When life is a living nightmare, thank God for the opportunity of Another Life
After a successful summer season, with many Roma & Egyptian children attending summer camps for the first time, it has been wonderful to see these children at our regular kindergarten and primary school age classes, with the support of their families.
Kindergarten runs every morning with up to 12 children aged 4-6 in attendance. After lunch, we offer basic literacy and numeracy classes to up to 15 children aged 7-18, all of whom have been barred from state school due to their background and appearance – they are too smelly and dirty to be allowed in.
The youngest children and their parents turn up at 7am every day; an hour early, desperate not only for breakfast, but to get away from the chaos of home life. Their accommodation is as basic as it gets: now it is winter, leaks are common, there is no heating and no hot water. For these children, our centre is a necessary escape from the unbelievable hardships of their daily lives, providing much needed hope in the form of love and education, as well as warmth and food. These basic building blocks of childhood are luxury items to children who have known only desperate poverty.
Abuse and exploitation are commonplace, with children sent out to beg on the streets throughout the year. Children are highly vulnerable to trafficking: a quick way to make ends meet. Families are broken, worn down by years of entrenched poverty, neglect and poor health.
A2B offer hope, a way out of this nightmare. The A2B team are seeking wisdom to know how to best advocate for the children – statutory services have long since given up on this community. As Christians in a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood, many are wary of the team and deaf to their pleas for even the most basic support for these families.
Please join us in praying for and supporting this neglected, rejected community.
We know change is possible, but it is not easy.
