The Children’s Centre.

The centre remains our key priority as it has a large impact on the children we are trying to help. The family situation of children in the area is so poor that the opportunity to spend time in a nice environment, have a good meal, a shower, play some games and get help with homework really does make a difference to their quality of life.

The staff do their best to teach the children life skills to help them to avoid falling into the trap of following their parents into the same destructive lifestyle. If we can help them to see that there is more to life than idleness and drunkenness and that there is a chance for these children to make something of themselves, then the effort will be worthwhile.

The Centre is staffed by Agnese, Nata and Santa.

Agnese has been with us for over 3 years and even met her husband at the centre while he was working for us too. She has been sick for about 6 weeks and we are hoping and praying that she will be back with us soon. Agnese is the day to day boss of the Centre while Anita is bringing up babies.

Nata is a musician and loves to teach the children songs and dances. She understands the predicament most of the children are in as she herself had a difficult childhood. She does a fantastic job meeting their needs and seems to know exactly what to do in each situation.

Santa, is a student who works for us part time during the busiest part of the day when all ages are out of school and in the Centre looking for help and attention.

In the last year or so we have taken the children from the Centre to join the Kids Club (more below) at a camp for 3 days in the country where the children had the opportunity to get away from the city and have some fun. We also held a fun day with a bouncy castle and outdoor games, and there have been various outings to the seaside, cinema, McDonalds (they need calories!) and of course all birthdays and special occaisions are celebrated.

Here is a taste of the work that has been going on:-

Edijs and Elizabete

This brother and sister started to come to the centre in 2005. Elizabete is 5 and Edijs is 4. They have younger twin sisters, who are too young to come to the Centre but we support them with nappies and food when they need them. Their mother does not work because she is too busy with the twins. Her boyfriend only manages to find work intermittently so the family often goes without food. Both parents drink heavily and there are many times when drunken “friends” are in the flat. The flat is only a single room with the toilet outside the flat on the stairway. There is also an 18 year old son in the family so they are very crowded indeed.

The staff at the centre are helping these children to learn how to wash and dress themselves, providing clothes, and feeding them every day. They are also being taught their numbers and letters in preparation for starting school.

Lena, Sveta, and Olya

These 3 girls aged 15, 14 and 8 with their parents live in a single room of just 8 square metres, which is part of a communal flat accommodating a number of families. The building is like a set of prison cells of this size with 1 toilet and 1 very dirty kitchen to be shared by all the residents. Their parents also have friends living with them for extended periods, drinking heavily for much of the time. This drinking leads to the parents losing their jobs which means they do not have the money to provide for the girls. There always seems to be enough money for cheap home distilled alcohol, and they regularly host drinking parties in their tiny space. They also have a big dog, just to make things even more crowded!

There is no space for a table so the children have to do their homework sitting on the one single bed, that all three of them have to share at night. The children’s only source of clothes and hygiene items is the Centre as their parents never buy them anything to wear. They come to the Centre every day, where the vast majority of their food is provided by us.

Lena, the oldest, is effectively mother to the younger ones and gets them up and makes sure they go to school etc. and looks out for them.

Tomas and Sandijs

Due to their mother being homeless these two boys, aged 10 and 4, have to move around to stay wherever their mother can persuade someone to put them up. Their mother used to abandon them with others while she stayed in some kind of abandoned underground bunker with a boyfriend. Their mother is not interested in them failing to provide them with any food so they are fed every day at the Centre. These boys used to be very shy and introverted due to the lack of love and care they receive from their mother but since coming to the Centre for a year or so they are beginning to open up and makes friends with the other children and to talk to the staff more.

Family Support

We support three families with babies by providing nappies, baby clothes (when we have them), baby food and sometimes medicine.

One of the families we support live in the countryside. They have five children of their own have taken in another girl, Laine, whose parents are heavy drinkers. Several times she has been passed between childrens homes but now, with some financial support, she has a more stable home. The family is not well off and often have difficulty feeding and clothing their own children from casual work which pays a typical wage of about £200 a month before tax (if they get paid at all). As prices for basis foodstuffs in Latvia are comparable with the UK (if not higher) it is hard to make ends meet.

Kids Club

In a village about 40 miles from Riga Children- Our Future have been organizing a Kids Club. This is like a Sunday School, but without the name so the children are not put off! Every Sunday between 30 and 50 children turn up for a time of games, activities and some Christian teaching. Last summer this was supplemented by an outdoor disco party in the village park by the river. On big occasions up to 80 or 90 children have been coming along. This is all from a village of only about 1500 people in total.

Many videos and photo shoots have taken place, often in Anitas art studio and the kids get a boost when they see themselves on film.

Country life is hard and many of these children have a difficult home life, often with little money to spare after the parents have squandered it on alcohol. We help many of these children with clothes and often at the main kids club events there is food available if they are hungry – and they always are.

Over last summer, Kids Club went on tour to nine different towns and villages in the surrounding area during the school holidays. In total each week about 300 children came along to one of the events near where they lived.

Mother and Baby Centre

We have secured premises for an enlarged support Centre which we intend to use for a wider range of age groups from babies to teenagers at different times of day. There are so many single mothers and abandoned mothers who really can’t cope and would benefit from some practical and emotional support. This would benefit their babies and help them get a better start in life. This Centre would also continue to work with children like we do currently. We are going through the process of applying for planning permission to change the zoning of the space to allow it to be used as with our vision. This is a difficult and frustrating process as we need to collect signatures of the owners of all the flats in the whole building, over 50, before the planning department will consider the application.

Key Points For Prayer

• Thank God for our staff, for their commitment and enthusiasm as they seek to befriend and support children in need in Riga and especially that Agnese, our key worker in the Centre, recovers from her illness and returns to work with the children soon.
• Pray that we can get the required permissions from the owners of all the flats in the new building so that planning can proceed or can we find a way to persuade the planning department to give permission directly for the new baby centre.
• Pray that the summer activities organized would be well received in the communities and that Gods love would be clearly demonstrated to the children and their parents.

Greetings

We want to thank you for your support and interest. We also ask that while you reflect on what you have just read please consider if you could help us to make a big difference in the lives of some children who really have absolutely nothing. We have big plans to help address great need in Riga and the surrounding area and we really need your support.