On the News

Today, our town of Carpina was on the state news (Here is the report, but it is in Portuguese) as a disgrace in not providing for the children still at the trash dump community. It is our hope that with this added exposure, the government will:
1. Finish building the homes to relocate the rest of the families out of the old area
2. Build an actual sanitary landfill (as it promised, by law, to complete in 2014)
3. Make sure that all the current workers are then given safe jobs at the new landfill.

Here is an update, in English, about what is happening:

Mother's Day Celebration

Massa Humana continues to do an amazing job working with the trash dump community (most of them are in a new location, but some still remain--and most continue to work--at the trash dump). Though out the week they are busy making sure the families have the food and health assistance they need. Just this week two women were hospitalized (one for cancer and another for a bad case of dengue fever) and they visited and made sure they were taken care of.

After the story and coloring, we had the kids practice what they would say when they presented these "roses" to their mother:

The Other Recycling Community

Down the street from the International school is an area covered with piles of items to be recycled. Two years ago, the church that meets at the International school, the Acacias Community church, began an outreach there, and discovered 45 families working together in this recycling collective, many in deep poverty.
Since then, during holidays and other special times, they have provided programs and outreaches. Until recently, they were also serving soup once a week through the soup ministry. Through this, two of the women were led to the Lord and are now active members at the Acacias Community church! We were excited to include this group of children in our Easter Celebrations this year!

*Note: The painted rocks you see in the video were the "eggs" we hid for the Easter Egg hunt!

Carmen and Guga led a group of older kids, while some other volunteers from the church set up a little area for the smaller kids. Over five children raised their hands to invite Jesus into their life.

Easter Celebration at the Matadoro

The majority of the Trash dump community has been relocated to the Matadoro (the old butchery). We were able to have a small celebration with them on Saturday, April 11th.

*Note: The painted rocks you see in the video were the "eggs" we hid for the Easter Egg hunt!

We were excited to get in touch with Massa Humana, a great group of young people from a local church. They are working hard to partner with other people who are interested in the plight of this community as well, and doing a great job. Due to other pressing needs, they had not been able to do anything special for Easter--so it was great to be able to share with them our abundance.

Paulo, one of the Massa Humana helpers

This week, Massa Humana made sure to visit and share with the children who are still located at the Trash dump. These families are waiting on houses to be built for them at the Matadoro (the government had started to give the homes away to other people, meaning that there were not enough homes for everyone from the dump. They have promised to build more, but no work has been done yet). 

What a Year: 2014

It has been incredible to see the transformation for this community, as well as see the transition to local leadership in Massa Humana. They are truly doing a fantastic job running this ministry to this needy community, and we are more than happy to step back and support them with prayer!

Project Smile

Firm Promise Baptist church has been calling together some dentists and other groups to come together and provide the community that used to live at the Trash Dump with toothbrushes and toothpaste. They called it Project Smile.

How exciting to see them come and make a difference in these children's lives!

Children's Day Trash Dump

They are not still located at the trash dump (except for 14 individuals who are waiting on homes to be built), but are now located on the westside of Carpina (Pop. 100,000). It is quite a transition for them, but they were ready to celebrate. They are located at the old town cow butchery, which has been shut down for years.

Firm Promise Baptist church did an amazing job of having games, food, trampolines, jump rope, and a ball pit. The kids (over 100) were busy running from one station to the next, having loads of fun. We are so excited to see this church step up and make a difference in their community!