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Youth and young adults in Cape Verde pack hygiene kits for inmates

Volunteers donate 1,300 kits, continuing the Praia Cape Verde Stake’s ministry to Central da Praia jail

For the last four months, members of the Praia Cape Verde Stake have been ministering to the Central da Praia jail, which is within the stake’s boundaries.

During one of the visits, the director of the jail told the stake members that the jail is overcrowded and had a huge lack of personal hygiene products for the inmates.

Because of this, the stake created a service project to gather, assemble and deliver personal hygiene kits for the jail — reaching a total of 1,300 kits.

Missionaries, youth and young adults assemble hygiene kits for inmates at the Central da Praia jail in Praia, Cape Verde, in March 2023. | President Leonel Da Cruz

“We invited all our young people together with the missionaries and together they organized and prepared the hygiene kits,” said Praia Cape Verde Stake President Leonel Da Cruz.

The volunteers sorted toothbrushes, soap, deodorant and other items from multiple boxes into individual bags, thereby packing and preparing the kits for delivery. Then, young adults who were over the age of 18 were allowed to go to the jail to help deliver the kits.

President Cruz and his counselors, Valdir Lopes Fernandes Sanches and Helder da Veiga Fernandes, and other stake members went with the young adults on March 20 to make the delivery.

Leaders and members of the Praia Cape Verde Stake greet the directors of the Praia da Central jail while delivering a donation of 1,300 hygiene kits in Praia, Cape Verde, March 20, 2023. | President Leonel Da Cruz

While there, President Cruz was interviewed by a local television station about the service project.

“During the interview I spoke about the mission of the Church, which is to alleviate suffering, promote self-reliance and offer opportunity for service, following Jesus Christ’s admonition to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty and welcome strangers, clothe the naked and visit the sick and the imprisoned and afflicted,” President Cruz told the Church News.

He said the Church has participated in many humanitarian and self-reliance efforts to assist the inhabitants of the islands, which are in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of west Africa. Some of those projects have involved safe drinking water, wheelchair distribution, vision care, mother-baby training and immunization efforts.

Recently, the Church donated an autoclave or steam sterilizer to the health department in Calheta-São Miguel. 

Hygiene kits are delivered for inmates at the Central da Praia jail in Praia, Cape Verde, on March 20, 2023. Members of the Praia Cape Verde Stake assembled 1,300 kits to help the jail, which has dealt with overcrowding and a lack of hygiene supplies. | President Leonel Da Cruz

The Church has been officially present in Cape Verde since 1990. The Praia Cape Verde Temple was dedicated on June 19, 2022. On the eve of the temple dedication, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave the youth a three-fold message: “We love you. We need you. We promise you.”

Earlier this March, Sister Tracy Y. Browning, second counselor in the Primary general presidency, and Sister Rebecca L. Craven, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, held meetings in Praia where they testified to children and youth that they can seek Christ’s voice and live according to His gospel.

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How the new Praia Cape Verde Temple will bless the country and its people, increase holiness and complete families
How ‘miracle of the rain’ continues after Praia Cape Verde Temple dedication and is blessing 2 kinds of harvests
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