Here are some ways you can join us in prayer this month:
- The school newspaper (Ecoul Copilăriei, Childhood’s Echo) that our advocacy team started has already been published twice (October and November) and has gone out to representatives from the Department of Education, other NGOs working with children in Moldova and to the children and teachers at the school! The vision of this newspaper is to make the voices and stories of the children heard and recognized in the local community. Please pray for us as we wrap up the December issue that will include a special page on the meaning of Christmas!
- On Thursday, December 9, a group from a private high school in Chisinau will be coming to the boarding school to throw a party for the children who come to our after-school group. This generous group of people will be offering food, gifts and a movie (Ice Age, I think!). And our kids have also prepared a special gift for our guests! Pray that this would be a time of healthy interaction between two groups of children from very different economic backgrounds in which there is mutual respect and learning.
- The following week, on Thursday, December 16, we will be having a special Christmas celebration for the children in our program and their families. This will be a time of singing, sharing and eating as we seek to build bridges with the children’s families. Because these children live in an institutional environment, it is a challenge for us to get to know or to even meet their families or relatives, so this is an opportunity for us to initiate and build those relationships. Pray that these families would feel loved and that the children would be honored as they share the gift of Christmas with their relatives.
- Finally, pray for Magda, Adriana, Annie and Rachel as they continue to run our after-school program each day. We have begun an intensive and consistent program with a small group of kids from 1 to 5:30 each day that includes our previous activities (art, music, moral/spiritual education, nature discovery, social skills, games), but we have added a time for tutoring as well. The children in our program are the ones who are most behind in school and who have the biggest need for one-on-one tutoring, so pray for them as well as our staff as we finish up the fall semester!