May 2008

Praise God for a very positive student integration day on 25^th April. We heard the Word of God from a visiting speaker and the students played games and sports all afternoon. It was organized so that the teams were made up from the different year groups and the girls had a lot of fun getting to know each other better (see photo).

Thank you for praying for Andrea, our former student who is now in Oxford and needed accommodation. She is now settled in a new home, a little further away from school, but she’s living with someone who works at the same school, so they go into work together. God is good!

The annual Paraguayan conference of the Association of Christian Schools International will take place on the 9^th and 10^th of May. For the third year running, FEISA has been asked to run workshops at the conference. Two of our teachers will be taking part: Marisol’s workshop will be on creativity; how to develop it in yourself as a teacher and how to encourage it in your pupils. Marina will do two workshops; one on how to stimulate thinking and language in children, the other on creative approaches to literacy and making it relevant to your pupils’ context. Please pray for wisdom and inspiration as they plan these workshops and for the teachers who go along to be inspired to improve their teaching as a result of what they learn.

On 28^th and 30^th May, the leadership team of FEISA will spend the whole day together, working on a strategic plan for FEISA’s future. This is something which is particularly important considering the continuing fall in the exchange rates, given our current dependence on foreign funding. Pray that the discussions would not be directed by financial concerns but by God and pray for wisdom for the leadership and courage to follow God in whatever direction he wishes.

The indigenous nursery project FEISA is running with the community of Yatnata in the Chaco has had to come to a halt this month because the final installment of funding has not been released by the Ministry of Childhood and Adolescence. The project is having great success and the women who are being trained are doing very well indeed. Please pray for the Ministry to release the funds so that the project, which is nearing completion, can continue.

Praise the Lord for peaceful general and presidential elections on 20^th April. It is the first time ever that power has passed from one party to another without bloodshed. The new president, Fernando Lugo (see photo) will take office on 15^th August. He is a former bishop, influenced by liberation theology (which emphasises God's preferential option for the poor) and has caught the hearts and minds of a Paraguayan people ready for change. He and his coalition partners have pledged to fight the corruption and poverty which are such pervasive problems here.