R. Florentino  O. dos Santos  310/202  

Afogados, Recife, PE., Brazil  50830/470

 

Creche bulletin, 114 - March 2012                                                                

5th April  2012

 

 

Dear  Creche sponsors,

    This  Creche bulletin is a belated attempt to  send  you the  March edition….but the  Ides, Kalends and all the   other    dates  of March are now  engulfed by  time ….. we   are now in  April  “the cruellest month” ,  if   poets,  at least those of a modern  vintage ,  can be believed.

I had  to go to Ireland on  Nov 4th when I   discovered  that my foster brother  Paddy, Bunclody, Co Wexford, had  terminal throat cancer. I stayed with him   till Dec 9th when   a visit to the  Creche from  the archbishop, Dom Fernando recalled me. Dom Fernando thought I should have some one in place when I am no longer   around or  not in conditions to  administer the entity. He controls the Santa Casa, a century old philanthropic institute here in  Recife, which  owns  a  lot of  property in the city  centre and   from  which it  collects   rent  Negotiations  with the  Santa  Casa   are now about to begin  of which you will be   kept informed in future bulletins

Days   after my  return in  December I  discovered   a  letter  from the prefecture (corporation or  city council) informing us that  from the   first of Jan  2012 the Creche   would no longer  be allowed    receive children nor  municipal subventions.  The    Creche remained  closed till the   very end of March  when the  prefecture  was persuaded to relent  and   allow the Creche  to function  again..Later I discovered what the bone of contention had  been ;  the   Creche didn’t have  a specially adapted toilet for the handicapped, which, in fact had been installed in Jan 2011. Not once in its   34  year old  history has a handicapped   individual been taken short in  the    vicinity of  the Creche but  past history doesn’t  obviate  that  possibility. at some  remote  future  date.

The  Creche  is    functioning  again   but  now finds  it has  no money to  pay the   March wages  to the staff….the    mimimum  wage  here is   640 per month but all  we  could muster    was  240 for each of the staff.  We  have  some  property,  a small building with   eight apartments, about    7 or  eight  Kms  away so  we plan to sell  these   gradually  to keep the Creche  going. These  sales  should allow us to  pay   wages etc  for  about  two years  during  which  time    the hope is  that the Santa   Casa  will have begun the  administration, including  responsibility for the  wages.     All  the present   staff  are guaranteed to be     kept on  under the  new   order of  Santa   Casa, much to the relief of  the  Creche workers, some of whom have been with us since its  foundation   34 years go

One possibility  being   explored  is  reducing  the   Creche  to   120 children all under     eighteen months while the older kids   would be  allowed back only to follow courses, like Information  Technology, woodwork, music, mostly   violin  with cello and  viola in the  offing in the near future. An  ex Creche  pupil,  Marcos,  studied these    three instruments  at the    Music  Conservatory  in the city for four years  and   plays  violin,  cello and viola   quite well and   is remarkably good on the   violin..Let´s  see  if,  like Mario, the  violin teacher since  1985, he can  impart passion  for the instrument  as well as   technical skill.

    Reducing  the  number of  children  would   mean the dismissal of   8 or 9  of the staff   thus  reducing  the  monthly  expenses,   which exceed   income  by   some   six  thousand   monthly.

The  Creche  gets  between   four and five thousand  reais  from Recife  sponsors,  about  five or six  thousand  reais from UK and  Irish  sponsors,   three  to four thousand  from    rent on   property and    two thousand  seven hundred from  the prefecture, paid only at the  very end of the year.   Monthly   expenses    are      twenty two thousand now and   have to be   cut.

Creche  sponsors  in the  UK and  Ireland   are   even  more  important  now  than  ever  before and  our hope is that those  we have had  for  years  now, will continue to  contribute or  even persuade friends  to  begin helping  too.  The best   way    to help  us  is to set up at  your own bank a  standing order  in aid of the  Creche account  with   either Royal  Bank of Scotland  or  Allied Irish  Banks

RBS:  sort  code  16-2448…..account  number  10011188

Name of account:  Recife  Childrens  Project….Treasurer´s  Account

Address :Maidenhead  Branch, 40-42  High Street,  Berks, SL6 1QE,   UK

 

Allied  Irish Banks: sort  code  93-34-14…account number 60205-221

Name of  account:  Recife  Children´s  Project ……Deposit Account

Address :Bunclody  or Enniscorthy, Co Wexford