Cabinets and Boys

Well, here we are in mid-July already. We've been here 9 months and have only 2 more summer outreaches left. Caroline's family will be here in less than a month, and we will be back in the States for a short trip at the end of August. Hence, we have a lot going on and a lot to look forward to.

The past 2 weeks we had teams here from New York, California, and Nebraska. I (Caroline) had 3 girls at my site. We had a great 2 weeks, and on the last day, we gave them the project to paint the cabinets in the Social Work site. It was a great activity for them, because not only did it make the site much more aesthetically pleasing, but they also were able to make a visible and tangible change to the community that will be around for several years. Fortunately for us, all 3 of the students have artistic talents that they used writing encouraging words and making designs.

Before


After

I was also able to sneak into one of the boys' Microfinance club meetings. Everything with the club has been going great so far. The mothers are commenting that they've never seen their sons work so hard. The community is slowly but surely becoming cleaner. None of them have cashed in their Ryan dollars yet (though most of them have saved enough to buy a ball). They are trying to hold out for the bicycle. But most importantly, the boys finally have a positive Christian male role model to look up to. Enjoy some of these pictures I took...

Some of the boys writing down the Bible verse for the week...John 3:16


Francis and Nickaury. Francis is the oldest of the group so Ryan selected him to be his assistant.


Mikael is known in the community as one who does not like to work. But amazingly enough, he's the one who is the most excited and is working the hardest out of anyone in the group! We're so excited to see what is to come of this new ministry.