The sun came out...

It rained, and rained and rained for about 2 weeks straight. It was cold and miserable! This was not the ideal weather that we had been hoping for as it was getting closer to the weekend of our camp with some teenage boys..... camping in tents, walking in the forest, doing outdoor activities!

We had been praying for months for an opportunity to take some of our teenage boys on a camp, away from the city. To cut a long story short we received an email from the daughter of the founder of YWAM here in Belo, we have known her and her husband for a while. They were starting a new project called 'Lamalma' (you can see a little more about this great project on Lamalma website or on their facebook page). Their idea is to offer a camping experience away from the city for groups of kids/teenagers who are attended in social urban projects, like the Rock House.

We jumped at the opportunity explaining we had been praying for this! We marked the date, choose the boys, there were 12 spaces and began to plan.

So with everything organised, the only thing left was the weather.... how would we camp!? The day before, we thought they would cancel...but they didn't. So we prayed, God please just let it be dry!

Saturday morning, 7am, the boys started to arrive at the Rock House, it was dry!..... we left together in the Kombi, unfortunately only 5 boys had turned up, arriving at the destination for the camp..... and the sun came out!!! We had two wonderful days of sunshine.... actually we got sunburnt because we didn't bring our suncream!

We were disappointed that not all the boys came, unfortunately this is the reality of the people group we work with, very unreliable in their commitments. But the 5 who came certainly had a good time. We were surprised by this group as one was from a different slum (we actually receive boys from 2 slums that are usually at war with each other) and the one didn't know the other boys. We thought he would leave as his friend didn't come but he put his bag in the kombi. During the time there, the boys related very well and the four integrated him quickly in the group! At the end of the camp he specifically said good bye to each of them. 

Lamalma had everything planned: activities, food, times for sharing the word etc. It was fantastic, for us as we could just join in and invest in our relationships with these boys. Some activities were learning to guide with a compass, following instructions to arrive at a destination in the middle of the forest! Crossing a bridge made of a metal rope, abseiling, building a shelter with bamboo! Awesome!

In the afternoon there was plenty of free time for football and swimming, as well as building each one their own tent!

In the evening after dinner we built a camp fire and roasted marshmallows. During which we heard a testimony from the Lamalma team.

Before breakfast we had a time of sharing again, and some one-to-one chats with prayer. During this time we presented each teen with a piece of paper, on it were words that we had received from God for each of them. We had prayed together with a group who don't know these boys asking God to speak directly into their lives. The boys were really touched.

So Beautiful!

After breakfast we put on our trainers and headed on a nature trail through the forest to a beautiful waterfall. There was some pretty tricky parts to pass, including heavy bush, through a river and even part of it walking up river. I (Rachel) usually like to attempt these myself especially being the only female, but when I saw the teens wanting to help me, I let them. It was amazing to see their care and concern for me along the way, holding back branches so I wouldn't get scratched, holding my hand through the water so I wouldn't slip, and gathering together to get me up the steep parts! Usually these boys are "the lads" so it was really special to see another side of them!

The project Lamalma prepared all the food and for Sunday lunch they did a typical Brazilian BBQ! So good!!! The boys don't have this often as it is quite expensive as it basically involves a lot of meat!! What a treat!

Before leaving one of the boys was desperate to ride one of the horses in the field, so after asking permission from the owner he went! He loved it!! These are the kind of things these inner city boys don't get to experience, many of them don't leave the slum! To be able to enjoy a weekend in the nature, with the beautiful sun shining was such a treat!

The boys were able to recognise that it was All from God! As we explained how we had been praying for the opportunity and to have had such a good time, and the fact that the sun had come out! Before leaving the boys home that evening, we had a time of encouraging them pointing out the positives we had seen in them over the weekend, telling them of the potential that each has to be so much more! That God loves them and that he gave this time away just because they were special!

One of the boys prayed to finish and he thanked God for everything and prayed for a blessing on the Lamalma project!

The new thing on-line is the "Mannequin Challenge", so we thought we would give it a go...

Back to School!

Nico and I went back to school for a week!

And it was great.... we got our notebooks ready, tested our pens, filled our water bottles and off we went! It was a funny feeling to sit again at a desk, notebook and pen out, taking notes! It was a course called 'Claves'. All about sexual abuse. 

This topic is so real today and at the Rock House we are faced with this daily. At the course they defined abuse in many forms; physical, emotional, negligence and sexual. Anything that goes against the right of the child.

The aim of the course is Prevention against sexual abuse (including awareness of where there may be risk). This part of the course Claves was with the goal of teaching through play, the theme: "Playing we strengthen to face difficult situations."

The course breaks down this theme to teach in sections... starting with difficult situations, how to face them and who we are facing (including looking at reasons why people abuse), what to strengthen and how to do this through play.
It was a very interactive course with 21 students, two teachers and always a translator for those who do not yet speak portuguese. It included discussion groups, teaching, videos and playing!


The part that I found most interesting was when we learnt about the importance to build up 'resilience' in the child. This resilience becomes one of the barriers that stops an abuser abusing. We talked about 22 resilience blocks that would build up a wall of resilience in a child. Here are a few:

• Develop an attitude of self worth
• Know your rights, and be able to make them be respected and put limits to peers and adults
• Develop problem solving skills and strategies to navigate different risk situations
• Able to recognise in your environments people in whom you can trust, inside and outside the family
• Learn to know, value, care for, control and enjoy your body
• Count on adequate sexual education

We played! It was fun to play, it was a strategy for us to learn how to play with the material that could be bought to be used with groups of children and teens. For example, a game like dominoes but with emotion cards. The idea was to play the game but each time talking about one of the new emotions displayed. Asking questions like; how does she feel? why do you think she feels like this? what should she do? Very effective.

The course suggests a 10 til 12 week programme focused on specific age groups. Depending on the age group you choose will depend on the material and games etc to use. The programme with the kids or teens is divided into three blocks; me and my body, me and my intimate parts and me, my body and others. We received a book that gives much information and many ideas for how to plan each day of the programme. 

The last day of the course we were in groups and had to choose an age group, one of the blocks and plan a 15 minute presentation. This gave us a little idea of what it would be like! It was difficult but fun and informative!

As the Rock house Nico and I are already thinking about how beneficial this could be to do with the kids and teens we work with here. Please pray along with us as we plan for this to happen next year. We are so thankful for this opportunity to learn more that can be beneficial in the work we do here. With information comes responsibility.

Receiving our certificates at the end!