For the children

So as some of you are aware, I have been having trouble with my neighbor. Not like a feud or anything. But more along the lines of, if not exactly, verbal/emtional abuse within her home. It's been a while since it began and has been doing weekly damage to both the children in the household as well as my self-image. It was one of those moments were someone else might have taken action quicker and I suppose some not at all. I want to be happy that I called for help, but am a bit let down with how long it took me to do so. All that aside, things are in motion now.

On Saturday I called ChildLine and gave them the scoop. They seemed to understand what I was saying and said they would look into it. They didn't have much interest in the recordings I had which is ok I guess as the recordings aren't of great quality. Conveying tone and some bad language, but nothing else. They also mentioned that I should let my landlord know, which I hadn't done yet. It makes sense to tell him, but I hadn't because I didn't want her to be tipped off about my concernes and then hide the problem from child welfare. I wanted them to have the chance to meet up with the situation first. I wanted someone to take a look at the situation who was trained to. Anyway, I called the landlord afterwards and let him in on the happenings. He said that not only has he recieved complaints of the same nature from others in the appartment, but he personaly had been at odds with the situation. It was good to know I was not alone in my concerns and that sometime this week efforts would be made on the childrens behalf. He also mentioned that the family was moving mid-june.

(small sigh of relief)

On a similar and slightly more upbeat note I have sponsored a little Thai girl through Compassion. Compassion is an international child sponsorship program that the church and many others have been supporting for some time. Back at the prayer vigil their was a sign/stand for compassion ministries, which I had wanted to do but never did. It was late then so I didn't bother at that point. Instead I went on with my week and, thank God, remembered to look into it. The website is set up very nicely and gives you the option of chosing who you want to connect to or they can choose for you. Then they tell you how to do it. I ended up sponsoring a girl from Thialand. They say I can write to her and she can write back, but I don't know what to say justy yet. In any case, I need to write something tonight after the bible study and get it on its way.