Messy Favela!

What would it be like to survive on a $1 a day?

That was what the children and families attending St Bartholomew’s, Chipping Messy Church were able to experience on Saturday afternoon. Teaming up with local charity Volunteer in Brazil the children swapped the usual craft, singing and worship of a typical Messy Church for shelter building, making water filters and cooking pancakes on an open fire. This was all part of the “Favela Experience” held at Lee House, Thornley which enables children and adults to better understand the difficulties faced by families in Brazil as they migrate from a life of poverty in the north of the country in search of a better life in large cities like Rio. During the afternoon the children and families were encouraged to act out the story of trying to build and set up new homes and communities, struggling with lack of money, being evicted from their property and trying to fight to remain in their homes through the court system. The experience ended with a short act of worship around the campfire, with prayers for those living in hardship around the world and donations were given towards the work of the charity. The afternoon was one of hundreds of Crossroads Mission events throughout Blackburn Diocese this weekend.