YWAF
- Youth With A FutureYWAF
- Youth With A Future
This summer we supported a couple of young people who were spending part of their summer abroad helping others.
This summer a team students went to Sibiu, Romania, to take part in a scheme designed to improve the lives of Romanian orphans. They spent two weeks running a summer school to entertain and educate children of ages up to 18, many of whom have severe disabilities such as Down's Syndrome and cerebral palsy. The aim of the trip is to show love and bless the children, many of whom have experienced suffering that we can not even comprehend.
In her letter requesting sponsorship, Lizzy writes:
"Having grown up in Doulting been an active part of the Parish of Shepton Mallet and Doulting especially over the last few years, and still during university holidays, I am personally really keen to demonstrate God's love to the children that will come to the summer school. Also having had many opportunities in Somerset throughout my life it will be awesome to know that running the summer school will extend the opportunities which I have received to those who may otherwise not get a chance."
And after she returned, she writes:
The trip itself was incredible, I formed great bonds with some of the kids, and even though none of the children really spoke English there was no difficulty in communication. It was so exciting to see the progress some of the kids made, for example in the second week a girl named Tabi came. When she first arrived she was frightened to go near anyone and wouldn’t let anyone touch her. By the end of the week she came up and gave me a massive hug and started jumping up and down in excitement while holding my hand.
There were many kids who loved the one-on-one attention which they rarely receive, so sometimes it was hard to ignore the louder more attention seeking kids and focus on the quieter ones, but I really feel as a team we made the best effort we could and really worked well together.
The trip was also very special because all of the team members were Christian and during the trip God was evidently working. I was honoured to be asked to baptise one of the team members in a river while out there and another team member who had scoliosis really felt that God was saying that he would heal his back. So every night we committed to pray for his back and photos were taken every night. Midway through the second week the whole of the bottom half of his back had been straightened. The top of the back is still not completely healed but we definitely all believe that it can and will be healed with persistent prayer which is really exciting!
These are just a few of the highlights of the trip, which as you can tell I found absolutely brilliant. I just want to thank YWAF again for helping me financially so that I was able to go and be a part of the team to Romania."
Another team went to Ndola, Zambia, to work in partnership with the Jubilee Centre, a Christian organisation that seeks to empower churches, communities and their leaders to grow spiritually, flourish physically and have a voice in the world.
The team took part in the various projects the Jubilee centre is involved with. This included giving many assemblies to local schools, where we were asked to talk specifically about HIV/AIDS awareness, and running youth clubs which involved giving short presentations, and playing sports with the children. As part of these presentations the team were also asked to give testimonies about our Christian faith, and teach the children about God.
The team also took part in Church services and led Bible study groups. They were constantly encouraged by the faith of the people they met despite the poverty many of them were living in.
After the trip, one of the team member writes:
"The majority of the time we felt we had a lot more to learn from them than they from us, and we were so uplifted by the many stories they had of God's faithfulness to them.
What I found most challenging about the trip was the extent of poverty that we encountered in many places. The Jubilee Centre has a large ministry to the sick people in the parishes of the local churches, training and empowering over one hundred carers to visit and encourage the sick, the majority of whom are dying of AIDS. We took part in a morning of visiting with the carers, taking food and encouragement to those we visited, sharing Bible verses and praying with them.
I feel I have learnt a great deal from my experiences this summer in Zambia, and I felt we gained a lot as a team as well as helping the Jubilee Centre in the work they are doing. It is one thing hearing about poverty, but it has only been made real to me now I have seen it for myself, and met and spoken to people who have a daily struggle to live and survive. I know that having returned to England my attitudes towards many things have changed and I am starting to take fewer things for granted. I am also seeking to change the way I live with regards to money, banking and shopping in order to benefit and not hinder the lives of the people I have met and people like them, and to seek God’s heart concerning justice for the poor."