August 2008
‘I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.
I will counsel you and watch over you.’Psalm 32:8
• FACT OF THE MONTH: Managua is home to the largest market in Central America. A couple of weeks ago a fire started (as a result of illegal electrical connections) in the centre of the market. Part of the market had to be bulldozed for the fire department to get to it, by which point it had spread a lot. The fire chief said it was the biggest fire he had seen in 50 years of being a fireman. It took 2,300 workers (firemen, police, army, etc) from all over the country to finally put the fire out. Fortunately the fire started at night, so no one was killed. Some figures:
o 1,502 shops were destroyed.
o 6,000 jobs were lost.
o US$100 million worth of damage was done.
o There are 23 fire extinguishers in the whole market, only 11 of which work.
• I (Libby) have recently got back from England and Jo is due to come back at the end of this week. Here is a quick update on the situation here:
• Chipy and Javier are still in jail. The rest of the older boys are much the same as ever. None of them are working or studying and they continue to get into fights with rival gangs. Unfortunately their Bible Study attendance is not good either, although they do come for breakfast from time to time.
• The kids’ school attendance continues to be very poor. As a result we have stopped doing Activities Night, since it was a reward for going to school every day. We have also stopped doing lunches. This is partly because of their very poor attendance, both at school and at lunch. It is also partly because they lied to us so much about whether they were going to school or not and we don’t have time to keep tabs on all of them! The final reason we stopped serving lunches is that World Relief are now providing free lunches in all the public schools.
• One break-through is that Ester, Lucilla’s youngest, has been going to a little private pre-school just around the corner from here. Her attendance is very good. We have got to know her teacher, who says she is getting on well, but is a bit shy.
• Vanessa is still having health problems and we have taken her to the hospital on numerous occasions. She is now having a lot of tests done, as well as seeing a nutritionist.
• Alvaro is still in the rehabilitation centre and I visited him at the weekend. Cristian was supposed to come with me, but didn’t turn up. David was also supposed to come, to stay (he is a ‘glue-sniffer’), but he didn’t turn up either. The good news is that Alvaro was really well. He looks much better and was very cheerful and positive. The director recommended that he should stay at least a year, as it is obviously a slow process.
• Doña Maria is much the same as always. Her health is bad and her house is filthy but as usual she refuses to move out of there. However, she seems happy and is obviously not entirely aware of how disgusting her surroundings are! We continue to visit her and take her food every day.
• Thank you all very much for your prayers and support.