Hallelujah Moment from Brazil: Shade and Fresh Water Project

SHADE AND FRESH WATER is a popular Brazilian expression that transmits a desire to find a place that provides for protection from life’s harsh realities. One of those harsh realities is that the Brazilian family is in crisis. Millions of parents must rise very early in the morning to hurry off to work in an ongoing struggle to provide for their families. They work long hours trying to earn just enough money for food and shelter, but have little time left for their children. Left alone, the children must make their own food, get to school on their own, care for their younger siblings, and take primary responsibility for the home. What does this all mean? This means that a seven-year-old might have the major household responsibilities—like laundry, cleaning, and health care. Often this situation drives the children to the streets to either play or find a way to survive. There they meet people who are all too ready to introduce them to a life of drugs, crime, and prostitution.

The Brazilian Methodist Church recognizes this mammoth social crisis brought on by rapid urbanization and has responded by making children its "number one" priority. The "Shade and Fresh Water Project" is a Methodist program where church and community come together to identify their problems and become partners in building a healthier society. Together they identify priorities and develop activities in the area of Christian education, academic support, sports and recreation, culture and artistic expression, health, citizenship, and/or computer education. One example of this endeavor is with the Tapeporã, a native Brazilian tribe in Brazil where most of the residents are children. The population on the reservation of about 10,000 includes three ethnic groups: Kaiowás, Terena, and Guarani. Through the "Shade and Fresh Water Project," the Tapeporã Mission is able to provide support to their schools and other programs that benefit the children in their community.

Another example is the support provided by the "Shade and Fresh Water Project" for school supplies and uniform at two schools: Escola Y’yverá (Little Light School), and Escola Mbo’eroy Tupã’i Arandu Reñoi (Little God School: Growing and Learning), as well as for sports materials and supplies at the Soccer School of the Mission.

The Brazilian Methodist Church is making a difference in the lives of children. How can you be involved?

PRAY—for the children and the workers as they discover ways to touch young lives and shape them in God’s path.
COME—share your love and talents with the Brazilian people as a volunteer.
GIVE—to "Ministry with Children, Shade and Fresh Water Project" (ADVANCE #11580A). Your donation will help reach children with Christ’s love and provide protection from life’s harsh realities.