ND

We have two local builders and three of our team working away on the site Monday to Friday from 7am to 4pm. It is very exhausting hardcore work and they are doing a great job.


One of the building team is Alex who is one of our current volunteers from England, we tease him for being a David Beckham look-alike! He and his wife Ellie have just fitted in to the team very naturally and it is such a blessing to have them with us! Ellie helps on the maintenance and domestic teams and they both make the camp film for the kids every weekend.

It is also very exciting to have two friends of mine, James and Rachel Bennett, with us for a couple of weeks. They have been painting the future bmx track and entrance way fences in the hot sun, and without a word of complaint! When they discovered we just couldn’t spare the money to buy the paint, they bought it themselves – thanks so much guys. Sadly they leave us on Monday to continue their travels but it has just been great to have them with us for these past couple of weeks.

We have a new volunteer arriving next week to help on the building site. His name is Marcus Downie and he is from Glasgow. Looking forward to having him on board!
Okay, better go because we have another group of kids who have just arrived on the farm for camp this weekend. Lots to do!

Last Saturday a good friend of ours, Davidson, who runs a Project for deaf children from the slums in Belo Horizonte, brought out about fifteen fathers with their children to give them the chance to spend Fathers Day together. For us as a staff team, it was very moving to see children who have previously been to camp at ND, coming back with their fathers and watching them do the activities. There were a lot of tears and laughter as you might imagine. It was especially moving just before they left, when we showed them a DVD we had made capturing the special moments of the day. Hope you can feel some of the joy we felt as you look at the photos.
Tomorrow 22 more children arrive for camp, none of whom have been to ND before … take a moment to give them a thought and if you believe in the power of prayer as we do, please lift them up before the Lord.

BUILDING PROJECT PHASE 1 – STAFF ACCOMMODATION

PROGRESS REPORT (11th August 2010)

It is with great excitement that I write this first progress report. Above is a photo of the site for our new staff accommodation, before the work began on 7th June.

Thank you to all of you who have donated, fund-raised or are still fund-raising to help us turn this building project from a dream into a reality! This accommodation is an answer to our prayers and will enable us to provide the accommodation still needed for staff so that we can continue to receive children every weekend and develop the work in the future.

The builder is a local man called Marcos. Claudio and Renan are labouring for him until the project is completed but we desperately need another builder locally who can help to speed up the work. It is proving very difficult to find one. Marcos is doing a good job but works quite slowly. We also need more labourers to help Claudio and Renan, especially as the work moves forward (hopefully you have received a wee email from Moira already about that!)

Stage one – The Water System

We needed to move the main water tank higher up into the forest as it was on our building site and because we needed to create greater water pressure for the increasing demand. In doing this it was necessary to take out a lot of pipes and move them, and we ended up improving the farm water system a lot, which was an added bonus.

Stage two – Preparing the land

While stage one was still in progress the tractor arrived to level the land.

Stage three – Retaining wall

The last few weeks Claudio and Marcos have worked away at building the retaining wall, which will protect the building from landslides in the rainy season.

The next stage which we hope to begin next week, are the foundations. After that the building itself will go up, followed by the roof. Then the last couple of months will be all the plumbing, electricity, decorating etc.

We managed to convince the company to give us the tractor for a couple hours more at no extra cost, to level out the bmx track, which we hope will be our next new activity here at the Centre. It was great to be able to kill two birds with one stone! (See below)

I will keep you updated on a regular basis with all that is happening. If you have any fund-raising ideas or would like to contribute towards the building project, please do get in touch with Moira or myself directly.

At the end of June we divided our team in half in order to staff camps every weekend. Up until then we were running two a month. Now we run camps every weekend. It was quite nerve wracking stepping out of our comfort zone and moving into this new chapter, but we are already seeing the fruit – more lives being impacted by the power of love and God’s grace!

To cope with all the extra work, we have started to receive more volunteers. The first ones arrived two weeks ago and are staying until the end of July. They are three girls from Carnoustie High School in Scotland. So a big thank you to Naomi Selfridge, Julia MacPherson and Joanne Barr for working so hard to fund-raise to get here in the first place, and helping to raise money that enabled us to go out last week and buy new bed linen for all the childrens beds and extra!

We look forward to receiving three more couples, a team and possibly a couple of other volunteers before the end of the year.
One of these couples are Chris and Kate Wilmshurst from St.Andrews, Scotland. They are joining us in November for 6 months with their 1 year old twins, India and Lola. Chris and some of his friends and family just took part in a marathon to raise money for the trip. Well done guys!!!

With the increased number of camps, we need to find more monthly sponsors even more urgently – please spread the word and get in touch with our UK Rep if you can help (see contacts page).

We just had a great few days on the farm with Lorimer and Moira Gray. Lorimer is executive director of The Abernethy Trust and international director of CCI (Christian Camping International). He somehow finds time to be chairman of our New Destiny UK Trust too. We are very privileged. Moira is the New Destiny UK Rep and doing a great job of making New Destiny more well known in the UK, coordenating support, volunteers etc.

It was a very special time for them and us as it has been five years since they were last at ND. Much has changed since then – lots of developments like staff housing, more activities, kids coming regularly (the last time they were here there were no camps!) It was a fruitful visit and a real encouragement to the whole team. The highlights were the barbeque with all the staff team on their first night, a day visiting the favela with Moira, a great camp at the weekend and sharing plans with Lorimer for the first phase of our building project (much needed staff accommodation) which is due to begin in one month.

(3rd Feb 2010)

As soon as we arrived the car was surrounded.  The children came running and we were hugged so much that it was a while before we realized that it was time we got ourselves inside the narrow lanes of the Sao Bernardo favela in Belo Horizonte.  All the time being accompanied by the kids and guided by Debora, coordinator of Project Mana, we went to meet some of the mothers, brothers, sisters and friends of some of the children who came to ND in December.  According to Debora, the impact that the visit to the farm had on these children’s lives was so great that it was imperative that we visited them in their homes.  And it was unforgettable!

The sweat poured down us as the burning hot sun took the temperature to more than 35°.  Inside the houses the smell of soap seasoned the suffocating atmosphere caused by the low corrugated iron roofs, which make the heat even more unbearable.  However, the reception we received from these people captivated all of us and despite the extreme poverty that shocked our eyes, there was always a generous offer of cold water.  It reminded me of the time I found myself crying before god nearly 8 years ago as I looked at my boots encrusted with mud after some visits that Morven and I made in the homes of some families living in misery that a Project where Morven worked as a missionary were trying to help.  I really changed that night.  Today, February 2010, I changed again when I saw those children who seem to have no reason to smile or be happy.

Tiny little damp houses full of holes, in front of a polluted stream which is used as a swimming pool by the children when it overflows in the rainy season, labyrinths of streets that hide the evil lure of drug trafficking and an atmosphere of oppressive violence that you can almost touch it with your hands.

But those children were smiling with us!  It was as if they were transported to a fantasy world completely opposite to that reality.  They only had eyes for the dream that they had tasted a long way from there.  I don’t know why but the following thought came into my mind right there and then in the middle of the favela: if only those who support the work here at ND financially had the opportunity to witness this … they would surely kneel down and thank God for the privilege of participating in this great work.  Their offerings are reaching beyond the work at ND and passing through the very doors of these little shacks we call houses.

Experiences like this help us to understand better why some of the children cry when they leave the farm. Here they find references, principles, different values …  they don’t just have a fun time, it’s about the living God leaving a forever mark on their lives.

There in the favela we actually felt like we were the ones being visited, by Jesus himself, because in a place like that, our lives change with every step we take.

Camps

coming down from the zip wire!

It has been a busy few months here at ND with nine camps and one prayer weekend (‘24/7’ for those who are familiar with it) in the last three months.  We already have 24 camps confirmed for 2010 which is really exciting – several of these groups are from social Projects in the city who have never brought young people to the Centre before.  It is great when children come for the first time, but in a way it is even more exciting when they come back again because it gives us a chance to water seeds that have been planted, in other words gives more continuation to the work.

Rafting activity

one of ND's famous birthday parties

 
Several of these groups came from Centro Alvorada which is a fantastic project in Belo Horizonte who run a crèche, a community centre for children between the ages of 7 to 15, a temporary shelter for children at risk and a youth programme which helps teenagers to get more training in order to find jobs when they leave school.  The community centre alone attends around 150 children a day, of which around 120 have been to camp at ND aready.  The rest are coming in 2010.

Visit to Centro Alvorada

Some of our team went to visit the Centre last week in order to strengthen our links with them and learn more about what they do.  It was shocking to hear some of the stories that Lucio (the director) told us.  Nearly all the children have absent fathers due to them being in prison, or having abandoned the family or perhaps they don’t even know who their fathers are.  Many of them are drug traffickers.  We also heard many stories of mothers being beaten up or abused by their husbands and having to take protection orders out against them.  We had the privilege of meeting some of the mums as we walked around the Project.

Lucio with family members who attend Centro Alvorada

 
One of the mums we met has six children and her husband is in prison, she hopes for a very long time.   He abused her and the children for many years.  One of her sons is deaf and another daughter refuses to speak, the doctors say it is due to emotional trauma. Lucio said that when they first visited her she and her six children were living in one small room of someone’s house in the favela.  Her children will be coming to ND next year.

 
As we walked around Centro Alvorada the children and teenagers came running out of their classrooms to greet us, jumping up and down with excitement.  They showered us with thank you pictures and cards and the staff gave us a big banner with photos of our team and the children, thanking us for ND.  Lucio said that they come back different from the camps more motivated and those with behaviour problems come back calmer and easier to work with.  It was so encouraging for us to hear!  He said that they talk about ND every day and are already making craft products to sell so they can rent a bus next year to come back again. 

In order to receive all the Centro Alvorada kids between the ages of 7 and 18 at ND we would need to run 16 camps for them.  And this is just one Project – there are thousands of others doing similar work in Belo.  The need is great!

The goal – camps every week

At present we are able to run two camps a month but we are getting closer to being able to run one a week. 

Q – In order to reach this goal what do we need?

A – Two teams of six staff and enough monthly sponsors to cover the expenses.

Our first team is complete hence the reason that we currently run two camps a month.  We still need five more staff members to complete the second team although there are at least another two strong possibilties in the pipeline.  Apart from the staff we would need about £1000 more a month to cover the extra food, maintenance and staff expenses.

If you would like to be a monthly sponsor and help us to reach that goal, please email us (see contact us page).

Staff news update

Jeff in London

Jeff just back from three and a half months in the UK.  He was based in The Ark, Dover which is a church that have a great vision for helping the local community.  He had a very beneficial and exciting time there.  We are glad to have him back!

Renan doing a course this week – learning how to make things from the fibres of a banana …  sounds funny but apparently it is amazing how many uses a banana skin has!  He hopes to run future workshops for the children who come to ND.  We look forward to his feedback next week.

Romeu’s birthday yesterday (not allowed to say his age!)

Michele (Romeu’s wife) is pregnant again. Great news!

Fund-raising in Brazil

I (Morven) was invited to speak at a charity dinner dance in Belo a few weeks ago and they raised R$5000 (about £1500) in one evening! I have been asked to go back next year again as it is an annual event.  The organizers of the dinner were a couple called Antonio and Rose Castro de Gomes who we bought the farm from in 2004.  They run a well known business in Belo Horizonte so have a lot of contacts who came to the event.  We were so pleased that they chose ND as one of their charities.

Getting to know the families

You may remember from the last newsletter that there are a couple of favelas just a few km from the farm.  We have already run camps for groups of children from there and have been planning to visit some of the families for a long time, with a view to running more activities and camps for their children in the future.  We have now started the visits.  Last week, Renan, Romeu and I walked around Padre Eustaquio, the nearest slum to the farm. with Gilmar (see most recent newsletter).  We popped into several houses to meet mums, dads and stepdads in some cases.  I invited them to come out to the farm for a day next year to see where their children go to camp and to do some of the activities themselves!  Those who didn’t respond with obvious enthusiasm, were trying to hide smiles – the kind that keep popping up even when you try to keep them down! The main problems there are alcohol and drug abuse and the consequences that go along with these addictions, such as broken familes, crime, lack of education etc. 

Gilmar

Igor

Another visit was to Igor’s house. He is 15 and has been to ND a couple of times.  We decided to visit him on a couple of occasions recently because we heard he was going through a difficult time.  It turns out that his brother (18) was violently beaten by the police and then arrested in front of him in their home.  His father abandoned the family when Igor was very young, and consequently his mum is very angry and depressed.  Igor is such a great kid though and we really want to encourage him.  He is kind and a bit of a gently giant.  We want to encourage him to take the opportunities to continue to choose a different path for his life.  He is at school (which is not normal for someone in his situation) and he attends several after school clubs. 

Right up to today …

Well, hope you have enjoyed the latest update.  More kids arriving at the farm for the weekend later tonight (Friday 4th).  We have an exciting weekend planned for them including a party we were donated from a company that run childrens parties!  Will let you know how it went next week.  Byeeee …