VIDA DIGNA (Living
With Dignity)
.
Wednesday, June 11 marked the
end of a ten-month course for the Vida Digna sewing program and the Mayor
of the city of
Atlacomulco
came by to participate in the closing festivities!
Vida Digna is a local sewing group that is supported by the
Atlacomulco social service organization and the program meets on the M.V.M.
campus. M.V.M has hosted this
group for several years now as they see it as an excellent outreach to
their neighbors. The group
meets together weekly to work on sewing projects which they in turn use to
benefit their community. The
mayor came to the final recognition ceremony this summer bearing thanks to
M.V.M. for their work in Atlacomulco.
It was an honorable ceremony for the women of Vida Digna and all of
M.V.M.!
Vida Digna has been such a
successful program that the next group has already started meeting!
They continuously meet together making clothes, blankets, and other
items. Eva Eugenio, M.V.M.
administrator, leads the group.
Below: Pictures from the Mayor's
visit
"VIDA
DIGNA" Previous Updates
Summer 2005 - Vida Digna Exposition
This summer,
the women of
Vida Digna shared with us their hard work and achievements through a
small exposition. Thanks to the church groups this summer and their
workshops; the women were able to improve their quilting skills and
are now starting to sell the quilts.
Fall
2004 - Addition of the Sewing Room
We finished
the first floor which will be used by the women of the program Vida
Digna. They are continuing with sewing classes and happy to have a room
for their activities. They all came to help us paint the room before
they moved in their supplies and started classes in September. Our
desire is that this will be a community center where we can draw close
to our neighbors and they will draw closer to God.
Below:
The women work hard painting their new sewing room
Summer
2004 - Vida Digna Program Grows!
Samuel and Eva continue to support the women with food packages and
other activities. They showed a lot of enthusiasm during the sewing
class and would like to continue. Eva and Dora (a neighbor and Christian
friend) taught the group of women how to quilt this last fall. They
finished the class by inviting all of their families to a Christmas
party where they displayed their finished work. One of the challenges we
are facing with this program is space. We need a room where we can leave
the sewing machines. Right now they are using the dining room, but need
to move the sewing machines after every class to make room for the
students. We would like to build a small room that we could use for this
program. We rejoice that one of the participants in our program, Lety,
accepted Jesus into her heart. We feel blessed that the Lord allows us
to minister to these women through this program.
2003
- The Start of Vida Digna
We have many
exciting new projects going on at the UC. We have felt the strong need
to reach out to our surrounding community. Many of our neighbors are
suffering economically and spiritually and we want to be that light in
our community giving our neighbors a sense of hope by letting them know
that Jesus loves them. This past December we had our first meeting of
our new program called 'Vida Digna' or 'Living with Dignity'. This year
(2003) we will start working with 10 mothers of families who will meet
monthly at the UC (MVM) throughout the next 2 years.
This program will focus primarily on very needy families where many of
the women are single mothers or widows and have children between the
ages of 1-15.
The goal of this program is to educate them concerning health, legal,
education, and social issues all the while affirming family values
according to the Bible. We also want to help raise their standard of
living by training them in a trade that will help them generate income
for their family.
Our goal is to make a difference in the lives of every member of the
family. Even though we are working primarily with mothers, other members
of the family will also benefit from the program by being able to
participate in English classes, make use of our library and computer
lab, receive medical and dental consults and participate in family
discussions led by Christian professionals dealing with the above
mentioned issues. Although our program begins with 10 mothers we are
really working with over 50 people, all members of these families.
We find it very hard to work with the poorest of the poor, as there is a
lot of apathy and distrust. So, we will begin by showing them the love
of Christ through our actions and praying that their lives will receive
a complete transformation as according to Romans 12:2. We ask for your
prayers as we start this new program in faith knowing that as Christians
we need to be that light in the world.
