April 1999

OPM 1998

OPM 1998 For the first time, the Minister of Finance has supplied us with the details of OPM funds concerning tax year 1994,declared in 1995:

The total number of preferences for the Waldensian church ammounted to 133.086, equal to 1,10% of total valid preferences expressed, for the total sum of lire 5.160 million , that is to say,lire 38.772 per signature.
As the Waldensian church refuses to accept funds from the pool coming from unexpressed preferences,it is clear that we are only concerned with the 7.794.000 of the 8.131.000 tax-payers,having Form number 101/201,who have declared no preference. This could be due to lack of information, of help or for fear of having to pay extra.
We beg to remind those tax-payers who are exempt from submitting Forms number 740 or 730,but who desire to covenant OPM for the Waldensian church, that they should:
-use Forms number 101 and 201,expressing their preferences each year;
-sign in the appropriate square for the Waldensian church, that is to say,for the United Waldensian and Methodist churches,keeping within the lines;
-sign the Form on the line marked "signature";
-put the Form in an envelope on which is written "Preference for the allocation of OPM dell'IRPEF,year 1998"or use the special envelope available from tobacconists or shops such as Buffetti;
-write their name and surname on envelope,together with their tax code number;
-deliver the sealed envelope to a bank or post office desk;
-remember that there is no extra tax to pay.

NEW PROJECTS FOR 1999

75 projects for Italy and 40 for abroad have been received at the OPM office of the Waldensian Board.
The task of this office is to examine each single project and to check if the necessary documents are in order; then to organize the presentation of each project to the OPM Committee.The members of the committee met on 28th May,so as to be in time to express their views and to prepare their recommendations for the Board meeting in June.
The exact ammount which will be allocated by the Finance Minister at the end of June,information needed to plan the new projects to be presented to the Synod at the end of August,has not yet been communicated.

WALDENSIAN AND ORTHODOX CHURCHES
There are two OPM projects involving the Orthodox Church's special ministries,both to be carried out in co-operation with the HEKS.
The project Bucharest Street Children is being carried out by AIDRom,a special ministry group founded by the Orthodox,Riformed and Lutheran Churches of Romania in 1991.
The welcoming/care centre,Santa Macrina,main base of project,was inaugurated in 1998. The centre has dormitories with 25 beds and gives aid to another 15 children during the day. The children are fed,clothed and given medical and health assistance. A team of social workers,a doctor and a pastor work daily in the home,in the streets and in the stations. During the period from May to December 1998,26 children between the ages of 5 and 15 were cared for in Santa Macrina; 13 of these have since returned to school, 7 have returned to their families, 2 have been transferred to another care centre and 2 have returned to the streets.
The street social work programme is directed towards older young people who have already been living in disastrous conditions and whom it is therefore much more difficult to help back to normal life; however, during these same months,work has been found for 7 young people, 3 have returned to their homes and 7 are now living in the care centre.This work is extremely difficult and needs much patience,courage and tenacity if results are to be obtained.
60% of these children run away from home because of the extreme poverty of their families,often they are literally thrown out of the house;the dreadful conditions of the public orphanages cause the remaining 40% to escape whenever they can.
In 1997 OPM gave a contribution of 80 million lire to the AIDRom social project;the same ammount was given in 1998.
The second project is called Diacones Agapes and is taking place in Albania.Religious activities were taken up again in Albania in 1991;in that year the Albanese Orthodox church started to work among young people who had only one possibility and desire facing them:that of leaving their country. The young Orthodox Albanese Christians feel that it is their duty to encourage their fellow young people to a sense of responsibility and hope for the future of their country, having the Christian faith as a foundation.The main idea of the project is to set-up meeting places where young people can get together for discussions, training courses and to embark on some enterprise.The Tirana group has the best organization and has undertaken activities in 4 different fields:growth,witness,service and community.As well as this, it has organized a national gathering in which 113 young people, from all over the country, took part.Other young Orthodox Christians are starting up groups in Durres,Kavaja,Elbasan,Korca and Libofsha.
The OPM contribution in 1998 was 45 million lire.

10 COWS AT MANZIR IN MOZAMBICO
A modest project,presented by the CEVAA, was approved in 1998: the purchase of 10 cows for the Co-operative of Manzir, the cost being 10 million lire. Pastor Sibane reported that,when the news of the imminent arrival of 10 cows was announced,the farmers burst into joyful songs and dancing to express their thanks to the Lord.

THE FIGHT AGAINST CHOLERA IN MOZAMBICO
A project to aid the struggle against cholera in one of the provinces of Mozambico has been presented by Doctors without Borderlines (Medici senza Frontiere). The project is for the creation of drinking water supplies for the population which will help to prevent the illness.The project has been approved by the Board and has been started immediately so as to forestall a new outbreak of cholera.