At the end of December and the beginning of January we had two young couples visiting: Julia and Jan, daughter of iTeams NL leader, with her boyfriend, and our son Nathan and his girlfriend Christa. This was very encouraging for us. Julia and Jan helped with the Christmas afternoon in Bangladesh and all four of them also helped put together the packages and with the preparation for the camp days in January. Nathan and Christa were there to help out in Novo Miloševo on one of the camp days.
In each package for the children we were able to include a pair of socks that were knitted and collected by women from our congregation in Harlingen. That was a great blessing and the children were very happy about it. You often see Roma children without socks in their shoes. The children always look forward to the packages. It's a highlight for them in the year and you hear them talking about it several times in advance.
In the Bangladesh district we made a candle stand with the children and later they all got a battery light to take home. The hot chocolate and cookies were of not missing. We pray that these lights the children received may also carry something of the True Light that we hope to spread through these children's afternoons. During Christmas, which is held here in January, these children were picked up by the combi bus for the Christmas celebration in the church next to us. The children sang the songs they had learned, heard the Christmas gospel, and later received a package to take home. It turned out to be a very festive day.
Pier and Joke Meindertsma work in Serbia among Roma children in vulnerable circumstances.