Animal Encounters (of the smaller variety)

I was digging through some old videos and found the following. I wish I had a video of the rat who decided to crawl in bed with me but alas, in my panic, I neglected to document the event. The first video is of a toad we found in our bathroom and the second is of Milly burning the army ants out of their giant ant hill. Enjoy. Please note Trav's scream when the toad jumps and also my ridiculous fascination/narration of the petrol's effect on the fire.

I'm On a Boat!

Travis had this brilliant idea at the beginning of our trip to build a boat out of the jugs of water we consumed during our stay. So, from day one, we have been stocking up for the anticipated day when we would finally have enough to begin construction.

After hours of work and many improvements, the boat was ready to launch. Zumah told us that many of the children didn't think the boat would actually float. They called it "the submarine". Krystin and I found this to be quite funny but Travis just became more determined to prove them all wrong.

Here is the link to a better quality version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfFilYG87Qs

On the day of the launch, all the kids followed us down to the lake. Even Milly and her family came to watch the big event. Much to the children's delight, the boat DID float. It was somewhat unstable but with a few more improvements it will be perfect. Milly claims that soon there will be many boats like this one on the lake and that the use of trash to make something worthwhile is an inspiration to the children.

Medium Children Rummage

My mom's 1st and 2nd grade class, along with some primary Sabbath school class children donated enough money to buy 2 bundles of clothes for the L'Esperance children. I think these pictures do more justice to the children's excitement than my words ever could.

Library: Final Touches

One of our biggest endeavors during our time here has been to teach kids that reading can actually be fun. Gracious donors have given hundreds of dollars to buy new books for the children and they loved it! The books we were able to purchase are set in their culture and at their reading level. We have also made an effort to work with the teachers in organizing the existing library in the hope that they will continue to follow our lead after we are gone. Also, the 3 of us have read a TON while we have been here and I believe that our simple example has led children to understand that reading can be a pleasurable experience during their free time. 

I really wish that we had thought to take a "before" picture of the L'Esperance school library. Otherwise, you will never fully grasp the gravity of the task laid before us as we began to sort through the hundreds upon hundreds of books on the shelves. There were wasps, rats, lizards and other strange bugs living in every nook and cranny of the place. Mice had eaten holes in many of the books. Germans had donated hundreds of books in the hope that maybe someone would be able to understand and read them. No one does. The teachers editions were mixed in with Goosebumps chapter books and one large set of books had a very provocative, racist title which we quickly threw away. After days of work, hours of sorting, and the help of many excited teachers and willing students, our job was complete. 

                                Kid's Library

We had the kids carry the hundreds of unwanted books down to our house where we told them they were free to take what they wanted. I've never seen so many children get so excited about owning books that aren't even in a language that they understand. We told them that all the books they didn't want would be used in a huge bonfire this Friday night. That made them even more excited.

We even took the chapter books and put them in a separate library for the teachers and all of their teacher's editions went onto shelves that Travis built for the staff room. 

                           Teacher's Library

Progress Report

We have come to the end of another school term here at L'Esperance and proud students have come to show us their good marks. Jen wandered into our house one afternoon, her report card in tow. As it turns out, she is first in her class. We are so proud of her!

Alice and Mary-Bo have now completed their first full term back in school. Their mid-term scores were way below average but that was expected due to the fact that they hadn't been in school for years. Their marks were significantly higher for this final exam and we are so excited to see how far they have come just in the last few months.

24-Hour Walk-a-Thon. This Friday. On the Greenway. 4:00pm-4:00pm.

Yep, you read correctly, 24 hours. But don't worry, that doesn't mean that YOU need to be there for the whole thing. We totally understand that this is the weekend before finals, you've made previous plans, or maybe you fiercely guard your sleep time. All we are asking is that you show up. 5 hours. 2 hours. 30 minutes. You can bring a donation, get some sponsors to pay you for every mile you walk, or just buy a tee shirt and go back home. For those of you who don't live in Collegedale, it's OK. We need as much prayer as possible. Maybe on the day of the walk-a-thon you could just make an extra effort to remember the orphanage and this event in your prayers.

We are halfway to our $20,000 goal for the dairy project and whatever you do will help. Back in Arkansas, a pre-K through 2nd grade class has raised over $200. And that's just 4-9 year olds giving their lunch money away. In Collegedale, 12 college students raised $1,800. And one high school boy raised over $1,000. Some have donated the money they received from their tax returns; some, the money they were left with after a close relative died. What we are saying is that a lot of little amounts can make a HUGE difference. Check out this video:

Photo Update and Progress of Dairy Project

It has been over a month since we broke ground on the first of the structures at the dairy project.  Some days are slow and some days we work 8 -10 hours and get a lot done!  All in all I think that we have made a lot of progress and everything is coming along nicely.  Wilbroad and I spent the first weeks measuring out the first structure and digging the footers for it.  The first structure that is being built will have four different rooms, each at a different level because of the nature of the landscape.  Two rooms will be staff housing, one room will be for visitors, and the last room will be a storage room for supplies and animal feeds for the dairy and poultry.  After the first week and a half of work, Wilbroad decided to contract a few guys to help us lay the bricks and mix the mortar.  At the speed we were going, it made more sense and it would save money to contract some help.  The hired guys worked pretty quickly when they had mortar and bricks near them, but it took some constant motivation and supervision from Wilbroad to keep them moving and working, even when the mortar had run out.  Wilbroad was telling me later that the guys were surprised that the 'white boy' was actually working.  He said that they are under the impression that Americans don't ever do that type of manual labor, so they were pretty amused.  The foundation of the building is about finished and in just the next 3 days of work, they will have all of the walls up. After that, two of the rooms will be roofed so that workers can begin staying there permanently.  The following pictures are taken to show some of the progress we have made since we started.

  54 foot hand dug pit latrine.

When we began fund-raising for this project, we set a goal to raise $20,000, and since then we have raised a little over $10,000.  With a walk-a-thon fundraiser coming up to help the project and church groups and school groups helping, we are hoping to reach our goal before we leave in 2 and a half weeks.  If you are interested in hearing more about this project, let us know and we'll be happy to tell you more about it!  If you wish to make a one time gift that will keep on giving, please check out the "If You Feel Inspired..." section near the top of our blogspot, just below the list of followers.  Or you can always contact one of us.  And as always, we appreciate your prayers.  Until later...

Travis