Samaritana continues to improve and develop our livelihood program. In addition to a new and exciting partnership with Work of Your Hand (http://www.workofyourhand.com), Samaritana participated in the Global Pinoy Bazaar and the American Women’s Club of the Philippines bazaar last November and December.

Joining bazaars will make our products more visible and help us become more financially sustainable.

Last November, 16 Samaritana women and 15 of their children attended a retreat together, with financial and volunteer support from Lasten Tulevaisuus, Mission East Asia National Support, Asian Theological Seminary, and Covenant of Grace School. It is always a special treat for our women to get out of the city and enjoy time together in another context, and having their children with them made the retreat even more wonderful!

This month, 12 Samaritana women and 10 of their teenage children attended a retreat – again at Word of Life Camp in Laguna – led for them by a visiting group from Moody Bible Institute. The dramas, sharing times, and bonfire were all memorable highlights, and the ten teens had time to bond together with one another as well as with their mothers. 

Dear friends,

The other day, “Devan” told us that the morning after they had fought, the father of her baby left, taking the baby with him. She was beside herself mostly in anger, but also with fear and sadness for the baby. She doesn’t even know where to begin looking for them.

Our women friends are survivors and strong women, but their relationships, living situations, and lives are not stable, secure or comfortable. Often their lives are crisis-filled and on the edge of vulnerability and fragility.

Befriending and committing to walk with the women means sharing in these crises. Compassion means sharing and helping to bear and carry the suffering of others. It is not only saying that we will pray for them or feeling sad or sorry for them; it is an intentional commitment to nurture a heart posture that deeply shares their suffering, making it somehow our own. And at some level, in some way, it means responding or acting for and with the other.

How does that work? What does it look like to bear the suffering of “Devan”? A beginning point is by drawing her out, providing a safe and respectful space for her, and listening to her story and the raw emotions she is carrying. It includes praying with and for her. It means helping explore with her the options she may have in trying to locate her baby and discern how she should be in relationship with the baby’s father. And it means bearing with her the weight of not knowing, not being able to resolve, and waiting.

As we walk with “Devan”, carrying the burdens of her sufferings, it means so much to know that you are also with us and her, walking, praying, waiting and being compassionate. Thank you so much!

For “Devan” and the rest of Samaritana,