Graduate Stories

To give you an idea of the impact that FEISA is having on children in Paraguay, here are stories about four of FEISA's graduates:

Anabel graduated in 2003 and now works for a government project aiming to tackle the huge numbers of children working on the streets in Asunción and surrounding towns. The project works with the families to eliminate the need for the children to work by helping the parents generate sufficient income. It also provides health, nutrition and educational support. Of the 1,340 children being supported by the project, 96% are no longer working on the streets. Annabel is completely fulfilled in her work. “I always knew I wanted to reach more than the children in one class. These children are vulnerable and isolated. Nothing was being done for them. To see the success of the project and know that this is possible for more and more children in Paraguay thrills me.”

Lili graduated in 2004 and now works with the indigenous Aché community. Educational provision amongst indigenous communities is the worst in Paraguay and it is difficult to find teachers for these communities due to the harsh living conditions. Lili’s dynamic, interactive teaching methods in pre-school made even the youngest children want to attend so she decided to start a nursery class as well! The community is delighted that their children are learning so much. Her teaching about basic hygiene is also ensuring better health for them and their families. Had Lili not received a full scholarship from FEISA, she would not be teaching today.

Silvia graduated in 2004 and now teaches in a day nursery run by a Mennonite charity. As well as having a class of 25 four-year-olds, she co-ordinates the volunteers who work with all the children, aged from 6 months to 5 years. The charity’s vision is to offer economic, social and spiritual help to disadvantaged families, most of whom come from shanty towns. They wash, feed, educate and provide basic medical care for the children and they provide talks and workshops for the parents on parenting and life skills. Silvia is now studying for the degree at FEISA and she says she’s learning an enormous amount. She says, “My whole life I have wanted to be a teacher. FEISA gave me very good training, which prepared me well for the job. Now my desire is to become the director of a Christian school. Doing the degree is the first step. This is my vocation.”

Elisa graduated in 2006 and is now teaching in a charity-run school for children at risk. She has a class of 23 five-year-olds, all of whom come from families where the parents are either in prison, working on the street or ill, often with AIDS. She acts as nurse and mother as well as teacher to these very needy children. Before she came to FEISA she felt called by God to work with young children, but did not have the economic means to pay for teacher training. By offering her a scholarship, FEISA gave her the opportunity to qualify as a teacher and she says it was a dream come true for her to be able to study, a real gift from God. She now feels fulfilled in her work; “I feel useful and I’ve got so much to give. I try to make a difference to the children’s lives, giving them the love and attention they need.”

June 2009

Sorry this didn't get uploaded earlier in the month...

In May we asked you to pray for the setting up of the play space in Quyquyho, following a training session for the leaders of the children’s ministry in April. We are very pleased to report that the first sessions went very well indeed. Sam Parsons was there to help the team set it up the first week of May and she writes; “On the Saturday Osvaldo invited all the mums and children from 0-7 years from the village to see the play scheme and learn about the ministry they are opening to them. One mum said that Quyquyho had never had anything like this before and that it was a real privilege for their children. Then all 37 children were invited to play and had the most wonderful time. The 4 helpers were absolutely fantastic and played brilliantly with the children. What a great and committed team they have.” Praise God for the way he is extending the ministry of FEISA’s play scheme to bless other ministries in Paraguay.

The two workshops run by FEISA teachers at the ACSI conference were a great success. A total of 180 Christian teachers participated and Ana Demestri has been asked to take her workshop to the ACSI conference in Ciudad del Este, as well as a number of schools in Asunción. Praise the Lord for these opportunities to help improve the standard of education across the country.

From 8th to 12th June, Anglican pastors in the Chaco will have training on how to use the FEISA-produced Bible materials in Enxet for children. The final part of the adult and child literacy materials will be translated during the same week. Pray for Esteban, from FEISA, and Remigio, from the Chaco, as they carry out the training work together, and Remigio as he works on the translation.

The Ministry of Education decided on Monday 1st June to move the dates of the July holidays forward by one week. This has caused significant disruption to the timetable at FEISA, due to exams and teaching practices taking place in the last two weeks of term.

The first and third years have exams from 22nd June to 3rd July. For the third year students, these are their final exams because after the July holidays, they will be on teaching practice for the whole of the second semester, until they finish in November.

The second years start planning for their teaching practice on 8th June and will be teaching from 22nd June to 3rd July. Please pray for peace and wisdom as things need to be reorganized, particularly for the second year students who will now have very little time to spend with the children before they have to teach them.

Pray for strength, guidance and grace for Ana Demestri, head of Teaching Practices, who has to organise the second years’ teaching practice without the help of her assistant, Noemí, who is on maternity leave. Praise the Lord for the safe arrival of Rebeca, Noemí’s second daughter, on 29th May.

Our vision of offering high quality Christian teacher training at an affordable cost means our dependence on outside funding is too heavy for our small institution to sustain long term. Please pray for much wisdom, peace and grace as the leadership and the Anglican Church, which is the governing authority of FEISA, steer it through some very difficult decisions.

May 2009

Praise the Lord for successful teaching practices in state schools for our third year students. The teachers in the schools were pleased with the work of our students and the children enjoyed the new and exciting activities. (See top photo)

In April the play scheme team took the toys to a large number of schools and over 150 children from disadvantaged backgrounds got the opportunity to play freely for a time. Give thanks for this valuable ministry. (See middle photo)

Give thanks for the successful training session with the team from the Quyquyho children’s home. They were inspired by the strategies we showed them to encourage children’s learning through play. The first week of May, they will set up their own, permanent, play space in the home, so please pray for the training to bear fruit and the girls who live there to really enjoy the time to play. (See bottom photo)

On 22nd and 23rd May, the annual Paraguay conference of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) will take place. FEISA has been asked to run two workshops for early years teachers. Gloria de Alvarez will do one on behavioural problems in early years and Ana Demestri will do another on how to plan projects to fit in with the Ministry of Education’s new early years curriculum. Please pray for the smooth running of these workshops, for time and wisdom for Gloria and Ana in the preparation, and for all the teachers who attend to be blessed, encouraged and challenged to become better teachers.

Last year’s third year students, who were following the pilot curriculum from the Ministry of Education, have now completed their studies. They will graduate at the end of this year along with the current third years. Please pray for their transition from student to full-time teachers; for all that they have learnt during their time at FEISA to bear fruit in the loving and dedicated way they carry out their vocation. Pray for the lives of the children they teach to be transformed by the love of Christ.

There has been very little rain in Paraguay these past months. The months from February to April are when the water tanks and ponds in the Chaco usually fill to provide water for the drier winter months. However, the lack of rain means there is not even enough water right now for 5 different regions of the country. The government has declared a state of emergency in those five regions, covering most of the Chaco, the northeastern region of Concepción and the southwestern region of Ñeembucú, and is providing assistance. Please pray urgently for abundant rain.

Please pray also for political stability in Paraguay. The past few weeks have seen revelations about President Lugo’s past that include fathering at least one child while he was a Bishop. And this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, bombs were found near government buildings and defused by the police. The Opposition parties are clamouring for resignations and there is a general atmosphere of instability and uncertainty.

April 2009

Our UK volunteers with some of their spouses

Please thank God with us for our dedicated and skilled team of volunteers in the UK. David Orritt, John Tompkins, Beth Totaro, Colin Voutt and Ann Varley all contribute to fundraising and other donor relations activities to support our work here in Paraguay. Their efforts are vital to FEISA’s survival. Please pray for guidance, strength and health for them all.

Praise the Lord for the 28 new first year students that have now started their teacher training at FEISA! This is more than we even hoped for, so give thanks for God’s abundant providence. We also have seven new degree students. Please pray for each of these new students, for good relationships to be built up with each other and the staff. Pray also for the love of Christ to shine through each member of staff, reaching out to the students who need it.

Give thanks for the Consecration of the new Bishop of the Anglican Church in Paraguay, Rev. Peter Bartlett. The service, presided over by Archbishop Greg Venables, took place on 29th March and was attended by bishops from different parts of Latin America as well as pastors from all the Paraguayan Anglican congregations. Please pray for Peter and his wife Sally as they settle into this new culture and especially for Peter as he begins this new and hugely demanding role. The Church and all its ministries here in Paraguay are deeply affected by the economic crisis so pray for wisdom and strength for the new bishop as he takes the helm in these challenging times.

The new bishop's consecration service

For the whole month of April, our third year students are doing teaching practice in state schools. Please pray for peace and strength for them at this stressful time, and for God’s love to shine through them to the children they teach.

The mobile play scheme will be visiting six of the schools where our students are on placement, to give the children in these disadvantaged areas the opportunity to play freely for an afternoon or a morning. Please pray for safety and energy for the team and for the children to be blessed.

On 20th April, there will be a training session for the team from Quyquyho, who are setting up their own play space with a view to blessing the children in the home for abandoned girls as well as the surrounding community. Please pray for guidance as the FEISA team prepares the training and for a good and productive time on the day.

Please continue to pray for a sense of God’s guidance and peace in FEISA, particularly for the leadership team as they seek His direction at this time of financial instability.

March 2009

Fun English Workshop
Children in the Chaco Games with Indigenous Teachers

Praise the Lord for the 15 first year students who have enrolled so far. Please continue to pray for a further 10 students. They will start classes on 16th March. Please pray also for a total of 14 new degree students to enroll (we currently have only two confirmed).

Give thanks for a very successful “Fun English” workshop with teachers on 14th February. There were a total of 18 people who learned a creative and fun way to teach English to the youngest children. Many of them said how much they needed the training and almost all of them bought the accompanying resources.

Praise God for the provision of a great new English teacher to complete our team. Thank Him for a good reception by the students of the new English teaching system and please pray for peace and patience this first year as we test it out and for wisdom for the teachers to adapt it where necessary.

In February, two potentially significant donors expressed an interest in FEISA. Please pray for the applications in process to be accepted by these donors and for God’s will to be done in relation to bringing in the necessary funds this year.

The training visit to the indigenous community of El Estribo in the Chaco at the end of February was very successful. Praise the Lord for the enthusiasm of the teachers for the resources and the new songs and games they learned. They were particularly delighted with the workbooks FEISA has developed for the indigenous context in both Spanish and the indigenous language Enxet. FEISA has offered these workbooks to the Ministry of Education to be made available to all indigenous communities. Please pray that the Minister for Indigenous Education would approve these vital contextualized resources for distribution so that many more communities can have access to them.

This year, the play scheme team is supporting a ministry in the town of Quyquyho, where we have taken the toys on previous occasions for the children from the town to play. There is a family who run a home for abused and abandoned girls and they would like to set up their own permanent play space, both for the benefit of the children in the home and as an outreach to the local community. Operation South America is providing the funds for this project and FEISA is providing resources and training. Please pray for the FEISA team as they consider which resources are most appropriate and plan the training in order to support this family and their vital ministry.

February 2009

Praise the Lord for a good end of year 2008 and for a restful holiday for everyone. Praise Him for good visits to supporting groups and churches in the UK by Sam Parsons.

Praise God for a very positive consultation process for the English Department in December. We have changed the way English is taught and its emphasis and we believe this will improve FEISA’s provision of this subject for our students. We need one new English teacher for 2009, so please pray for the right person to be appointed.

Sam Parsons and David Orritt, our UK Volunteer Co-ordinator, met with one of our major donors in January. Give thanks for a positive and honest atmosphere in the meeting. The result of that meeting is that this donor has decided to continue to support FEISA this year, but at a much reduced level compared to previous years. Please pray for the funding deficit this creates to be met through other sources.

Our Head, Estela Moyano, has had an operation to remove a cataract and she is recovering well. She now needs an operation on the other eye. Please pray for this next operation to go equally as well and for good timing. Estela’s husband is also suffering health problems, and recently spent time in hospital, so please bear him in mind too.

On Friday 6th February, all our staff have a team-building day and we would appreciate your prayers for a good atmosphere and for relationships to be strengthened.

Please pray for those students who need to find work in order to afford to continue their studies at FEISA. Pray for the right opportunities to come up for them, so that they won’t have to worry about money on top of the stresses of the course. Particularly remember our second year students Pati and Mirian in your prayers, both of whom are amongst the most needy in this regard.

Lessons start on 23rd February. Please pray for 25 new first year students to enroll this year and for 14 new degree students.

The last pre-school training visit to the community of El Estribo will be at the end of February (dates to be confirmed). Please pray for this visit; for good planning and preparation by the team, a good turnout from the community and for safety on the road as the FEISA team travel.