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Ed IrIanda
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
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