Dear Friends and Family,
We celebrated the dignity of a group of adolescents who come to our after-school program today (December 10). With boxes full of the 309 hand-made Christmas cards that these kids made this semester, we all took a trolleybus to a private school in downtown Chisinau this morning. We set up two tables in the hallway of this school and sold cards to students and teachers who passed by during breaks between classes.
The children who come to our after-school program are often told or made to believe that they are good for nothing and thus often find themselves forgotten at the margins. But through this project, our goal was to affirm the dignity of each child as we nurtured each of their creative drives and capacity. They learned that they are capable of making good and beautiful things.
Another goal of the project was for the children to learn the value of hard work. Each of them will receive a portion of the money made from these cards, thus reinforcing in them the idea that through their productivity they are able to earn something in return.
Please say a prayer for these teenagers as they grow into young adults. Although they are vulnerable, we have hope that they will take the things they are learning in our program (not least of which is that they are capable of doing good!) with them onward in their lives.
May you see the image of God radiating from each person you encounter today.
With love,
John & Rachel