: Countries

Naomi Francey
Gilford Parish (Down & Dromore)

My Gap Year……..

Where to start? It is difficult to sum up nine months in Argentina through SAMS into 200 words, but I’ll try my best. My work involved working with kids clubs, soup kitchens, children’s hospital visitation, being a teacher assistant in a primary and secondary school and basically showing people the love of God in all that I did. Would I do it all again? YES!

I think that the highlight of my trip would have been working in a soup kitchen just outside the city of Salta where we fed the kids, helped them with their homework and played with them in the park. These kids were cheeky, funny and energetic. They also had patience with my lack of Spanish and were just great to be with. They came from the surrounding shanty town area and the love I had for them was so special. Their lives seemed so carefree, even though I’m sure some of them had many struggles hidden behind their smiles.

Argentina itself is a tremendous country; I loved it whenever I got the opportunity to travel. The Iguazu Falls bordering Argentina and Brazil were amazing, the geysers of Chile were breathtaking and the Bolivian countryside was so peaceful. Salta is a great city, surrounded by beautiful mountains and filled with people who have beautiful hearts. I know I have left many friends and a new family there and I will return when God wants me to go again, I hope it’s sooner rather than later!

Please continue to pray for the work of the church in Argentina and many thanks to the SAMS network.

Megan Johnston from Lisburn Cathedral reflects upon her gap year with SAMS in Argentina.

I spent nine months of my gap year in Salta, Northern Argentina as a volunteer with SAMS. I was based in a local Church called “El Redentor” where I was a leader of the children’s Bible study club. I participated in the weekly youth group and worked as the Pastor’s secretary. I taught in private and public schools helping as a language assistant, which you can imagine really opened up my eyes to the extremes in society. I had my own English classes, which were a real blessing during my time in Salta as I have no teaching qualifications, although it was encouraging to experience God’s hand at work. Please pray for my students as they still continue with my on-line English classes, that they would have an open mind to learn.

My time in Salta was significant as I learnt many things such as relying wholeheartedly on God. It was also character building and an opportunity to learn things about myself. Having made life-long friends and extended family in Argentina, I know that if God calls, one day I will return to Salta, it would also be exciting to see how much the people have developed and strengthened not only in their faith but also as a Church body. This is my prayer.

Red Box Project

CORE AIMS

• Support children’s and youth work

• Resource leadership training

• Develop language skills

• Facilitate the soup kitchen

• Enable educational sponsorship

God calls and sends us into our communities to participate in His mission. It demands identification without loss of identity: it means going beyond our comfort zones and entering other people’s stories, as Christ entered ours.

Reflections from Helen King (Shankill Parish, Lurgan) who has recently returned home from a gap year placement with SAMS in Argentina.

Dear SAMS Supporters
So, after 239 days and 6519 miles away from my house, family and friends I am finally home! After a lot of travelling and prayer I arrived in Salta, Argentina and the scary thought of spending almost 9 months away from home was soon replaced by my crazy schedule. In an average week I could be doing anything from working in the pastor’s office to helping at a Comedor (where children from a shanty town were fed by a local church) to leading Bible studies in Spanish or teaching English in a private school. Even though there were difficult times and plenty of tears, I wouldn’t have changed this year for anything!

A HUGE IMPACT
I would like to tell you about one woman I met who had a huge impact on my life. Her name is Daniela and she worked (unpaid) as a cook for around 30 children so that her own 5 children (all under the age of 9) would have food to eat. Apart from her children and her faith in God, Daniela has absolutely nothing. Her house is about the size of an average living room here, has a tin roof and has windows but no glass. She has no income and is on her own because her husband, who beat her so badly that she lost most of her teeth, left her when she was pregnant with the youngest child. I grew very close to Daniela and her children while I was working in the Comedor. Daniela’s faith in the amazing God we serve was such a witness for me. She was told by doctors that her two year old daughter Paula would never walk because she had been so badly malnourished as a baby, but Daniela and her church refused to give up on Paula and God answered their prayers. Little Paula started to walk about four months ago. However, several weeks before I came home, Daniela told me some heartbreaking news- Paula had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor and Daniela was in floods of tears because she did not have the money (the equivalent of £40) to pay for the first necessary treatment. She even considered selling her house as a way to get the money. Daniela told me that her previous few days had involved crying herself to sleep every night, being angry with God and then trying her best to be strong during the day for her children. She also told me that she didn’t understand why God would let this happen to her but she knew that he would get her through it and that He was with her. I cried in the bus on my way home that day. This story may make some of us uncomfortable but perhaps sometimes God allows us to see things that challenge us so we can do something to change them.

EYES OPENED
While I was away, a friend sent me a card that said “No man comes back from a journey the same person he went out” and I’m pretty sure that’s true of me! OK I’m still just under 5’2, I still love pink. I still love my food. I still love chatting to people. I’m still totally disorganized! However I’ve seen and learnt so many things this year that mean I can’t possibly be the same! God really opened my eyes this year and taught me a lot about myself, my relationship with Him and how I see other people.

A CHALLENGING BLESSING
I want to thank all of you who supported me in prayer during my time away. There were numerous times that I thanked God for his protection and for his answers to prayer. It was so nice to know that people were thinking of me and I really appreciated all the encouragement through letters, texts, parcels or emails while I was away. May I leave you all with this prayer given to me by Titch Hamilton (SAMS) before I left for Argentina.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU

May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships.
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people.
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger or war.
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them.

May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in this world.
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Helen King

“The breeze of divine grace is blowing upon us all. But one needs to set the sail to feel the breeze of grace”.

The ‘Beyond the Norm’ programme aims to give participants the opportunity to encounter South America within a supportive environment. It creates new experiences, new opportunities and new challenges. It provides the setting in which volunteers experience mission and cultural diversity first hand. Within unfamiliar surroundings participants wrestle with numerous issues and gain a better understanding of their own cultural norms.

We are all prisoners, consciously or unconsciously, of our own culture. Travelling 6,000 miles to South America is never the most significant part of the journey. SAMS hopes and prays that every participant is challenged and from past experience we envisage that volunteer’s worldviews will be impacted. Our worldviews are shaped by numerous influences. These include a combination of factors such as the culture of which we are a part, our education, parenting, family, life experiences, and friendships. On arriving in South America a person’s ways of deciding, thinking and communicating will differ from that of the local people. Having limited knowledge of the language and being in a country for a short period of time doesn’t stop a person experiencing ‘a clash of worlds,’ when patterns of behaviour, social structures and cultural expressions differ. The fusion of experiences creates a unique opportunity to see and hear things differently as the baggage of western consumerism is lifted for a short period of time.  

Before the Annaghmore team travelled to South America I was quietly confident as I knew the skill base was extremely high. I wasn’t disappointed as the 12 lads definitely produced the goods on the two building sites and their work rate was exceptional. But projects are much more than laying blocks and sometimes on teams people can miss out on the relational side. Thankfully the Annaghmore team embraced the relational side of the project just as much as they grasped the practical side. It was an encouragement and privilege to share with them as they interacted with the local people. They worked in challenging situations, ate there fair share of dry bread, stood under numerous showers that didn’t work, kipped in some suspect beds, and never once did they complain.

The team worked within different building methods and even though they had more skill that many of the people they worked with from the host country, they never pointed the finger and told local people how to do things, they showed respect to the community and valued everyone who worked alongside them.

I probably don’t need to tell you that the lads didn’t let me down when it came to eating everything that was placed in front of them! I could say so much, but maybe the local pastor in the church summed up the imprint the team made as he shared with me that for generations the story of the Annaghmore team would be passed on as one of the best gifts that God had given them.

This team was worth its weight in gold and every team member was authentic in all they did, and excellent ambassadors for their local parish and community.

Geoff Hamilton
Team Leader

Departing 26^th June – 10^th July

Pray for us, the people we will serve, and for also for the people who will serve us.

The ‘Beyond the Norm’ programme aims to give participants the opportunity to encounter South America within a supportive environment. It creates new experiences, new opportunities and new challenges. It provides the setting in which volunteers experience mission and cultural diversity first-hand. This year Geoff Hamilton will lead a team of 13 skilled men from Annaghmore Parish in Armagh diocese. This is a developing story as Annaghmore has been a supporting church for many years, and the link has evolved and become more relational. Pamela Gomez from Salta in Argentina was placed within the parish as part of the SAMS fusion programme. Pamela was deeply enriched through her placement and she will be one of the people overseeing the team’s summer placement. The local rector Dorothy McVeigh will be part of the ‘Beyond the Norm’ team which will participate in various projects.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.