We have continued to build the Ray of Hope center, Terra da Paz, and are in the final stages of completion. It is a real encouragement to the people of this area (and there are many villages that this will benefit), as they see that there will be opportunity to learn new life skills as well as receive medical help. We will also use the center to teach Christian education and increase the bible knowledge of jungle pastors who have little formal bible training.

The most exciting project this year, has been the agricultural project at Apuau. The people of this village (and so many others) make their living by creating barbecue spears, about 12 inches in length and used of course to barbecue, however the process involved is lengthy. It can take a whole family, kids included, two weeks to make 1000 barbecue spears, they have to chop wood locally then separate it into the length required, then rough cut and finally shape each spear. It is back breaking work, and now that the government have outlawed cutting of wood for commercial purposes, the Indians do this at some risk. For all of this hard work they would receive around £3 for 1000 spears, that's £6 a month for a whole family.

Last year we developed an agricultural project in this village, which began to mature in March. Although not yet totally mature they are harvesting 500 kilos of peppers a week, at market this crop is valued at around £800, an amount that would take the whole village 6 months to earn from barbecue spears. The plants will eventually produce 1000 kilos a week and last for two years, needless to say this has transformed the whole community. There are so many communities that have very little livelihood, and so we have raised the money to develop a second agricultural project, again in a very remote location. Each project costs £10,000 to develop, and so we are trying to be strategic as we do this to benefit the maximum amount of people we can.

The soup Kitchen we run for the children of Manacaparu now feeds 100 children daily. It's sobering to see the kids line up with their pans, as they ALL take their quota home and share it with their entire family. This is often all they have to eat each day.

We have also started work on a new school in a village named Santa Isabella, here we have 80 or so children (and growing) who are currently without a school.

Finally we have been delivering and installing fresh water filters to as many villages as we can. 90% of the Indians drink river water which makes many of them ill with life threatening diseases. These water filters are essential, but there are so many without fresh water and the need is overwhelming.

We are so thankful for your continued support and prayers.
With love
The Ray of Hope team

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