News // December 2021

On Friday 5th November, we had the joy of a triple celebration! Reinaldo and Rolando graduated from the Therapeutic programme, six members of Iglesia Internacional de la Familia completed our addiction/recovery training course for churches, and we celebrated the 5th anniversary of our residential Novo community at Quinta Totaices.

As we look back, we give thanks for God’s amazing grace, the generosity of His people, and to all those who have been part of Novō’s story so far – staff, volunteers, trustees, residents, supporters, and friends. As we look forward, we look to God and His leading, believing that this is just the beginning!

Novo’s desire is to bring new life to individuals, peace to families, and hope to communities. This short vignette describes one of the many ways in which the team at Quinta Totaices have impacted our residents – and their families – over recent months.

David Salazar, Project Director, writes:

“Jorge entered the centre in September 2021, following a long journey in addiction to drugs and alcohol that included 9 years in jail. In their latest attempt to help him overcome his addiction and start a new life, Jorge’s family contacted Novō.

“He arrived with severe pain in his back, which was reviewed by our doctor who prescribed some medication to calm the pain. Thanks to the free-of-charge health insurance that Novō now has through the Municipal Mayor’s Office, we were then able to take Jorge to a specialist. After performing several tests, the diagnosis was that he had a fractured spine and, according to the doctor, it was a miracle that he was still walking and that he should be in a wheelchair!

“After hearing the diagnosis, Jorge arrived back at the Quinta very upset and said he wanted to leave Novō. He had lost hope and wanted to escape his pain through drink and drugs. He came to speak to me in my office where I told him that he is not alone and would not be a burden to Novō. In fact, in these difficult circumstances he has people around him who want to help him – in his recovery from the fracture and in his recovery from addiction.

“As he wrestled with his diagnosis, Jorge shared that he wanted to leave to see his daughter, who he hadn’t seen for 15 years because of his addiction and choices. That afternoon I spoke with his family to give them an update on his health. Jorge’s mother said that his daughter was with her and that she wanted to see her father.

“The next day, Saturday, was visiting day. I told Jorge that his mother was coming and that there was a surprise – his daughter was coming with her! He was overjoyed. He hugged me tightly and gave thanks to God for what he was doing, bringing hope in the midst of his pain.

“In the afternoon their meeting was good and Jorge had the opportunity to apologize to his daughter. He told her that he would continue the rehabilitation program until it was finished and that he wants to leave Novō to study something to be able to sustain himself and get away from everything that led him to walk in bad steps.

“Today Jorge has contact with his daughter and is working hard to get ahead. He’s following his medical treatment of the spine and also the therapeutic program of Novō.

As we look ahead to 2022 and beyond, we all hope we’ll see the impact of the COVID pandemic continue to decrease. In the context of Novo Adventures, there are positive signs for 2022, with tours on the calendar for January and March.

There are still spaces available on these tours! Do get in touch if you’d like to join us. Similarly, if you’d like to start planning something for later in the year, give us a shout.

The new promo video below (a generous gift-in-kind donation to Novo from the incredible Galt Visual) gives a taste of what to expect – and the social impact Novo Adventures’ tour customers have here in Bolivia. Please do share it with anyone you think might be interested!

We often say that support for Novo comes in all shapes and sizes – and over the past few months, that’s been confirmed once more.

Financial gifts are, of course, vitally important to our work and, especially for friends overseas, they’re often the best way of supporting Novo.

Recently, we’ve also been encouraged by support-in-kind in the form of the time and energy of our volunteers (locally and internationally), a weekly donation of vegetables, gifts of pasta and flour, free-of-charge medical care through the Municipal Mayor’s Office, and cinema tickets for our residents to see the film Show Me The Father. We’ve also been blessed with gifts of beds and exercise equipment from the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime and the support for our recent “Caravana Ciclista”, particularly from the Pedeleros del Urubo cycle club.

For Novo, as for so many, it hasn’t been an easy year. However, amidst uncertainty and challenges, we’ve experienced God’s goodness like never before – so much through the generosity of our supporters.

To all those who support Novo, whatever the shape or size of your support, we want to say a huge ‘THANK YOU’ to you for standing with us! In all we do, we are your hands and feet, expressing God’s love to a hurting world.

To close, we want to wish you a very happy Christmas and a new year full of God’s richest blessings!

With much love,

Team Novō

In addition to existing regular giving, Novo needs an additional £3,000 / $4,000 USD / $5,000 CAD each month to meet our budgeted expenditure.

With fewer one-off gifts in recent months, right now we are praying for God’s provision to meet the needs we will encounter at the beginning of 2022.

If you’re prompted to make a donation, please click on the orange ‘DONATE’ box below. There you’ll find all the information you need to make a ONE-OFF GIFT or set-up a MONTHLY DONATION in the UK, US, or Canada.

If you think your CHURCH might be interested in developing a partnership with Novo, or have any other QUESTIONS at all, please email Andy Partington at andy@novocommunities.org

I’d love to hear from you!