The Cercadillo Project

OK, seriously folks, what happened to July?  It seemed the last I checked it was mid-June and now suddenly it is August?!?  I know blogs are supposed to be short, but I have to fill you in on just a FEW of amazing events that happened.  Hang on, here we go . . . July in review.

The last blog post more than a month ago (SO SORRY!) indicated that I would be posting pictures of the completed bathroom project that was started and funded by Renew Community Church in PA.   For those of you who have been holding your breath, here are the pics of the completed bathhouses.

This is the 3rd four-family bathhouse that we have constructed in Cercadillo.   The families of Yaquelin, Elida, Yolanda and Mayleni will be using this one.

Yaquelin showing how to flush. 🙂

Each of the four rooms has a ceramic toilet that flushes with a bucket of water and an area about the size of a bathtub with a separate drain for bucket bathing.   It’s really just an enlarged outhouse, but to hear the families celebrating the completion of the project, one would think they each had a high-end-luxury bathroom.   “We no longer have to bathe in the streets!”  “I praise God that I can bathe in privacy!”  “A toilet for my family!  We’re living like the rich folks now!”

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Recipe for One Incredible Week

of Children’s Day Camp

Gently mix together:

• 12 flexible, ready-to-serve volunteers from Gateway Community Church in Northern Virginia www.gatewaychurch.org

• 9 AMAZING women from Cercadillo

• 3 Self-less Cercadillo Project Interns

Quickly add in:

• 110 7-12 year old Cercadillo campers

Bring all together for large group activities such as . . .

WORSHIP

SILLY SKITS . . .

snacks and sports.  Divide into three teams and send to . . .

CRAFTS . . .

MUSIC . . .

and BIBLE STORY TIME.

Rotate the teams approximately every 20 minutes.  Marinate in lots of prayer and laughter . Bake under tin roofs in the Caribbean sun.

I’m pretty sure that we exceeded the amount of fun that should be had in one week!

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 PRESCHOOL AND YOUTH DAY CAMPS

The Thursdays we weren’t doing children’s day camps, we were spending with preschoolers and youth.

With the preschoolers we did a modified version of “Cinco Super Sentidos – Regalos de Dios.”  (Five Super Senses – Gifts from God.)  This was the theme for the first children’s day camp that Valley Church did in June.

One of the days of youth camp the boys built a fire (under the direction of our faithful interns!) and roasted hot dogs for lunch.    It was not exactly a total success due to several hot dogs dropping in the fire or being eaten or burnt, but all in all, a good experience.

Although we had some great large group times together, my personal favorite times of the youth day camps were when we divided into guy/girl groups.  Ryan and Brian took the fellows to go do something “manly”  and left Jessica and I with the gals. While the girls worked on crafts we had the chance to talk about their hopes, dreams and decisions they are making.    Sweet times!

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OTHER JULY HAPPENINGS

July 15 a visiting team from TIME Ministries (www.timeministries.org) held a VISION CLINIC in Cercadillo.   Although we were the last place the team visited, there were still 22 pairs of the exact prescriptions that people in Cercadillo needed!  How is that for God’s provision!

Saturday mornings we spent with children in free reading time and math drills.

Wednesdays and Fridays we spent with the women in our ongoing discipleship/Bible Study/sewing and craft times.  (Cafe y Coser con Cristo)

Four Tuesday nights in July we showcased the work of the women at a Cercadillo Market at the TIME Ministries building.  Visiting team had the opportunity to purchase items the women have made.

Oh, and we had a big celebration event on July 22.  We celebrated birthdays, students passing grades, newly acquired birth certificates and the 5th Anniversary of The Cercadillo Project.  Jessica made a slideshow consisting of pictures of the villagers throughout the last several years.  They were on their feet screaming for the entire 27 minutes of the slide show.  What a great night!

So, I guess that’s what happened to July!

(Let me suggest that you check out Jessica’s blog.  Lots of great pictures and great editorials. terpstrajess.wordpress.com/)

This is a bargain posting, my friends!  Two weeks’ worth of activities crammed into one blog post.

(June 9-16)  For the second year in a row, the Transformers Group from Valley Church in W. Des Moines, IA came to lead in a FANTASTIC week of children’s day camp.

The camp theme was “Cinco Super Sentidos!”  (Five Super Senses)  The 106 campers ranging from 7 to 12 years old had opportunities to experience all the senses in some unique ways.  Here are just a few.

Touch – Creating with play dough

(Not a normal part of every child’s growing up experience)

Sight – Using a digital high-definition microscope and computer to look at the intricacies of creation

(And the team left these for us!)

Hearing – What a loud day!  🙂

One of our campers is deaf.  Generally speaking, the deaf are not treated well in the Dominican Republic and our village is no exception to that. Celebrating the wonderful gift of hearing created a natural platform to discuss what it must be like to be her.  As we spoke about the ways she is very much the same as the other campers her sister said, “And she has feelings, just like us.”    It was a powerful moment for many.

Each camp time ended with “Crazy Fun” for everyone –

water bombs, bubbles, balsa wood airplanes and a homemade slip and slide.

So proud of our Cercadillo women who were the team captains during our camp!

(June 16-23) Renew Community Church from York, PA arrived ready for lots of manual labor and relationship building with folks in Cercadillo.  (The Dominican man in the picture is Millo, our faithful bus driver.)

Part of the team spent a few days finishing up the painting of the new green building . . .

. . .with a little help from some friends! 🙂

The women from Renew also spent time getting to know Cercadillo women and sharing in the Wednesday morning time with them.  The Renew women helped organize our children’s library as well-a huge help to me!

The men from Renew, men from Alberto Feliz’ Dominican church and men from Cercadillo spent the week constructing a four family bathhouse.  They weren’t able to complete the project during the allotted days, but good times were had and many relationships were formed.

One of the fellows from Renew said he was going to kiss the first cement truck he saw upon returning to the States, since all of the concrete had to be mixed by hand.  🙂

Alberto and his team, along with Ryan will  hopefully be able to complete the project later this week.

Stay turned for pictures of the new bathrooms!