Finally since quarantine has been over we were able to start our tailoring class. It is a seven month course, we have started with three girls and one boy. The boy is about sixteen and has no father, his mother is mentally ill so he has been taking care of himself.
They will start out learning the basics and then move on to making school uniforms for students in our village that families struggle to buy. We want to teach them about serving others. They have been given this opportunity so we want them to show gratefulness and know the blessing of giving to others.
After they have more skills down they will have an opportunity to make girls kits and earn a little money which we will encourage them to save some of it to put towards buying their own machine.
The student with the highest marks will receive their own sewing machine and the other students will keep their “tools” to help them get started on their own.
We are so excited to see them learn and grow into responsible adults while learning about Christ from devotions before class every morning.
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24
The Mandate just put in our thirteenth bore hole in about six years we’ve been here. We try and put two a year but we didn’t get to drill any last year. (Covid messed everything up!) We always consult the chairman of the village as to where they are put. They have all been put in strategic places so that clean water is available to everyone. So many people have had to walk miles each way to get just one ten liter can of water. Living without running water ourselves I would say there are many trips for those who need water. Thankfully we have a bore hole in front of our home and I have Raelee’s friends that earn money by filling my jeri cans as they are called. We go through 10-15 some days. Just think about how much you use for bathing, flushing, washing – clothes and dishes! Don’t forget cooking and drinking.
I can go into all the steps of drilling but I don’t want to bore you with technicality! Mainly the first step is to get a professionally trained Hydro-geologist to test the best place to put the well. Where the water is and the best way to get to it.
The hole is then drilled by a drilling machine and steel encased piping is put in. Then they test for how much water is there, how much can be pumped and at what rate.
After all the testing and agreement on the correct placement of a well the pipes on and then the pump is cemented in. It takes time to dry and then the base around the actual pump is poured along with a “ditch” or run-off gutter.
Then you have clean water and happy very people!
The concrete on this one just has to dry and it will be ready to pump water! You can tell how happy they are!
We were able to visit a school a couple weeks ago where all the children are orphans. There were sixty-five girls that were of the age of puberty. We went to educate them about their changing bodies and give them the supplies they need. While we were having tea with their headmaster/Pastor we could hear them rejoicing and singing to Jesus. The spirit there was so heavy there.
I got in trouble because I didn’t get little girl’s shirt ordered in time!
There were so many smiling faces but some very sad stories before they had come there. One young girl had been raped by her father when she was seven yet she would still go to his grave and cry. One girl had been there for a couple years because her mother had just left her in front of a store. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories. All but four live in a very small dormitory. And this wasn’t all the girls that live there. Schools are slowly starting back so we will be going back soon to visit another grade when they come back.
We always start with a message for them to let them know they are special and God has made them just the way He wanted them, and has a plan for each of them. We encourage them to stay in school and get an education. We don’t record the reproductive educational part because we want it to be private so they won’t be scared or embarrassed to ask personal questions. And we don’t allow any boys – even Pastor Emerson!
Their headmaster is a wonderful man of God who is doing all he can with very little to care for all these teenagers, both girls and boys. The day I told him about our Hope for Girls I could just see a burden lifted. He told me just the day before one of the girls that live there had asked him for pads. She had been using old dirty cloth. How embarrassing for both of them. He said sometimes he has to make hard choices – food or pads. We feel so blessed we were able to go and talk with these girls and just love on them. Imagine what impact just $10 dollars and showing the love of Jesus does for these girls to not bear the shame and embarrassment and are able to stay in school.
The school is what we would call high school, they call secondary, but because some of the people in their village have heard he has taken in orphans there have been four little ones left there. One lady just left her baby at the door when no one was in the office because she had dropped the baby on his head. One mother left her little boy because she felt he had a big head, another because the child has a club foot. These children are considered a curse. So Pastor pays what little he can raise to a widow to take care of these children, they are not old enough to go to primary school yet.
It was very hard for me to leave this cutie. He was the one abandoned because his head was a little large. He is about three and doesn’t talk but they say he is quite the handful! I don’t understand how anyone could leave that cuteness!
His Grace For The Journey 