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New Christian School In Recife The Reformed Church in Recife has four preaching points or congregations, at Ibura, Camaragibe, Dois Unidos and Toto. Mission Aid is planning to help our brothers and sisters in Ibura with establishing a Reformed school in this Recife . During the discussion about the development of this school, it was apparent that the parents are very aware of the implications of their baptismal vows and of the need for Christian education. They are pioneering the formation of a Reformed school the Ibura area of Recife which they have named “Christian Reformed School Guido de Bres”. The school until this point has only been preschool and kindergarten, and they would like to offer preschool through grade 4. At first they will offer supplementary classes for Grades One through Four, meaning the students will come for additional classes after their public school classes finish around lunch time. This is a common concept in Brazil where many are willing to go to extra classes since the education offered in the public schools is so poor. Starting with supplementary classes will enable them to begin teaching their children from God’s Word right away while they work on completing all the documentation and requirement for officially registering the school with the government. The parent group is headed by Sergio, the one who’s beginning to administer aid projects in Recife. Sergio has already begun the renovation, traveled to EBC, made a provisionary budget and is willing to make this part of his work until an official board is in place. With a donation from Canada they have bought a very large house in which the upstairs is used for Church services and the downstairs can be renovated into a school. The upstairs can also be used by the school during the week. The house is very bare with just walls and some tile downstairs on the floors. Much is needed to make this structure into a school, such as desks, fans, water coolers (necessary in this hot climate), pens and paper, paint for the walls, computers and much more. This is a very poor area of Recife and the parents are not able to do this themselves. Although they already have the mindset that they would like to be independent of Canadian support one day, that day will probably be years away. This is an exciting opportunity for us in Canada to help them literally build this school from the ground up. The parents have already been looking for teachers. There are two teachers, Raquel and Eliane, who have already been teaching preschool and would continue teaching. There’s also a teacher named Alcione with twelve years of teaching experience who has been a catechumen for 15 months and will probably do profession of faith in January 2007. The Ibura school would like to hire her as well to teach the older grades and as the director of the school. Procopio, a catechumen for eight months, is also interested in teaching English and computer studies at the school. These teachers are eager to teach these students from the Word of God. Because teaching requirements have changed recently in Brazil, Raquel and Eliane need to take four more years of courses to be fully certified. They both would require financial help from Canada in order to be able to complete these studies. Both teachers have been known by the church in Ibura for years and have already worked in the preschool with dedication and meager pay. Sergio is confident that supporting these two would very much benefit the school community there. Posted Feb 13, 2007 Shrimp Farm Optimization Fabio lives in the favela (slum) located on the Island of God situated in the river that carries the waste from the rich areas of Recife. He goes to Bible Study and church at a preaching point in Recife. He is a very hard working, smart man who has done very well in his shrimp farming. He worked for three years constructing his shrimp farm on the edge of the island, reclaimed from the salt-water river and valued at approximately R$10,000. He bought 10,000 larvae at a time and produces enough shrimp to make a modest income that he can live on. In an enterprising manner, he has found free food for the shrimp by asking for free sardine heads that were being dumped at the docks. He cooks them up over a fire and deposits them in nets he uses as feeders. He partnered with his brother in making another shrimp farm which he’s been working on for two and a half years, and Fabio hopes to perhaps buy other farms if they become available. When Andria Lengkeek and Apko Nap were in Brazil, Fabio showed us his operation and invited us to his house and offered us food and drinks. His wife was also present and we were impressed to see how clean the house was and how it had tiled floors, a full kitchen and good furniture, unlike many Brazilian homes. It certainly stood out incredibly among the poor shacks on the island. He had a visit from a government engineer for fishing who said that Fabio could increase his production by ten times if he would buy a diesel pump to pump oxygen into the water when there is no wind, for example at night. When there is not enough oxygen, the shrimp start to die and this greatly decreases production. Fabio has asked Mission Aid Brazil to loan him the amount to buy the pump, which he will repay over time. Posted Dec 13, 2006 Recife Aid Project Rev. Ken Wieske is the missionary stationed in the Recife area. He has been very busy keeping the MA committee informed with potential projects, accepting and directing funds to recipients, creating reports and many other tasks. In these matters, Rev. Wieske is overloaded. He needs assistance with these matters so that he can continue to focus on preaching the good news in Recife.
Rev. Wieske is convinced that a Sergio (currently a deacon of the Recife church) is qualified and motivated to fill this position. Sergio is an avid reader, very reformed minded, intelligent, a fast learner, and caring. Currently Sergio is a full-time ambulance driver and works in the community between shifts to aid those less fortunate. By hiring him to work full-time it would
We encourage you to please consider financially supporting this project. Our goal is to gain enough support through pledges to run this project for three years. The collections at the presentations gave good results to offset the start-up costs of $8,000 CAD. We are in need of pledges to cover the yearly costs of $11,000 CAD per year. This amount will cover the entire salary and operating expenses of Sergio working full-time in the Recife area. To run this project for three years we will need to raise $50,000 CAD. Please take a look at the information sheet and the pledge form. If you send a cheque to Cloverdale church, your donations are still tax- deductible and will remain anonymous to everyone except the MA treasurer. She handles the accounts of both Cloverdale and Mission Aid Brazil. Please consider how God has blessed each and every one of us here in Canada and the USA. Please continue to support our needy brothers and sisters in Brazil. If you have already pledged to support this project we thank you on behalf of the family of believers in Brazil. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us. Posted March 8, 2006 |