Itaugua

Jesus said: “You give them something to eat” Mark, 6:37

Chalice Itauguá Sponsor Site, 2012

Once again, it is a joy sharing with you our experience of this year. We want to begin reflecting on Mark’s Gospel when the apostles asked Jesus to send away the hungry crowd who followed them to the desert “like sheep without shepherd”. Jesus answered: “You give them something to eat”. When they realized they did not have enough food to feed the crowd, Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves. This miracle demonstrates a concrete way of love that subverts all kind of Social Code based upon egoism to lead us towards Jesus.

Today, the same miracle is performed through Chalice, thanks to your generous support to the neediest people. The miracle of the loaves unites us to feed the loved ones of Jesus.
The sisters of the Good Shepherd in close cooperation with Chalice are helping families of 2,800 children, adolescents and elderly people who live in extreme poverty; offering them this miracle of the loaves through education, medicine, training, clothing, and sustainable development of their communities in order to increase a universal love and fraternity.

Education: Education is a priority in Our Sponsorship Program. A majority of the children, adolescents & young people attend Elementary and Middle School for 9 years. We are helping them to decrease the rate of school failure and desertion which is so high in our country. Tutoring classes are offered in all of our sub sites for those who need support. We also organize workshops and meetings for parents so they can follow up their children’s schooling and learning process. This year, we have offered gatherings, meetings, and workshops to the young people of the sponsorship Program in order to train them on issues such as leadership, citizenship, democracy, etc. In all our Sub Sites we also offer other courses, such as Guitar lessons, violin, dance, crafts and other trainings to ensure the development of their abilities and their holistic growth.

Health: Caring for health is another priority. All children, adolescents and elderly people receive a medical consultation in order to establish a diagnosis of their current health status when they begin our program. They receive dental and psychological care. If necessary, they receive medicine prescribed by the doctors. Many of them require ongoing medical assistance and others, further clinical tests. Thanks to grant funds, we have made lots of medical tests for those children and elderly people who needed specialized medical tests that are very expensive. We have organized several Campaigns and workshops in Preventive Health. We have received support from civil and State institutions who offer training in this area.

Nutrition: Through this benefit we want to ensure food security for those families who live in extreme poverty conditions, so we organized the following activities:
“Group of Pots”: 176 Families are distributed in 75 groups. They receive basic food supplies weekly to cook together to feed many. They perform the miracle of the loaves in their communities; they are weaving threads of solidarity that was destroyed by selfishness and egoism in Itauguá. We also offer food to families of elderly people who are in our Program.
Soup Kitchen: We offer lunch to 50 children in Villeta Sub Site.
Milk Provision: 797 of the neediest families receive a pack of milk monthly in Itauguá, Capiatá & Ayolas.
Food Supply: Various families of elderly people receive basic food supplies in Villeta & Itauguá Sub Site.

Development: It implies different activities to increase the quality of life of families and their communities through sustainable development. We strengthen families and communities in order to raise awareness of their responsibilities as parents while taking care of the communities’ development. We take approaches to fulfill these goals in different ways, the most significant ones are: Workshops, micro-enterprise training, citizenship, leadership, community organizations and preventive health workshops for young and adult people.
We provide training on sustainable economic resources for adolescents and adults. Some received training for the creation of 178 gardens for consumption and sale. They cultivated and took care of their vegetables. They also received training to prepare healthy meals with their products. Many families sold these products in the local market and they were admired for what they are capable to perform by themselves.

We provide training for parents in order to teach them how to help their children in their schooling. In addition were several courses for adults such as literacy of mothers, parents and adolescents who did not completed their basic education. There was also a component to develop home skills.

Chalice Children: We are so grateful because during this year, we received additional help through this program. It helped us to feed many children. It is a nice ministry we are performing with the Sisters of Notre Dame in Pedro Juan Caballero. They have a foster home for children who receive lunch, tutoring classes and training for parents. Sister Leetta referred that thanks to the support of Chalice Children, “children had nutritious food”. They also have salad and fruits which they do not have in their homes. Lots of parents received trainings on common nutrition; some received basic supplies for their families’ nutrition at home.

Gift Catalogue: Many people received support through this benefit in our 5 Sub Sites. We allocated such resources to accomplish the following purposes: breeding hens to sell eggs, breeding rabbits, purchases of hearing aids, construction of bathrooms, etc. Thanks for this meaningful gift.

Dear Sponsors, we want to assure you that your generous contributions help many families that today are living in better conditions and have a dignified life. This miracle of love increases communion, fraternity and universal love that Jesus taught us. Thanks!
Many blessings for the coming year 2013.

Sr. Julia Ojeda
Site Director