The Nature of Shalom

Having covered the mission and vision statements of Shalom in a previous post, now is time to share Shalom´s statement on it´s own nature . . .

Nature of the Institution

In the past few years, the population of children in situations of risk has increased greatly in the city of Sucre. Statistical data of the department of Defence of The Child and The Adolscent report that due to diverse circumstances children are orphaned, mistreated, subjected to irresponsibility of their parents, poverty, abandoned - overflowing the capacity of the institutions designated to give protection and care to these children.

In this circumstance, our institution, having observed the grave necesidad to rescue this population and bring them protection, offering them the possibility of a better future, was seen as a motivation to fund and create a space designated to receive and give protection to all children who are passing a difficult time in their home and family.

Dear readers . . . .

Hi folks. Just a note on the purpose of this site - It is here to better communicate with you the happenings at Shalom, particularly for the sponsers of the children in the Home, and other english-speaking people who have an interest in Shalom, many of whom are in the United States, and some others even further afield. If you are not familiar with blogging, you might not know that you can use this blog also to communicate with us! You can follow the ´comments´ link at the bottom of each post to leave a comment on that post. We´d love to hear from you, so let us know any comments you have on Shalom, what sort of thing you would like to see on this site, and so on.

Vision and Mision

Shalom´s Vision Statement is:

¨To promote a leadership for the government of the country and the preaching of the word of God.¨

In line with this, there is a real focus in the Home of teaching God´s gospel to each child, both with words and actions. All of the ´adoptive parents´ of the Home, the Directors, and other staff (paid and volunteer) are Christians, and many are involved previously or currently in pastoral work. The children are taught the Bible in their homes, and also though a Sunday shcool in the home. One sunday per month, each of the children is taken out for the day by a ´uncle´ or ´aunt´ to go to church with them and spend the day with their family. The children also attend Christian schools. Academic education is also extremely important in developing preachers, evangelists, leaders and missionaries. Currently there are two young men who have grown up in Shalom who are now studying at a theological college in Sucre, aspiring, by the grace of God, to be missionaries.

Shalom´s Mission Statement is:

¨To develop a good image of our country in the hearts and minds of our children and adolescents so that they understand the importance of the preaching of the word of God to all the world.¨

On a personal note . . and in writing a personal note, I really should introduce myself. Although there will in future be other contributors to this blog, the current author is Kerri, a short-term missionary from Australia whom is mainly working with a different project in Sucre, but having fallen in love with Shalom - the kids and the staff-workers - I´m helping out by visiting and helping in the houses, playing with the kids, and setting up this blog.

So . . on a personal note, as someone who has entered from outside the Home, I can testify that even in the kids that have recently entered the Home having previously lived on the street, I can see the way God is working in their lives though the commited, loving Christians who are caring for them. Even the youngest kids greet me with ´Que Dios te bendiga´ (May God bless you) and an affectionate hug and kiss.

Photo: Sandra is the youngest resident, 4 years old

Photos, photos, photos . . . .

Just a note to explain what we are doing about photos on this site - while we will be putting some photos up on the blog, there are also many others we would like to give you the opportunity to see if you are interested, so, we´ve linked a site with ´flickr´ to this blog - you can use the link on the right-hand panel. We´ve also put there links to the specific photo sets, of history (year group photos), lots of different photos of the kids, and the infrastructure of Shalom itself.

Enjoy looking!