Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It is now the end of 2005 and it has been a very very busy year for Children - our Future and our sister charity in Latvia Berni - musu Nakotne.

Here you can see some of the kids we have been helping, together with some students from Sheffield University who came to visit us in November. More about the students later.




The main part of our work is still the crisis centre in the middle of Riga. Despite the claims of economic growth and booming business now that Latvia is a member of the EU, all the jobs and the money seem to have by-passed the area of Riga that we are working in. Still there are a huge number of adults out of work and turning to drink, and lots of children are suffering in very poor conditions. We still have over 30 regulars attending the centre and if anything there seem to be more children that need help rather than less. Prices are rising fast and so there is less money left over after rent and heating costs have been paid….if they are paid at all.

The centre continues to be a refuge where the kids can have food, a place to play, some care and attention, and somewhere to get away from the cold. In winter it can get below -20C so its important that they can get off the streets. We have supplies of donated clothes that they can have and all of them use the facilities for washing and washing themselves and their clothes. If they need help with homework, or have particular needs we do our best to help them.

This year we have managed to renew much of our equipment with the help of the British Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, for which we are very grateful. Their annual Burns Night party was held as a fund raiser for the charity in Latvia and raised over 6,000 Lats (about £6,000) which enabled us to renew the cooker, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, microwave, pots, pans, etc, and still left us with enough to pay for a summer camp, this year's school books and lots of Christmas presents. There will be another Burns Night party this year in aid of Children - our Future so if you are free on the last weekend of January, why not join in the fun - for a good cause. See the BCCL website for details - www.bccl.lv.

In April, the outgoing British Ambassador to Latvia's last official engagement was to visit the centre and present all the new equipment. He even baked some traditional Scottish scones and joined the children for their afternoon tea! The Ambassador brought some Scotsmen with him to the party and the children thought the kilts were very funny.

In July the children from the crisis centre in Riga, plus others from the Sunday School that we support joined with a couple of other Sunday schools to have a week long summer camp in the Gauja National Park, about an hours drive from Riga but deep in the countryside. They had a fun time of games, activities, bible studies and adventures.

One of the days at the camp was a sports and competitions day organized by staff of one of our supporters - KPMG (www.kpmg.lv). The children were divided into 8 teams and had different races, throwing games, team volleyball with water balloons etc. In the end there were prizes and cakes and the kids were totally exhausted - as were the organizers!

Other events during the year were Easter, Summer and Christmas parties, summer outings to the seaside and countryside and our bible study group for teenagers had some visitors who came to talk to the kids about the work they do. It's great for these young people to know that there are adults who are actually interested in them. We even had a Christmas photo shoot so the kids could make their own Christmas cards.

We have some staff news too. Agnese has joined the team, Olga has moved away to work in Cyprus, Gita married Gary in April and Anita had a baby boy, William in January, a little brother for Gabriella. So you can see it has been a big year!

As well as the work with smaller children we are also supporting teenagers to get through school, and have begun to work with mothers and babies/toddlers. The mothers are often on their own and very young. For example one mum has a daughter nearly 2 years old, rent to pay, food and nappies to buy, no money coming in and a husband in prison, and the poor girl is only 18 years old herself.

There are so many like her in the area that we have decided to expand our work to helping these mothers and small children. We plan to open a second centre focussing on the needs of the 0-3 year old age range, and to help the mothers who are struggling to give these tiny children a start in the world.

We have found premises but these need to be renovated to be fit for small children, and we will need to equip them with cots and toys and also build a bathroom. The Students in the picture on the first page (and 150 of their friends) are going to hitch hike all the way from Sheffield to Riga in April to help us raise the money to renovate the mother and baby centre. They will have to travel about 1500 miles powered only by their thumbs!

Finally we want to say a very big THANK YOU for your support during this year. Please continue to support us so we can help more and more children here in Latvia.