Last year students at the Lutheran Academy reached out to help abused women and children through their Easter school social project. This year, the students returned with the same goal: “We do not want to stop helping!”
The social center called “Brieždenie” was created to help abused mothers and children in Slovakia. The Lutheran Academy (LA) decided to help this center in their annual social project last year. All school pupils and students of the Bilingual High School were involved in this project. The project’s goal was clear – to help all students, pupils, and parents, but also the general public, to understand what consititutes “domestic violence.” The second goal was to physically assist the Brieždenie center with its needs. “This is why we had to help the pupils understand what is and what is not domestic violence,” explains LA school pastor, Janka Bosáková. “We wanted them to know how they can help and what they can do if they are victims or witnesses of such violence.”
The school decided to work with the Brieždenie center again this year. Our fourth grade students prepared a simple program for the children and mothers in the center. The original motivation for this idea began in religion class, where students are encouraged to help others as part of their human life skills.
The fourth grade student’s program was focused on the theme “Light,” and began with the song “This Little Light of Mine.” “It was very nice that the children and adults from the Center were able to join in and sing with us,” said Esther, one of the fourth grade students. Our students and the children from the center then made lights—portable lanterns from bottles. “The children really liked this activity, so they made even more lanterns! They gave two of the lanterns to the cooks, who prepared a fantastic apple strudel for all of us,” adds Esther. “We went there to be a light for Jesus,” says another fourth grade student, Julka. “We wanted to touch the sad and injured with the love of God.”
God prepared pleasant surprises for all the participants. “There weren’t a lot of people but we met our goal,” explains Julka. “We were able to take only enough students that would fit into a school bus. When we got to the center, we were just able to fit into the center’s living room!”
Students and the residents of the center really enjoyed being together. “Thanks to the nice people in the Brieždenie center, we all became friends—we were sad there wasn’t more time. When it was time to go home, we did not want to leave!” adds Julka.
This year’s visit to the Brieždenie center left some deep impressions on our students. “After visiting the center, I realized how lucky I am for what I have. Others do not have these things,” explained Esther. “On that Thursday evening, I felt so thankful for my home and my family. And I prayed for our new friends,” added Julka.
