The Hope for Latvia Blog
#lovelatvia
We love Latvia. We love the architecture in Old Riga, some of the beaches are simply beautiful and most importantly we love the people.
Whilst Latvia is going through a very difficult economic period we don’t want to be solely drawing attention to the negatives aspects of Latvia. Latvians are a proud people and we want to take time to highlight some of their successes.
If you follow @hopeforlatvia on twitter you will notice we often use the hash tag #lovelatvia please re-tweet and join us in celebrating some of the best bits of Latvian culture.
Below are pictures of Old Riga to help you get a feel for the place and at the bottom is Latvia’s Eurovision entry, we are hoping they make it to the final.
Is Latvia a Forgotten Country?
You might remember our blog from a few months back which asked the question ‘Is Riga Really Rich?’ We found it ironic that one of Europe’s poorest nations had appeared on the new World Edition of the popular Monopoly board game;
Many of you responded to the blog, and some of our readers in Latvia emailed us to say there had actually been a campaign to get Riga on the popular board game so that people would know where it was. Latvians are keen to make sure that their nation isn’t ignored by the European community and the rest of the world.
Before I got involved with Hope for Latvia I could probably (after a few minutes fumbling around) have pointed out Latvia on a world map. What I had never been told about was the real poverty which families in Latvia were living in. At first I simply didn’t believe that such destitution could exist in a modern European country. This lead to me volunteering with Hope for Latvia and playing my part in transforming lives. To find out how you can help raise the profile of this situation, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Partnering with Families
The relationships we have with the families we support are so vital and important. We always seek to make sure that we enter into new relationships with the family understanding that we are partners, rather then people who simply give handouts.
It sounds like the ultimate developmental clique, but what we really want to do is help them, help themselves. How can we achieve this? We must see these people as individuals, each unique and different in what they are able to offer the world. We want to partner with these people, come along side them, helping to navigate through life. We cannot be simply giving handouts and telling them what they should be doing, but instead facilitating them to become independent and confident of their own ability.
A famous proverb comes to mind here; “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.” Is this really true though? What happens if the river he fishes in dries up, or the equipment he uses becomes unusable? Surely,teaching the man to have enough confidence in himself and his ability to provide for himself in whatever circumstances come his way, would have been a better option.
Perhaps, you disagree. Some food for thought anyway.
