Pastoral Service for Children: model voluntary work carried out by FT residents

In spite of the distance from both the churches of Patos and Santa Terezinha (12 km to each), the presence of the Catholic Church is a reality in the rural areas, especially thanks to the work of the Pastoral Service for Children, carried out by voluntary workers. Eliete, Euda, Albani, Silvânia, Natalia and Vilma, wives and daughters of workers at Fazenda Tamanduá, are the soul of the Pastoral Service for Children in our community. Every week, at the home of Severino, the cowboy, there is an evangelization evening, with a lot of people participating; and for the children on the farm, there is a catechism course at the school.

At least once a week, the courageous voluntary workers visit families among the 22 most needy in the neighboring communities. There, they try to mitigate the problems they find, especially giving guidance to the mothers in relation to the basic care to be given to their children, such as hygiene and nutrition, giving special attention to internal parasites and to problems of anemia and malnutrition, which is unfortunately common in our poor rural area.

In order to achieve a more rigorous control, they systematically weigh all children from 0 to 6 years of age, and if necessary, supply supplementary food. Every opportunity is taken to maintain contact with these families – for example, on the occasion of religious feasts or any other, such as the recent Children’s Day – an opportunity for the distribution of gifts, which were handed out after a hearty meal. However, not only the body benefits from this work: eight homes have been chosen for Bible Meetings, at which evangelization takes place.