Hope For Children in Latvia

 As the work continues toward providing a mobile camping facility for young people in Latvia, it ids important to know the needs that exist there and the work that is ongoing.  Hope For Children is an organization that is on the ground in Latvia.  When our Steve Janz forwarded their news letter to me I figured it would help tell the story of the needs we are called to help with in completing our project.  This is the next of the newsletter.

Hope for Children News
November 2012
PO Box 576, Riga LV1050, Latvia, www.hope.lv, e-mail:hope@hope.lv, T.+371 67289646, Mob +371 27711245
..they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.' (Mat. 1:23)

It’s a privilege to serve these difficult kids say our
staff, but of course we still wish there were no ne-
glected, needy children and that this whole economic
crisis had never happened. You see we see it too of-
ten. A father can’t find work and although he battles
on as best he can the pressure of seeing his children
in need every day eventually gets to him and he eit-
her leaves, becomes aggressive, begins to drink
heavily or, he slips into a depression where he just
sleeps all the time. The same happens with many a
mum and again we have to step in to care for their
children.
The ‘prevention’ part of our work in supporting fa-
milies in crisis has greatly increased this year, a real
answer to prayer to be able to give practical and moral
support as well as professional counseling, but also
we’re glad to say that support for children and youths
in need has also been growing. Many, many thanks to
all of you who have helped make this possible.
As for the Latvian economy, well, we’re glad it’s be-
gun to grow as well but the devastation left in its wake
will give us many more years of rescue and rehabilita-
tion work to come and sadly the present government is
making policies to reduce benefits to the poor rather
than increase them. We hope you’ll stay with us!
Helen M Vipass
Director
Family Support
Clothing, school supplies, food, health and hygiene products...we
seem to have given out tons of it this year and seen hundreds of gra-
teful, relieved faces. We have now over 350 families who’ve registe-
red with us for help. Especially as we approach winter the warm
jackets and boots we’ve been sent, or the finance to buy them, have
been essential.
On top of this though we’ve had the joy
of the continued support of a group of ho-
tels which give a monthly amount to 40
struggling families, many of whom get
little or no support in the form of State
benefits.
Those who do get benefits will be left with a maximum of LVL 45 (EUR 64, USD 83) a month after paying
rent and utilities, nowhere near enough to feed and clothe your children.
Survival is really tough in Latvia for many and among the families we help on a regular basis is a family of 7
who were living without electricity for four months, a family of 5 who were given just days to clear out of their
family home, a mum of two who had taken the brave step of leaving a violent husband, a family of 7 which was
reduced to burning anything they could get hold of for heat, and a mum of 6 who was forced to seek work abroad. Several of the parents we support have spoken of their battle against thoughts of suicide. A kind listening
ear, help to fix something in your home or with your health, a bag of food, a school book for your child etc can
really help keep up moral and it is real help to prevent at least some of the children of Latvia becoming orphans.

HOPE FOR CHILDREN NEWS

Day Centres
Each of our three day care centres for children at risk have their own character. Bolderaya and Skrunda centres are smaller and more homely, Karosta centre in Liepaya is bustling with 40-50 kids a day. All the staff though work equally hard to meet the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of the children who all at best lack attention at home, at worse regularly suffer abuse. Life can be much fun when you have adults who actually smile at you, who listen to you and comfort you , who do handicrafts and play games with you, who make sure you have a lovely birthday, who take you out somewhere nice and pay for you to go to summer camp, who give you good meals, clothing and all the things you need for school.
Day centre kids say thank you dear friends for all the lovely
school bags and materials. Celebrating a great start to
the school year.
Two of 32 kids we wereable to send off to have
a wonderful holiday at camp this summer.
Zhenja and Olesja were not doing well at school at all when in their
early teens they started attending one of our day centres but now can
boast degrees in Pedagogy and Business & Economics. They
worked so hard and we're so proud of.\
Liva was also one of our school gradutes this year.
During school breaks we try to give children as much rest as possible —
excursions, waterpark or simply funtime.
HOPE FOR CHILDREN NEWS
PAGE 3
Our new premises in the Karosta district of Liepaya are full to the
brim with children so what do you do when a big 18 yr old comes in
who’s hungry and abused too?
Who cares for those young people who are not as ‘cute’ and ‘innocent’
as children but feel also very alone and are becoming more and more
embittered?
This is something that Tanja (centre leader) and others were carrying in
their hearts and praying for a solution for.
So when a 240 sq.m former post office and café
came up for sale at a very low price we jumped
at the opportunity of buying it to provide a can-
teen for the children and accommodation for
those with a burden for Karosta youths to lead
youth work.
Buying the property was only a minor part of
the challenge though and we really need your
financial support and prayers for the renovati-
ons and future work to be conducted there.
Skrunda being a small town two hours drive from the capital has a particularly
large percentage of unemployed. We bought a whole load of firewood for the
kid’s since last winter so many of them came in saying they were freezing at
home and had to sleep in their coats; sadly though, we couldn’t do much to stop
the terrible fighting and drinking that the kids see at home.
At least two of the children regularly wait for Vineta, centre head, before ope-
ning time and several tell her they wish she were their mum. One of the new
boys who confessed to eating uncooked pasta at home sometimes when there’s
nothing else to eat, is such a nice, special boy who loves to help clean up and
has such great ambitions to become a doctor one day.
Despite the heavy burdens the children carry though many smiles abound in this
centre where there is often such a light, happy and homely atmosphere.
Homework is so hard for so many of our
kids, as you can see, but having someone
as nice as Liene (left), our new Bolderaya
Day Centre head, to help you is some
compensation at least! Liene is a qualified
teacher, as is Inara who works alongside
her, and both have a lot of love,
understanding and patience for our kids
there who get little or no attention at
home.
Natalia (right) is one of our foster mums
but she loves to help out at our Bolderaya
Day Centre too when she can. The kids
just love her cooking, some of them
eating three or four portions of dinner!
They also love to get involved and help
cook.
HOPE FOR CHILDREN NEWS
Sadly our dear friend and assistant director Helen Grimshaw (left) will return to
live in England at the end of January 2013 after serving the kids and families of
HFC for over 16 years. We’ll all really miss her and all the fun we’d have in
summer and at Christmas at her home. Helen has not only been such a fantastic
helping hand in administration and caring for the children and families, happily
helping out where and when needed, but has also given refuge in her home to
many a family and teenager. It’s meant so much to have someone so faithful and
servant-hearted alongside for so many years and we thank her from the bottom of
our heart for sticking with us through thick and thin.
Over the last year one in ten Latvian citizens have applied for State help. 425,000 (one in five) have an
income of less than 250 EUR /mth, and last year 100.000 lived on less than 65 EUR/mth. In August it
was announced though that that the number of people registered for State support was less than last year in
the same month. Not surprising though when you consider a new regulation that was in effect from June
onwards which robbed all families with a car or motor bike registered in their name from social benefits!
In 2011 8101 children were living in care, 1799 in institutions, the rest with guardians or foster parents.
We thank those wonderful people who have adopted children but every time we lose a child in Latvia we
lose a little piece of our country, a piece of our future and a part of our economic generating power. Please
don’t forget those, like us, who are bolstering families, supporting the child in foster care here, and helping
prevent the loss of our children.
How you can help
Bank transfers (in any currency) can be made to our bank in Latvia:
SEB Banka
SWIFT: UNLALV2X
Account name: Hope for Children
IBAN: LV93UNLA0002005469960
Hope for Children has also a separate account for Karosta Day Centre:
Swedbank
SWIFT: HABALV22
Account name: Hope for Children
IBAN: LV73HABA0551028726611
Alternatively cheques in any currency can be sent to:
Hope for Children
A/K 576
Riga, LV-1050, Latvia
Please address the cheque to Hope for Children
We have also recently opened a PayPal account.
You can donate through PayPal using our e-mail: hope@hope.lv.
If you are a tax payer living in the UK we are able to recover tax on your gift. Please contact us by mail or email
(addresses at the head of this letter) and we will send you the relevant information.
We never undervalue your prayers. If you would like to receive our prayer bulletins please do contact us.