Dear friends of the sewing
project Paraguay,
Thank you for friendship and
trust even if we have thousands of miles between us.We wish you all a very
blessed and protected year 2024. One of
our favourite songs is : the Goodness of God. You can hear this song with the
wonderful voice of CeCe Winans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sE5kEnitqE&ab_channel=CeCeWinansVEVO
Yes, God has been and still is
very good to us. The latest big gift: friends from the Chaco bought a Toyota
Prado(Photo above) for the sewing ministry. Thank you so much – and we are more than excited
to see where this vehicle will take us and our teachers. In the middle of the
photo you can see the couple Marina and Peter from Bolivia. They donated us
their time: 2x 10 days. She has studied fashion design, Peter has his own
sewing machine repair shop in Santa Cruz and is the man for our hopeless cases.
He can almost recover any machine. We are very blessed indeed. We could already
send to Bolivia some sewing machines to
open up a new sewing class, besides the already existing class in their church.
They serve in a very poor neighbourhood in Santa Cruz.They came by bus. It was
a 24 hour trip. Thank you Peter and Marina for your time and friendship.
The women prepared with much love this Graduation celebration of the 9-month Basisclass in Mbutuy
Our Problems and challenges – please pray for us.
We have lost teachers because of the drinking problem of the husbands.
They threatened the family life with their behavior.
The threatened teacher in the women prison couldn’t find the courage to teach there again. Another woman replaced her but couldn’t teach as regular as we had planned.
And again, and again our students stop to participate because they can’t pay for the fabric. This happened in 2009 and this continues to happen
in 2023.
Our indigenous teachers don’t have their own motorcycle. How could we ask
them to teach in a distant community? They borrow the motorcycle for a lot of
money from their neighbor’s or relatives and expect us to cover these
expenses or we buy them a motorcycle and they pay back … or we postpone the decision and nothing happens fast. We need wisdom and appreciate your prayers.
In 2023 – after six months of waiting - we could receive the new sewing machines
delivery. This was a special experience with the Paraguayan customs: ignorance,
corruption, inability, bureaucracy, God’s miracles and very helpful customs officers. We became stronger and wiser.
For those among you who need numbers to understand what has changed
since 2009:
- 2009 : 12 sewing machines, 1 teacher(Sylvia), no fabrics – only already used labcoats from US hospitals to cut; 24
students, 1 classroom,
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- 2023: more than 400 available sewing machines
in around 60 villages, towns and communities, 300 -400 students every year;
fabrics- yes, sometimes we have to buy a lot. We are very blessed with the
donation of the leftovers of a former bedsheet company in Germany; 32
teachers, among them 10 Indigenous women; our proper sewing center with 2
modern classrooms, industrial machines, a kitchen and 2 bedrooms for the
visiting teachers from the interior.
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For the 4th time we taught indigenous women how
to sew for 5 weeks during a camp organized by the German Indigenous Pionier
Mission. In spite of the high temperatures, they had to sew the warm jackets as
well.
Many of the indigenous women are very shy – we say callado in Spanish. We are very glad that our indigenous teacher Natalia(standing) keeps learning and improving her skills as a teacher
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We are thankful for the many sewing shops and friends in Germany. They
donate and frequently bring the machines to the storage place.
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Thank you for the donated Bibles.
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A friend offered for the second time to buy repair parts.
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A couple donated shelves for the sewing center and bought tools for a
sewing repair workshop.
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Thank you for your friendships and prayers
