From Chris, Alison, and Luke No6, July 2006
Email: eyes_chile@yahoo.co.uk Postal address: Colegio Ingles, Patricio Lynch 1580, Iquique, I Region, Chile
We thought it was about time we updated you on how our work is progressing, just over a year after we arrived here!
Chris
Chris is working pretty much full-time now in the Centro de Atención Familiar (CAF) in Alto Hospicio. This is a centre, open to all, which has a special focus on the problems faced by women living with domestic violence. Chris is coordinating one part of the work of the project, the program (due to run from May to November 2006) funded by the Chilean government which is running workshops with women who are victims of domestic violence, and then setting up self-help groups. This project has resulted in some expansion to the multi-disciplinary team, including the recruitment of a psychologist partly funded by the Methodist Church in Britain. Chris is also doing some limited casework, and is continuing to work on the general development of the centre, which includes being responsible for it’s promotion locally (which has included live interviews in Spanish on local community radio!), working out the best way to provide legal advice to the people served by the centre, preparing a development plan, helping to strengthen links between the project and the local church community, looking at ways in which the project might be funded in the future, and generally helping the centre to professionalize its working methods.
He also changes hats once a week to become a DJ in order to produce a program of world music and world news for a local community radio station (also a Methodist church project, called Radio Flores del Desierto – “Flowers in the Desert”).
He is seeking to develop and support the prophetic role of the church in Alto Hospicio, especially through the possible adoption of a policy on domestic violence, which might serve as a model for other churches. He is also getting together with a few church members to sing music from other parts of the world, especially Africa, which is a totally new thing for people here. He is enjoying lessons to learn to play the charango, a small guitar typical of the music of the region. He has found a tennis partner, and plays when their busy schedules coincide!
Chris with the CAF team…
...presenting the project to other local organizations…
...in the CAF office…
...and a picture of the charango.
Other news
Since our last newsletter…
►we enjoyed 3 weeks in England, principally seeing family and Luke´s godparents. We are so sorry that we could not visit more widely. We are due to be in UK officially in early 2008 for 3 months, and at that point we will be more available – promise!
►we visited the “gigante”, a large pre-hispanic drawing of a figure on the side of a hill, and travelled through the stunning gorge linking Tarapacá and Pachica
►otherwise, in view of the forthcoming birth of the baby (due 26 August), we have been a bit more reluctant to venture far out of Iquique, just in case! Having a baby in the desert doesn’t appeal…
► we (well, mostly Chris actually) have been watching the football World Cup from Germany
Alison
Alison is due to start her maternity leave in July, with the baby due in late August. We will have the baby here in Chile, where facilities are as good as they are in the UK. To try to increase her suppleness for all that is to come, she has taken up yoga once a week! As we have gradually established a circle of friends here, she has been able to socialize with them and Luke in the afternoons.
She has been working part-time at Colegio Ingles, one of the Methodist Schools in the area, as part of the “pastoral team”, which also comprises the chaplain, a psychologist, a counselor, and a religious studies teacher. Her work involves interviewing students who have a variety of problems ranging from student mums who are lacking family support to help them with their responsibilities, to students who have been bereaved. During the course of the last year she has organized groups of students mums, and separately groups of bereaved students, to meet together to share their experiences and offer support to one another. She has helped with religious studies classes and regularly led services for the wider student body, and taken part in the US-style graduation ceremonies.
As a minister, she has also had regular involvement in the Methodist Church in Alto Hospicio (which is the church we attend regularly), and this has included preaching (in Spanish of course), taking part in communion services, and helping to lead the Sociedad Feminina (women’s group).
Alison
Colegio Ingles
Members of the Methodist Church in Alto Hospicio (we are on the far left!)
Thoughts, prayers…
We hope there is plenty of information in this newsletter to help you focus on some of our concerns about our work here. Your continued support by prayer, email, and letter is much appreciated!
Cantemos a nuestro Dios, el es el Dios de la vida, porque el esta con nosotros creando esperanza y la libertad.
Let us sing to our God, who is the God of life, because God is with us creating hope and freedom.
Ester Camac, Peru
