Summer Mission to Brazil

Summer 07 saw a number of overseas mission trips undertaken by members of Harpenden churches. In many cases these trips are supported not only by the member's own church, but also by a local church in the country of destination, and in most cases a mission agency or Christian organisation.

Last month's news article on this website was about a trip to Uganda undertaken by Robin Nisbet in association with Harpenden Spotlight on Africa to visit a school project supported by the charity. This month, members of Christchurch Harpenden have been involved in work at a hospital in India (supported by the Thana Trust), an orphanage in Brazil (Oasis), children's holiday club in Kosovo (Radstock Ministries), and a building project in the slums near a city in southern Brazil (Mission Direct) which our family took part in.

Mission Direct is a Christian poverty relief organisation based in Luton. It supports local projects in developing countries through finance and also through sending teams of volunteers to help out with work on the ground. Because many of the identified needs in the countries in which it works are for houses and community buildings, many of the projects up to now have been building projects, although there is recognition that buildings alone do not meet all the needs, and so education, training and spiritual provision are part of the Mission's aims. The particular project we were involved in is called 'Open Hands for Brazil' and is a project to replace some of the slum housing in the favelas or shanty towns which lie on the outskirts of many of the big cities in Brazil.

We were located in Campo Largo, a sprawling conurbation near Curitiba, the latter a fairly large modern city of about 2 million inhabitants. The favela in Campo Largo at which we were working had about 10,000 inhabitants. Favelas are officially illegal, however the lack of any alternative accommodation for the residents means that the authorities tolerate their presence and there are now some attempts by the government to provide better housing for those in the most dilapidated dwellings. The Open Hands project is a partnership between Mission Direct, Abba Church in Brazil, the local authority in Campo Largo (the Mayor's office), and the other churches of Campo Largo.

The building work is Phase One of the project. The houses are of simple construction being single skin brick, rendered inside and out, with a tile roof. There are 2 bedrooms, a kitchen/living room, and a bathroom. The families will pay a small rent to live in the house, which will effectively pay for the land (the house being donated by the mission), such that after 13 years, the family will own the land outright.

Phase 2 is to provide education and training to the families in work skills, financial management, health and hygiene. Phase 3 is the provision of spiritual support, which takes the form of prayer by the participating churches, and a pastor for each family who will visit them monthly.

The Open Hands project was the vision of a Brazilian couple who lived in Harpenden for 4 years, from 2002-2006. Their own church in Brazil (Abba Church) has a number of other community projects in Curitiba ranging from a feeding programme and midweek church service for prostitutes and street people to help for elderly and disabled residents of a local institution. YWAM has some projects in the area and is involved in children's work and prison visiting.

The work done by the other social projects of Abba church was very inspiring. The feeding programme involves collecting food from local restaurants then plating and packaging it for distribution to street workers after a service held for them in a disused shop building in the city centre. Hosts go out to invite people to the service beforehand, and the room was packed. After some vibrant worship came a short message based on a bible passage, then a time of prayer ministry, during which almost everyone, so it seemed, clamoured to the front to be prayed for. The language barrier meant that we could understand little of the message but it clearly had a powerful effect on the listeners.

Some of the food is sent elsewhere to be distributed at a local favela after some street evangelism. A small crowd gathered around those taking part and friendships had clearly been esatablished between the outreach workers and some of the residents who were eager to greet the visitors. Meanwhile children amused themselves by climbing up a large electricity pylon on the edge of the favela, or taunting one of the many dogs who roam around the streets. We also helped out with the children's work at a YWAM base by organising some team games, playing football, and demonstrating balloon modelling. This was very popular, though unfortunately the models didn't last too long, and my own skills in modelling proved non existent so I confined myself to blowing up the balloons for others to model.

Brazil is a country of great contrasts - people are either rich or poor, there is very little in between. The rich tend to barricade themselves in their houses with high fences which are sometimes electrified, while the poor live in extreme poverty, scratching a living by collecting rubbish and sorting out the recyclable items, or keeping chickens. The problem is huge and the social projects described tackle only a tiny part, however for those whose lives are affected by this work, the difference made can be life changing. We met one young girl who is now enrolled on an IT course at the local university, saved from a life of almost certain child prostitution by a comprehensive after school programme of learning, games and crafts run by YWAM.

The warmth of the welcome and the hospitality we received was wonderful, we were made to feel like honoured guests yet by the end I felt that we were the ones who had really benefited from the trip, by seeing more clearly the power and love of God at work among those who have so little.

Jackie Price

If your church has been involved in an outreach project over the summer which others might be interested to learn about, contact webmaster. (remove <nospam> before sending)