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.
Friday, October 28, 2005
End of another week!
As we wrote in the last entry this week has been the school holidays this has meant that we have continued to be busy at the centre.
As well as the bowling trip we have had much going on. On Tuesday at the +14 group we had 2 guest speakers from movement 'True Love Waits'(TLW). TLW is an international campaign that challenges teenagers and college students to remain sexually abstinent until marriage and is a movement that many Christian teenagers are joining around the world. 4 of our girls heard this talk and all 4 signed the covenant cards and received the TLW ring. We are really happy about this and ask that you keep them in your prayers.
While this was going on the rest of the children were out in the city doing a team game! They had great fun counting the number of cars that went through one sequence of traffic lights, finding different types of cars but of the same colour and other such challenges!
On a different note, today the son of the family that has been staying at crisis centre arrived at Patverums and told us that yesterday they returned home to his dad. In one way we are not surprised at this as the mum had very few other options but of course we very sorry that this has had to happen. As a centre we will continue to support her in whatever way we can. Please continue to pray for them, for their safety and their uncertain future.
And then to this evening! As we write our monthly parents group is taking place. We have 5 parents this evening - a new record! Tonight they are talking about 'Lying and how to cope when your children lie' as well as preparing CV's as many of them are continually seeking new employment. It's great to see this group developing and working we have all hoped and prayed it would.
This week has been the autumn school holidays so on Wednesday we went 10 pin bowling. The +14 group joined us and together there were 14 children and teenagers.
We had a great afternoon and for a number of our new children it was the first time they had ever played. To help keep spirits high we had the barriers put up on the lanes so the children were really able to enjoy themselves. Many got over 100 points and we really celebrated with them. I'd like to be able to say the staff did as well but... we didn't use the barriers!
After an hour of play we came back to Patverums full of stories of our afternoon. It was great fun for all!
The situation for our victim of domestic violence is still not good.
Her time at the centre we found is drawing to an end, and so far Social Services have been unable to find anywhere for her to live. This is a desperate situation as she has no family to support her, or give her a home.
We have a couple of possible solutions in the pipeline, but both are likely to only be temporary.
There is a desperate need for some sort of permanent refuge for victims of domestic violence, as no-one is doing this work. Also the law is not particularly helpful for those who are trying to escape their situation.
Please pray for this mother in particular, but also for all those who are suffering under this terrible weight.
A few weeks ago we mentioned that we have had a number of new children starting to attend the centre.
Well because of this we now have a record number of children on the books. We currently have 22 children who attend the main Patverums, and then another 2 girls who only come to the +14 group. This means that 24 children are currently linked to the centre.
Because of this yesterday we had 19 children through the centre during the day, which is a new record (excluding parties and special events). What's more we are on course for one of the best monthly averages since the centre opened.
It's very encouraging that all of the new children (6 since 1st September) have settled in well. We praise God that he is honouring the work of our staff in this way!
One of our first posts on this blog was about the plus 15 group that was being relaunched. Due to number's, we have decided to extend this to a +14 group. We had 3 young girls who were aged 14 and we felt they could do with the extra activities this group provides.
So far the group has been a resounding success and they have done all sorts of activities from glass painting to cooking and photography to museum visits.
Please pray for these young girls as they spend time together!
