With Grace For The Children

About a month ago I heard that there would be some Americans here in Teresina on a mission trip. Thinking that it would be good practice for my Portuguese, as well as fun interaction with some fellow country-persons (I am so PC!), I asked if I could help out with translation. Little did I know what I would be getting myself into!

Last Monday I made my way to the hotel where they were staying, and met up with the group. I think they thought I was a Brazilian, as I showed up about twenty minutes late—which was because of the bus route I ended up on, not that I left late. My nerves were on edge because this was my first gig like this; I was really hoping that I would not have to translate to large groups!

Anyway, I knew nothing about the group, why they were here, or what they were doing. As we got on the bus I heard something about children, and visiting families. We drove awhile, and I met a few of the team members, and some of the Brazilians who were helping out.

We went to the school that the Associação Talita (Talita Association) and Grace For The Children team up to support (while I am sure it has a name, I have forgotten it). Right now it is a group of unfinished buildings that await use with one building being mostly finished, and used daily. More about that later, though.

Our mission for the afternoon was to visit two families—parents of the children in the school. I was sent out with Anita, Bonnie, a pastor whose name escapes me, and the teacher of the children (whose name I believe is Verusca). We visited the families and conversed with them about how their child was doing in school. As we talked we also asked about the spiritual health of the family, which is the point of the school; to create a contact point with these families, and through that relationship share the Good News.

One of the families had a little girl who has dyslexia among other learning disabilities. It is heartening to see her in an environment where she can be taught to work around and with her disabilities so that she can continue her education. In many schools here she would just be left behind.

These people have huge hearts, and seeing the depth of their love for this project (and ultimately the people the project is for) was very moving. Both the Grace For the Children, and the Talita Association are looking to raise funds for a number of different goals, like finishing the construction, hiring teachers, and other staff, and starting a church on the premises of the school. If you would like to give financially toward this cause at the bottom of the front page of Grace for the Children's website there is an address to which you can send funds. I don't remember all the numbers I heard flying around, but remember that it will cost around US $25,000 to finish the construction.

While I personnaly have never really gotten behind any particular “cause” this one I find very worthwhile for many reasons. Some of which are:

• Education among the poor here is sub-standard. This project brings it, and does a good job of it.
• Good News! Because the children are taught from the Bible every day at school, they are taking that home with them.
• The people involved.

This school is located in one of the poorest parts of Teresina, where many of the residents have made houses out of mud and sticks, and try to scratch a living from various types of work. Opportunity is hard to come by here; and a good education is almost impossible. The two often travel hand-in-hand. Often the parents would like to send their children to a better school, but cannot afford it in any way. And the public education system here is not that great by all accounts I have heard. In fact, most children go to private school because that is the best way to assure that one gets a place at the highly sought after Federal University.

It was a fun, interesting, and stressful (in a good way) three days that I spent with these wonderful people from Tennessee. I learned a lot of Portuguese—as well as just how hard it is to translate. It was fun to run into all kinds of things I have never dealt with before, like translating a very flowery 'thank you' from Portuguese to English, and wondering if I got the sense of it across. Activities ran the gamut, from just playing with the kids (and translating instructions for games) to helping translate basic care instructions to parents regarding their children.

All around it was a humbling experience which showed me how much Portuguese I have to learn, while at the same time proving to myself that I know quite a bit already.

Following is the contact information for Grace For The Children:

• Grace For The Children Website
• Email: mail@gftc.org
• Address: P.O. Box 7430 Kingsport, TN 37664-7430
• Phone: +1 (423) 323-3613

I have put my pictures from the second and third days in an album at our Picasaweb page, where you can download and/or print them if you wish:

Grace For The Children

[composed and posted with ecto]

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