Hope and Refuge

I’m Sandra and I’m 18 years old. I came to the home when I was 13 in order to continue my secondary education. My mum lives far from the school and could not afford to send me any longer. Now I am about to graduate from school and was voted best classmate. My hope is to go to university to do Business Studies next year.

Rupert taught me and another girl to do simple accounting and we were delighted when we received our certificates! Now I help Osvaldo and Maria Luisa with the accounts in the home and it is great preparation for my course.

With the girls we do dancing to Christian music and use it to share God's love. I love choreographing the steps to this and teaching the girls.

I could never have done any of this if I had not come to the home and I am so grateful for the opportunities I have been given through being here.


Pamela and Vanesa

We are Pamela and Vanesa and we are 9 years old. We came to the home last year because our mum left us and our dad is very poor.

We are very happy here in the home because now we have plenty of food and new clothes. We did not have much to eat before and only a few old clothes to wear. We used to wash in a pond near our house but now we get to have showers every day and even brush our teeth! We love playing in the toy library as we never had toys before.

When we arrived we could not read or write. We thought we would never learn as our teachers could not help us. But we have been studying with Sami and we are SO excited because now we can read and understand our lessons at school!

Paraguay's Bicentenary

This is a special year for Paraguay as it marks 200 years of its independence from Spanish colonial rule. In true Paraguayan style it was a peaceful revolution with the governor handing over the country without a fight to the leaders of the revolution on May 15th 1811. He even formed part of the new government for a while! Fulgencio Yegros, one of the key figures of the revolution, was from none other than the village of Quyquyho, where the Children's Home is situated!

It was great that we had a friend, Vicky, to stay during this period as we might otherwise have missed some of the festivities. It was wonderful to wander through the centre enjoying the sense of celebration and optimism in the air - even the oranges on the trees had red, white and blue ribbons tied round them! We were also able to see Paraguayan dancing and listen to some young harpists, who played especially for Vicky.


Of course no trip to Paraguay is complete without a trip to the spectacular Iguassu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, near the Paraguayan frontier. And they did not disappoint! The trampoline in the hotel was also great fun, though we are not sure if it was meant for the children?



We completed Vicky's holiday by doing the Bicentenary Walk in one of Asuncion's public parks, which seemed an appropriate way to end her very enjoyable visit.