Soccer Camp and Harvest Festival

Goodness gracious! I started this post last week and then the internet cut out so I left it and just today remembered that I had never posted it! I am sorry it is so late!


Soccer Camp:
Xhevat did such a great job with the soccer camp. The boys were so excited to have an activity just for them and an excuse to play soccer :) They also liked getting water without having to go far to get it.

Stretching before they start...

Playing shirts versus skins

Xhevat talking with the boys.

After the first day Xhevat got the hang of how to do the water and was able to do it himself.

On the last day Xhevat had a surprise party for the boys.
He brought jerseys for all the boys who attended the camp every day.

After a time of prayer...

...the boys got special drinks.

Then each one was presented with a certificate.

The ladies had prepared crackers with Nutella...

...and popcorn for the boys.

After all the food and formalities they had fun teaching each other dances.

Fete Moisson:
We were so happy to have Bryon and Bonita Sparling, Amy Alexander and Xhevat Krasniqi with us this year for the harvest festival.

Packed Church

People standing outside. The porch is not finished yet so for now they used tarps for shade.

A visiting music group from another church sings a song.

The wife of long-time PauP staff member Wilson Cupidon, led the service.

PauP staff member Leon Cameus (behind Bryon), gave the message and then Bryon prayed the closing prayer while Sam translated.

Then the auctioning started!
The first items up for auction were homemade coconut candy and plantains.

Intense bidding on a rooster.

Sam won some sugar cane.

The first of several goats to be auctioned.

Visitors from other churches heading home.

Soccer Camp, Church Porch, and Cash-for-Work

Soccer Camp:
This week we are so excited to have Mr. Xhevat Krasniqi with us! Xhevat is doing a soccer camp with about 30 boys every afternoon. These boys are usually busy in the afternoons going for water and taking care of their livestock and therefore wouldn't be able to come. So, Xhevat and his wife, Krista, raised funds to pay for enough water trucks for the kids to be able to get water here every day! I didn't get any pictures of the soccer yesterday as I was translating, but here are some on the first water distribution. Some of the boys had not heard about the water so today we will probably have a lot more buckets.





Church Porch:
Progress has been made on the Church porch...

Building up the foundation and footers

The school kids helping to fill in the foundation with rocks and gravel

The porch as it is now

Cash-for-Work:
Back in December many people gave toward the food baskets and the food-for-work program. With all that has been going on we had not yet started the work programs. This week though we have had over 30 people working to collect gravel and rocks to fill in the school foundation. When we have food donated it is easiest to do food-for-work. But, when we have cash, it actually goes farther when we just pay in cash instead of buying food and then paying with that.

This is Sylvain.
Sylvain is from another area about 30-45 minutes away. He has been coming to church now for about three years. Sylvain has some mental and physical handicaps that cause him to often be left out of things. In all the piles of rocks I saw today, though, his was the biggest. This is probably the first time in his life Sylvain has been able to work a real "job" and get paid for his work.

Sylvain and his rocks.

Most of the others who are collecting rocks and gravel are women and children. Each pile belongs to someone. They will be paid by the size of their pile and how many days they worked.

Gravel is collected in buckets and then carried to their pile.

Also part of the cash-for-work program, these men are digging a hole for burning and collecting trash.

Progress on School, Church and Kitchen!

Before I get started on the pictures and the updates on all that has been going on, I just wanted to remind you that you can now follow this blog through e-mail. A few hours after the blog is updated you will get an email with all the pictures and information... you don't even have to go to the blog! To sign up just enter your email address in the section circled in this picture.



The Church:
Church members have been giving money and materials for some time now in order to build a porch on the front of the church. Work started on Tuesday as they dug the placement for the foundation.




The School:
The cisterns are almost finished!!!

The holes were dug out by hand... this one took only one week!

Gravel and rocks were poured in the bottom and then topped with rebar connecting the sides to a center post that will keep the walls from pulling away under the pressure of the water.

Mixing the cement powder with rocks, water, etc...

Pouring the cement mixture in the bottom

The bottom must all be poured in one day so that it doesn't crack.

As a result, they had to work late into the night.

The second cistern. The beams are holding up the plywood used to hols in the cement when the pillars are poured.

The other cistern.

The Kitchen:
Russ Finkbeiner, from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Canada, who came down twice already to help with roofs, wanted to make another trip to catch up with friends and keep up contact and relationships here. While here, he helped Sam almost finish the kitchen. (He also helped dig out the foundation for the church porch - see above picture) Instead of sanding all of this by hand, Russ is sending a sander that will make quick work of this big job. Then, all that is left is the counter tops and painting or varnishing!