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New LifeNets Project: Suriname Street
Children's Program in Paramaribo
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Marcia Dalfour conducts education
program
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Claid and Marcia Dalfour have started a development
project for low-income children in Paramaribo, the
capital of Suriname. They rented a small meeting
hall in Paramaribo. It is actually a small house
that was unfinished when they first rented it. The
roof was not completely in place, the interior was
totally unfinished and the floor of the building was
just dirt. With a lot of "sweat equity" they have
turned the building into a place where they can have
conduct their in the neighborhood.
Each Saturday they meet with some 30
children ages 3-7 for 2-3 hours. Some of the
children who participate do not have shoes. The
Dalfours teach them basic Christian principles
via hymns, which the children memorize.
Building where the program is conducted
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They help the older children with elementary reading
skills, and they teach all the children basic social
skills like saying "Please" and "Thank you." The
Dalfours have downloaded some basic children's
material from the Internet and use it for their
instruction. The texts are in English, but they
always explain everything in Dutch so the children
can understand. When the lesson is finished, the
children receive a warm lunch before they return
home.
The Dalfours have been providing this
service for about 9 months now, paying for
everything from their own income. Marcia works
as a governmental nurse supervisor in
Paramaribo, and Claid is a music teacher.
It is the desire of LifeNets to support
this well-run project which simply needs
financing.
We will be working with Paul Kieffer who is
regional director for the United Church of God
for the German and Dutch-speaking areas. He
visited this area in January/February and gave
us an enthusiastic report the work of the
Dalfours.
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Another Wheelchair Delivery
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 Since
2001 LifeNets has operated The WheelChair Project
which has turned out to be a unique matching program
for people with no longer needed wheelchairs with
those who need them, but cannot afford them. Since
that time we have given mobility to hundreds of
people and provided tax-exempt receipts to donors.
On the left is one of our Arizona
volunteers, Gerald Hoyer, delivering a power
chair to recipient in Mesa.
We are always looking for chairs in good
condition ready to pass on. At this time we
have two requests for each chair that we have
available.
Read more about our program at
www.lifenets.org/wheelchair or go to our
automatic wheelchair matching site at
www.lifenetswheelchairproject.org.
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Bev Kubik Speaks About Loving in Deed at Women's
Seminar in Phoenix
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LifeNets Grants
 Coordinator
Beverly Kubik spoke at United Church of God's
Women's Seminar in Phoenix on March 15. The theme
of the weekend was "The Joy of Loving in Deed." Bev
spoke about the various examples of how the real
test of love is in the doing of good for others.
She recounts various examples of how this is
demonstrated in various LifeNets projects. These
outcomes are what LifeNets is all about. You can
read the entire presentation and see a short
PowerPoint at
http://lifenets.org/zambia/lovingindeed1.htm. |
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United Church of God Fundraisers for LifeNets
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Two United Churches of God in Ohio provided funding
for our projects in the first half of this year.
On January 24th the Columbus, Ohio
congregation held a Caribbean Island
Social which held included a silent auction.
More than $800 was raised. Pastor Randy Stiver
commented, "We have been raising money for
LifeNets while having a lot of fun with our
annual fun show and silent auction." The church
made an afghan and Connie Seiffert donated
paintings to sell. High quality birdhouses were
also a popular item.
On March 28 the United Church of God Canton
held a fundraiser that raised more about $725.
The donations from both these fundraisers
will be used to for scholarships, education and
computers for our young people on our Developing
Nations Scholarship Program.
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LifeNets History: The Izabal Project
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 We
have reported very little about this wonderful
project that lasted almost three years from
2003-2006.
This is a story about Jon and Barbara
Brightman from Chicago who regularly took their
42 foot sailboat Friendly Confines (right) to
the Atlantic side of Guatemala in the winter
time. They found about our work with
scholarships and habitat in Guatemala at that
time on the Internet. Jon and Barbara wanted to
do something similar for children they came in
contact with in the Esmeralda area where they
moored their sailboat.
Through fundraisers and donations they were
able to raise money that went for lots of shoes,
scholarships and more. They became well-known
to the people of Esmeralda. When the Brightman's
returned to Chicago the question heard was,
"When are the Gringos with the shoes coming
back?"
You can read more about our Izabal project
at
http://lifenets.org/guatemala/izabal/izabal.htm and
see some of the newsletters with stories and
pictures of the people the Brightman's worked
with. When the Brightman's were no longer
returning to Guatemala, they allowed LifeNets to
use the remainder of the funds for other
Guatemala projects. |
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