieving it step by step since is not a so easy task.
Furthermore, the rest of the SOS mothers in the Asunción Village continue their constant training in order to provide the very best to our children. They either go to the Ñemity Training Centre or they have workshops at the village. Finally, in June, the Village anniversary was commemorated like every year and a party was thrown with the participation of the SOS Educational Centre and the families, directors, administrative workers and other friendly organisations.
We are very grateful of your kind support and realise that the task we are undertaking would not be possible without jointly liable people as you. It takes great courage and a compassionate heart to perform the duty our mothers have and everything else that is done to help them carry out the work is just admiring. Moreover, we also appreciate your correspondence; allows us to feel your sympathy and the children and mothers to get to know you a little better enhancing the establishment of nice and solidarity bonds.
Finally, if you should have any doubt regarding your sponsored village, please do not hesitate in writing us back. We will be at your disposition to clarify any matter or issue.
We remain with kind regards,
Cristina Wunderlich
Director
SOS Children’s Village Asunción
Relevant Countries: Paraguay.