The Salvation Army opened the Patvērums Childrens Day Centre in March 2002 to provide a safe environment for underprivileged children from the local community in Riga.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
updated again
Last night the mother we have been updating you on, came to us, having finally left her partner.
Following a series of phone calls we have managed to find her temporary shelter, but this is only for a week.
Today our staff and the staff of the centre she is staying in will start the process of contacting social services to try to find a long term solution to her problem.
Please pray hard as the circumstances mean that it is not guaranteed that accommodation will be found for her!
Two weeks ago we asked you to pray for one of our families as they are going through a very difficult period of domestic violence. We felt it was important to update you as to what has been happening.
The situation has calmed again and as such life has returned to 'normal'. A friend of the mum has intervened and was able to help the partner stop the intense abuse that had been happening. In saying this of course she is still in danger and at anytime the situation could become worse again.
The mum has visited her local social services and although they are aware of the situation there is very little they can do due to lack of resources provided by the state. The mum has put her name onto a list to become eligable for a social home but this can take a long time and her partner will still know where she is and could even move with the family.
She has visited us twice since we wrote and has spent time talking and has used the centre to relax and play with her daughter. The centre is being used as a Refuge in the new way.
Please continue to pray for her and the family as they live at great risk and never know what will happen from day to day. Also prayer for her partner that he will stop this abuse and that he will come to know Jesus. It is our biggest prayer that the family will become Christians and that God will do mighty things in their lives. With God all things are possible!
In the past 2 weeks we have had 5 new children visit the centre. 2 of these are now attending regularly and the other 3 have still not made their minds up yet!
All of the children have come to us via a state run day centre with which we have connections. This centre is being relocated but not all of the children will be moving with them as the new centre is too far for them to travel. We are obviously really pleased that we have been able to offer them a place at Patvērums. There is also the potential for 3 more children but we are still waiting to hear more.
We are happy about this, not only because we are able to offer our centre to these children, as it shows that the state social services recognise Patvērums as an equal and are willing to refer their children to us. This is something we hope to build upon in the future.
It means that we now have a record number of children on our books! With the +15 group and some children not attending everyday we have decided we are able to take on more children.
The 2 children are settling in well and are finding their place at Patvērums and we hope that the others will soon join us too.
Whilst we celebrate with the parents who have recommitted themselves to each other we should also remember the problems that do exist in this country.
The Family is such an important institution and is recognised as being vital for the good of society as a whole. Unfortunately, in Latvia all is not well!
Between 1995 and 2002 the divorce rate ran at a staggering average of 64.3%. Thankfully in 2003 this dropped to 'only' 48.3%. However, this is not the full story! For several families in Patvērums parents are not actually married, and this story is repeated throughout Latvia. No statistics exist for the breakdown of this sort of family but from our experience, lack of commitment is rife, and the seperation rate in this form of family is high.
The encouraging news is marriage appears to be on the increase, with more people getting married in 2004 than at any point since 1995.
Please pray for all those people making commitments to each other through marriage!
Yesterday during the Riga 1. Corps service we were able to celebrate with one family from which 3 children attend Patvērums. After 14 years of marriage the parents wanted to have their marriage blessed within the church. Originally they only had a civil ceremony, but felt the time had come to make this a commitment in front of God as well. The response from the congregation was amazing with a sustained period of applause and many gifts of flowers.
Please pray for the family following this wonderful act of commitment!
It's been a busy week at Patvērums! The children have now completed their first full week at school with mixed reactions. Many are happy with their new teachers and enjoying some of their new subjects, others are not so pleased! We discovered yesterday that one boy has missed over half of the week but has been lying to us and his mum telling us that's he's been going each day. This is not a good start for him.
We have completed 2 home visits and had 1 family come to talk with us at the centre. We carryout visits at least twice a year to find out what the children's living conditions are as well as giving the parents time to talk about their situation. Unfortunately all of the 3 families are without regular work at this time, though 1 is able to claim benefits as she has been working for the past year.
Today the staff, along with Zoe, started a small group where they are reading and discussing the book 'A Purpose Driven Life'. We are really pleased that this is happening as we feel it's important for us all to have the opportunity to share and develop our Christian faith. The hour went well and we will all now go away and read the next chapter ready for next week!
We have had a number of visitors to the centre including a number of parents and a social worker from one of the schools our children attend. It's great to see that not only the children, but adults, too feel free enough to drop in at any time.
Our last posting was a prayer request for 1 of our mums. Unfortunately she has not been back to see us since Monday so at this time we have no more news as to her situation. We have heard from one of her friends that she is still at home and that things are not improving. Throughout the week the staff have been phoning the relevant authorities and centre to try and find help for her we are now aware of what needs to happen but as of yet we have not been able to find her and her daughter a place to go. Please continue to pray for her and her children.
Thank you for all your interest and prayers and we hope you have a good weekend!
We need your prayers this week for one of the families at Patvērums. We have known them for 3 years and throughout that time the mum has been facing domestic violence from her partner. On a number of occations she has come to us wanting to leave but has never followed this through. This is partly due to the difficult system in place for reporting domestic violence here in Latvia. She has 2 children aged 10 years and 20 months, the oldest has just started boarding school but the younger is of course at home.
Today she came to us with bruising on her body and has said that she can't cope anymore but is too afraid to try and leave. Her partner has her passport and her mobile phone. She has no money of her own, only what is given to her by her partner. She can only go out when he allows it and has to keep the door locked and is not allowed to let anyone but him into their flat.
At this moment in time we don't know what she is going to do as it is very hard for her to get out of their flat without make some excuse to leave but she says that throughout the years this has been happening it is now at its worse.
We have offered to go to any social service departement or the police to provide support and professional advice and as we write she and her daughter are having a meal.
Please pray for her, that she will find her way out of this situation not only for herself but for her children and for their protection. Also that if she does try to recieve help that the right doors will be opened for her. For us at Patvērums that we will do all in our power to help this family.
For The Salvation Army in Latvia this time of year is budget time! Every corps (church) and institution have to submit our budgets for the coming year and then we wait to hear whether or not is accepted.
Unfortunately, this year is more difficult than past years. Inflation is running at around 7% (not that high compared with many countries I know, but still high enough) but we are unable to increase our overall deficit to meet this extra cost. That means that we are forced to either find extra income, or alternatively cut costs.
The budget we have submitted is for a total expenditure of only Ls 32 500 (£31 800/US$58 500) which is incredible considering how much it would cost in the UK to provide this sort of work. This includes all staff costs, but means that we will be running at a deficit for the next financial year.
If you don't already, would you be willing to help us in one of the following ways?
Take out a sponsorship through The Salvation Army (a link to the UK Territory is provided on the left)
Do some sort of fundraising event
Buy or sell some of this year's Calendars
If you are interested either leave a comment through the link at the end of this post, or alternatively send an email to graeme@pestisanasarmija.lv and we'll be in touch.
We have been privileged in the past by some amazing generosity on the part of individuals or corps, and through this God has never ceased to provide for our needs!
Ever since Patvērums opened we have been in contact with some of the parents on a regular basis. However, much of this work has been in the way of informal chats and simply spending short periods of time with them.
About a year ago we started to develop this work further by inviting parents to a monthly meeting where they could spend time together. Over the coming months we are hoping to extend this work further, by expanding the work of this meeting.
We are sending a letter and survey to each parent to try to find out the issues they want to talk about and from this we hope to put on a series of seminars. This has been made possible due to the increase in sponsorship we are receiving from Sweden, which is given for this type of work.
Please pray for the parents of the children, as they often find themselves unable to cope with their circumstances. Please pray that this extension of our work will see much fruit in their lives.
Over the next two weeks we will be seeing some changes to our programme for the older children. We now have 3 girls who are already 15, plus another girl who is 14, and a lot of what we do in Patvērums is not so interesting for them.
Since January we have had a once weekly +15 group but this has not sustained their interest as well as we had hopes. This means that we are looking at how this work can be developed, and who can be responsible for it. At the same time we are speaking to the local schools to see whether there are any young people who they feel would benefit from joining the group.
Please pray for us as we carry out this valuable work.
