One Man Cannot Lift a House

Below is an article that I found encouraging. Its rather long, but good. Thought I would share...

This article was originally published by IDENTITY
Nov. 15, 2011
by Palmer Chinchen

One man cannot lift a house. That’s what Malawians say when they are ready to build a new nyumba (home) for their family. They rally the people of they village to come together to make mud bricks. The clay (dothi) is dug from a damp pit near the swamp and carried in brick-shaped wooden hoppers from the pit to the home site, where the clay will dry before being stacked into a kiln and fired. The hoppers are toted with a jog, so the mud will settle and form a solid brick. It’s back breaking, exhausting. One man can make a few dozen mud bricks, but thousands are needed. It would take him weeks, on his own. Physically he is unable, One man cannot lift a house. But when the community responds, they will do it in a day. And everyone knows, when it’s time to build their home, they will remind him, one man cannot lift a house. And he will come, he will carry mud for them too. I’ve spent about half my life in Africa, and that’s one of my favorite things Malawians do. They never leave a man to build his home alone, but together -- out of the mire and clay -- they lift a house. On this side of the Atlantic we don’t think much about needing the village, because we try to do it alone.

One of my great passions is to see an end to extreme poverty. It sounds audacious, but I think it was Jeffry Sachs’ writing that first convinced me it can be done. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University (The End of Poverty), says by the year 2025 we can end extreme poverty. Some call Sachs the smartest man in the world – I think they’re right. He has used his “shock economics” to turn fledging economies around.1 And he‘s convinced that if affluent nations and people pool their resources -- and it only takes one percent of our wealth -- we can end the plight of the poorest of the poor. The effort, however, must be massive and concentrated.

As we talk about ending extreme poverty, I would advocate that we point our attention toward Africa, and here’s the reason. Bono has famously said, “There is a continent—Africa—being consumed by flames. When the history books are written this generation will be known for the Internet, the war on terror and what we did—or did not do—to put the fire out in Africa. We must engage as individuals and communities to confront these issues.”2 Bono is right, the world’s landscape is peppered with dire places and people, but the most desperate are in Africa. I was doing an interview with a radio station in Ohio when the host opened it up to callers. As soon as he did a man phoned in and said, “I’m calling to say I disagree with you Palmer. I don’t think people need to go to places like Africa to meet the needs of this world, we have enough problems right here in Ohio.” “Really?” I asked, with skepticisms heavy in my voice. “In Ohio are women chain to trees and sold into slavery, because that’s what happening in Sudan? In Ohio do starving parents trade their toddlers for a bag of maize in the dry season, because that’s what’s happening in Malawi? In Ohio are eight-year-old boys forced to carry guns and kill their own families, because that’s what’s happening in Uganda? In Ohio do babies die every thirty seconds from malaria, because that’s what happening across the continent of Africa? The fires are burning in Africa, that’s the reason our passions, abilities, and resources must be poured out there. I believe the reason we have been unable to put out the fires in Africa is because we haven’t fought them with enough fire hoses. If your house is burning, one hose will not put the fire out. But what if you doused the flames with a hundred hoses? That’s why we must collaborate, and make our efforts massive and concentrated. And we don’t have to give or do enough to make poor countries or poor people rich; we simply have to do enough to help them get their foot on the first rung of the economic ladder. When countries get their foot on the ladder of development they generally are able to climb upwards. But if a country or person is trapped below the ladder and the first rung is too high off the ground, they can’t even get started.

And here’s where it begins, with individuals giving their their lives away to change what’s broken in this world. It starts with one farmer in Ohio show a farmer in Malawi how to irrigate more effectively. It starts with churches, and circle-of-friends, and communities adopting one village to give them clean water. It starts with countries caring about other countries and putting medical facilities in every region. It starts with one person.That one person is you.

COLLABORATE AND SHARE My challenge to the church – Christians everywhere – is to collaborate and share. When we begin to pool our resources, and abilities, and passion we can make right what is wrong in this world.
Share Everything In Robert Fulghum’s memorable essay, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, he makes a list of all the life-long lessons he learned in kindergarten. My favorite lesson on his list is, Share Everything. In the Bible, Luke writes of a moment when a frustrated man approaches Jesus and pleads, “Jesus, tell my bother to share with me!” 4 In response Jesus tells this story: A man has a huge harvest, more than he will ever be able to eat. In fact, he probably has enough to last the rest of his life. But instead of sharing, he builds bigger barns. He doesn’t need it and still he won’t share it! And then something highly unexpected happens… he dies. Jesus’ point is, share! Share everything. It’s just stuff.I don’t know what it is for you that God is telling you to share, but you know. We all know.

Share What You do Best God gifts each of us with unique and beautiful passions and abilities. Use them for God. I was recently in Malawi with Steve, a US Airways pilot from my church. He led our team that spent two weeks loving orphans of AIDS. Steve brought stacks of Xerox paper. In every village where they cared for children, Steve spent his time teaching kids how to build and fly paper airplanes. Share what you do best. Dustin is twenty-four and repairs motorcycles for a living. So when I was recruiting dirt-bikers to ride the jungle trails of Liberia to give away 2,000 pairs of shoes -- that people of The Grove left behind on our Barefoot Sunday -- I called Dustin first. He said yes in a heartbeat. Last summer Dustin and nine others, spent two weeks sloshing down muddy trails on dirt-bikes, in the middle of rainy season, to give shoes away to people recovering from a devastating civil war. Share what you do best. Jack is an architect in Phoenix. Sometimes he draws churches. When I told Jack I was heading to Haiti with a team to rebuild a pastor’s house and church, after the earthquake, he said, “I’ll draw the building plans for you.” “Ah, that would be great Jack,” I answered, “but I’m sorry to say we don’t have money to pay an architect.” “No Palmer, I’m not asking to be paid, I want to make my drawings a gift to the people of Haiti,” Jack explained. But Jack didn’t want to draw the buildings in Phoenix, he said he needed to meet the Pastor and hear from his people. So Jack flew to Haiti with us and sat under tarps on Bellevue de Montagne listening to the dreams of a people hoping to put their country back together again. Now, with Jack’s drawings in hand, we start building their dreams this Christmas. Share what you do best. I think your life shines brightest when you are sharing what you do best.

Share Your Life Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower… take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.” 5 That’s the really hard one, sharing your life. But that’s the call of the Christ follower. He wants more than “belief,” more than a “decision.” He wants more than your money – sometimes giving money gets us off the hook -- or your things… He wants your life. On this side of the Atlantic, we are a blessed people. Like the man who built barns, we have a lot, we know a lot, we can do a lot. And when that’s the case, the God of the Bible says, Turn your blessing into a blessing for others. That’s how he said it Abraham, “I will bless you… and you will be a blessing… and all people on earth will be blessed through you.” 6 God said that to Abraham, now he says that to you… because one man cannot lift a house.

Notes:
1. Jeffery Sachs The End of Poverty. New York. Penguin Press. 2005.
2. Bono, quoted by Scott Morrison (speech, Parliament, London, England, February 14, 2008).
3. Mark 2:1-12
4. Luke 12
5. Matthew 16:24-26
6. Genesis 12:2-3

Expanding Ministry in the D.R.

Hello again!

This fall I have ventured into the world of architecture and construction. Strange, considering I have no knowledge of either field. As our ministry in the Dominican grows, our facility and capacity needs to grow as well. What a wonderful problem, to have so many people wanting to serve the children that we have run out of room! Each year we send on average 300-350 participants to the D.R. who serve in a number of ways. More people are constantly signing up to go - which is great! So now our goal is to fit and feed them all.

We are expanding Casa Bethesda (COTN-DR ministry site). The expansion is broken into three important phases:

- Phase 1: Kitchen renovation. A new, industrial sized kitchen will enable us to cook for our increasing number of guests, and provide great on the job training for COTN teens studying Tourism.

- Phase 2: Dining Hall. A dining hall will provide a great location for our guests to eat, and will keep them out of the hot Dominican sun.

- Phase 3: Additional housing. This new building will provide beautiful living quarters for our participants who serve with us for longer periods of time.

For some unknown reason, I have been entrusted with the responsibility of leading this charge. Thank you Jesus for providing so many amazing volunteers to help! Architect John Drake of Green Apple Architecture has given his time to develop floor plans for phases 1 and 2. (photos below). In addition, architects Justin Towart and John Aprati also spent countless hours volunteering their time to create the plans for phase 3. We couldn't do this without them! Other important players in this project are Gregg and Jo Hopkins. (see my Dec 2010 post for more on them). Gregg and Jo are generously helping in the fundraising process by sharing this expansion with their networking circle so that we have the resources needed.

I can't say it enough - thank you to all who are helping! Please join us in prayer as we complete this mission. Please pray for funds to come in, and that our newly remodeled mission site will be a blessing to those serving, as well as the children being served. If you would like to give directly to the Casa Expansion Project, you can easily do so by clicking here. Thanks for reading!

Malawi, Africa trip - August 2011

Below I have some photos and a wonderful video of our trip to Malawi, Africa. We went with a team of folks from Summit Church to run a camp for special needs children - similar to our trip to the Dominican. This time we took the children and their care givers out of their villages (many for the first time ever) and brought them to a resort where we held a camp to teach them about how they are loved by Jesus. Enjoy!

Check out our MALAWI TRIP VIDEO :)

Container arriving to the D.R.

hello everyone!
In June we sent a container full of supplies and donations to the Dominican Republic. It was full of supplies for Casa Bethesda, school books and food for our children. COTN staff member, Fraser Ratzlaff, had the privilege of being there when the container arrived. Check out the video!

CONTAINER ARRIVES

Our trip to the Dominican Republic

Here are some pictures from our trip with Summit Church to the Dominican Republic. Our team consisted of leaders and students from Summit's High School Student Ministries. We held a day camp for the special needs children of COTN's program. We had a great time playing all sorts of games with them.


Also, check out our DR TRIP VIDEO :)

Cleaning the DR

Well, it has been an eventful couple of weeks. We had our Band Together concert, and a good time was had by all. Last week we were able to get the AWESOME donations from Clean the World. The children in the Dominican Republic will be so blessed when their supplies arrive. Clean the World generously gave us:
- 15,063 bars of soap
- 15,300 hotel bottles of shampoo
- 7,900 hotel bottles of lotion
- 5,400 hotel bottles of body wash
- 18,500 hotel bottles of conditioner
How amazing? Check out the pictures!

We are praying that we can send a container to the DR this spring. Please pray with us! We have enough donations to fill a 40 foot shipping container but we need to raise $6,000 to send it. I'll keep you posted. Stop back soon for more!

Band Together: A concert for Africa

Join us at the concert as we raise funds for the COTN FL office!

The COTN office in Florida is looking forward to an exciting year in 2011 - sending Venture teams to serve in our countries, gathering donations and shipping them oversees, and much more. Come out and support the office by enjoying a fun concert. Tell everyone.

Movin' on up

Thank you to all of the people who have generously given to my ministry at COTN. I am at 58% of my support goal for 2011! Thank you, also, to those who have been praying.

That's not all the good news. Thanks to Kristina Miller, one of these amazing donors, I have been introduced to an organization called Clean the World. They collect unfinished bars of soap from hotels across the country, sterilize and reshape it and donate it to those in third world countries who need it. This then prevents many life threatening illnesses that can be easily avoided with a simple bar of soap. It's a fantastic organization and you should check them out. Well, Clean the World has agreed to donate about 15,000 bars of soap to COTN! We will be sending these bars to the Dominican Republic in our spring shipping container. Hopefully we will then be able to send a container and get more soap to Africa as well. They dropped off the first batch today! .. Most excellent.

In addition to the support raising and soap collecting, I have had a great deal of time to work on new standard operation procedures for Casa Bethesda. Please be in prayer for the development of these new S.O.P.s so we can begin our Hospitality internship program and train our students! I am very excited for the ways that this can encourage and empower our staff and students. High fives all around, thanks for reading my update. Happy 2011

Our first Hospitality team!

That's right. This November we had our first official Hospitality team travel to the Dominican Republic. Gregg and Jo Hopkins went down with their son Matthew. The Hopkins learned about the Hospitality program through COTN's Praise & Prayer newsletter. Hooray for people reading our publications! Gregg has spent the greater portion of his life working in the industry. Currently, he is one of the owners of Libra OnDemand which provides customer relationship management technology specific for the hotel industry.

Their time was spent touring our property and villages, as well as visiting our children and meeting with the staff. They had the opportunity to sit down with Wendy Mejia, who runs Casa Bethesda (Our facility where teams stay and the future training ground for our Hospitality program) and brainstorm ideas for how to make the Casa the best it can be. Now that they have returned to the states, the Hopkins will begin sharing this vision with others they know in the industry to get more people involved.

I've shared some pictures from their trip. I will keep you updated on our progress. Thanks for reading!

(Pictures: Top- Jo and Matthew with their sponsor children Natalie and Anthony and their friends. Middle- Gregg and Matthew visiting the schools. Bottom- Hopkins and some of our DR staff)

The Transition

Many of you have heard it.. COTN is undergoing a HUGE transition. Both internally and externally. Our underlying goals are three fold:
- To go deeper with our children
- To go deeper with our staff
- To go deeper with our partners

We are doing this in several different ways, and I'd love to share with you! Email me (jennadenard@cotni.org) if you are interested in meeting and hearing more about these exciting new topics:

- My new role on staff- I will continue my Hospitality work, as well as doing more resource collecting. In addition, I will be transitioning out of the Venture Admin and into a Venture Representative role where I work more directly with people who are taking a Venture trip.
- Our new structure
- Our two new countries! LIBERIA AND HAITI

Lastly, we now have individual staff pages on the website!
Click here to visit mine

Have a great day, and stayed tuned for my latest update letter which will be on the way soon!

What's the latest?

Imagine yourself traveling with eight high school students to a third world country to serve in poverty stricken villages for a week. Now add on the fact that it's the Caribbean in the heat of July. Sound fun? Well it was! We took Summit Student Ministries back to the Dominican for a second time. I will admit, it was a bit taxing leading high school students. However, all of the exhaustion goes away when you step off the bus and see dozens of adorable children reaching out for someone to hold their hand and play with them. Now I'm about to show you a picture of the cutest girl you've ever seen, but first lets talk about the trip.

We returned for our second year of beautification projects at the schools. We spent time cleaning and doing yard work so the students could have a safe, welcoming environment to return to in the fall. We also were given the opportunity to walk through the villages and visit the homes of some families. The families visited all have children in COTN's program, but have a difficult time getting to school because their parents work during the day and they need to stay home and care for their younger siblings. They welcomed us in and told us about their lives. The team really enjoyed themselves, and the kids enjoyed having someone take interest in them

All in all, it was a good trip. How can it not be when smiling kids run in complete excitement to see you each day. I made a friend on this trip. Her name is Emily. She's the cutest girl I mentioned above. We spent time playing together every day. Emily lives in Pueblo Nuevo. Our last day there, the team entered with a bitter sweet feeling. Sweet, because we had another morning to be with our new friends. Bitter, because it was our last. As I walked off the bus, I scanned the crowd for her. Just when I walked out the door I saw her head poke through the other kids. She squeezed her way in front of everyone and her eyes widen with joy as she looked up at me. In her hands she held a gift. She had cut the bottom off of a coke bottle, filled it with rocks and put fresh flowers inside. When I took my final step off she extended her arms as far as she could, grinning ear to ear with excitement to give me my present.

Now you tell me she's not the cutest ever...

Prayer Requests

Please join me in prayer for

• COTN as our Sr. level management team is praying and working through lots of new and potentially exciting changes for the organization

• A couple who works with Hospitality technology and is interested in partnering with us! They hope to travel to the DR this fall to see Casa Bethesda. My prayer is they would be able to set us up with an electronic reservation system and help us network with others in the industry

• The tourism classes at our skills center in the DR. Pray specifically that teens and young adults would learn tourism and find opportunities for careers. Upon completion of their courses they will have a well known certification in tourism

COTN Dominican wish list. Do you have items to donate?

One man's trash is another man's treasure. Alright, well not in this case. We are not actually looking for trash but we are looking for donations! If you've been thinking to yourself lately "Wow, we have all this extra stuff and really need to get rid of it," you're in the right place! As we continue to make improvement to our mission house in the Dominican, our search goes on for needed supplies. Below is our wish list. If you have, or know anyone who has anything below please contact me! jennabishop@cotni.org

- Shelves/Dressers ***
- China cabinet***
- Shower curtains and rods***
- Desk ***
- Filing cabinet**
- Twin size mattresses **
- Phone (land line) **
- Toilet paper holders **
- Push trays for cleaners **
- New small trash cans **
- Little sewing machine **
- Chaffing dishes with sternos *
- Flashlights *
- Large deep ceramic casserole dish *
- End table
- Punch bowl *
- Large electric frying pan *
- Decorations for our bakery at the skills center *

Volunteer Celebration

Picture it.

June 19, 2010. Orlando Florida. Tourism capital of the world, home of Mickey Mouse, the hustle and bustle of an average Saturday. A six person satellite branch of COTN eagerly awaits the arrival of their guests. Who are these guests, you ask?

COTN-FL 2010
Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon
OFFICE OLYMPICS

COTN Annual 5K run!

That's right! It's that time of the year again. We are holding our annual 5K race which goes to fund the education program in our countries. How exciting. We are hoping for 500 people to come out and run! If you are free, join us.

JULY 24, 2010. 7:30 a.m. start
Winter Springs town Center
registration link: http://www.frontrunningsports.com/2010/03/29/run-for-africa-5k/

It will be a great day of fun, supporting a wonderful cause. Education for young children who need a way for it to be provided to them. Spread the word.

Hundreds of people travel abroad to serve orphans!

The summer is almost here (and not to mention my wedding!!)

We are gearing up for our busiest season, where hundreds of people give their time to love and serve our staff and children. This summer we have 26 teams heading into Malawi, Sierra Leone, Uganda and the Dominican Republic. With teams plus interns, there will be around 400 participants helping to build the Kingdom of God in third world countries.

This means it's time to make sure Casa Bethesda is at its best. When team members come back from a hard day's work in the blazing heat, we want them to be able to take a dip in the pool, eat a delicious meal and get a full nights rest. We've been in search of blankets or bedspreads for our rooms. (Yes, praise God, there is air conditioning). Just this week I got a call back from Rosen Hotels saying they have 40 blankets and 40 bedspreads to donate to the Casa. What an answer to prayer!

Thanks everyone for listening in to hear what's going on. Stay tuned for updates this summer of the great work all these people are doing.

A Child's Story - Antoine of Haiti

Antoine perched herself in front of her family’s television. She couldn’t believe that she got to watch it all by herself today! Her three older siblings were playing at a friend’s house, her mom was out selling goods on the street, and her father was in the other room with the neighbors who were visiting.

The rambunctious 6-year-old had just gotten home from school. She thought about her day. She had done lots of drawing, which was one of her favorite things to do at school. And she had played dolls with her friends. She snuggled up to watch a show just as the ground beneath her began to shake. She looked around, panicked, not understanding what was going on as cracks started forming in the walls and ceiling around her. Antoine screamed to her father in the next room out of the terror rising in her gut. What was happening? She could hear her father yelling to her, yelling that he was coming to get her. But she couldn’t see him. Where was he? She tried to move, to get outside, but the walls of her house began to cascade down from the shaking ground and Antoine soon found herself under the cement blocks—she cried out in pain and fear. Her legs were throbbing in pain and she couldn’t move them. She lay there—underneath block upon block—the trembling ground finally still beneath her.

She heard her father, Bolivar calling to her and giving her words of comfort. He quickly lifted the pieces of wall off of his little girl, pressing his face and arms against the sharp pieces and pushing them out of the way—his cheeks bleeding in the process. She was there—his daughter was there! And she was alive.

Antoine couldn’t move her legs—her father tried to hold her and she screamed out in pain. Why did it hurt so much? He clutched her close to quickly get her out of the crumbled house, where the visiting neighbors remained—both dead from the home crashing down on them.

Outside, Antoine saw her mom come running down the street of rubble, through so many people. Her siblings were also soon there—a few had minor injuries, but as she listened to their stories of what just happened, they had been able to run out of the home they were in.

Bolivar couldn’t stop looking at Antoine in his arms. How had this happened to his little girl? His heart was worried. Her legs were limp and her pelvic bone shifted when he tried to carry her—she screamed in pain. He knew she needed a doctor, but where would he find one now?

The family all slept on the street that night—together—for safety and for comfort. “The next day, an American found us,” Bolivar recalls, “and brought us to Jimani in the Dominican Republic.”

Leaving her mother and her three siblings in their section of town called Delmas 30, Antoine and her father showed up at Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani in desperate need. Every time Antoine moved, she felt pain in her legs and hips. How could she stay still? What would the doctors do to her? Would she ever feel better again? Examined by doctors at the hospital, they determined Antoine had a fractured pelvis, however they had no X-ray machine* to be sure. They lined up her bones the best they could and put a cast on her hips and legs—she and Bolivar remained, depending on the nurses and doctors who came by to check on her every few hours. The little girl’s pain was still fierce.

At Jimani more than 10 days, Bolivar was unsure if his daughter was getting any better. There were so many people who needed care; Antoine just lay there in her cast. She tried to smile at her dad to cheer him up, but sometimes she just couldn’t muster up a grin.

COTN medical team leader Dr. Vicki Sakata determined that Antoine was in need of more focused and critical care, so she asked Bolivar if they would come to COTN’s clinic in Barahona where she could be cared for in a more sterile, clean environment. He agreed, though it meant that they would be farther away from their family in Haiti. He looked down at Antoine and didn’t think there was much choice.

Once at COTN’s clinic in Barahona, the surgeons who were part of COTN’s medical team immediately took off her old, urine-soaked pelvic caste and replaced it with a new one. Antoine looked down at it after she got out of surgery. The caste was red. One of my favorite colors, she though to herself. She looked over at her father, sitting next to her. He looked tired, but some of the worry was gone from his eyes. That made her happy. Her pain wasn’t as bad as it had been a few days ago. Maybe being here in this new place was good, Antoine thought. “Antoine is doing okay now. She was suffering, but now she is okay,” Bolivar said through an interpreter. “I am really happy with the care that you are giving her.”

As Antoine begins to sit up in a chair, fill up a coloring book with vibrant pictures and laugh out loud—showing her huge, joyful smile—there is hope in her healing and her uplifted spirit at COTN’s medical clinic. Bolivar is grateful and more relaxed, though he still thinks about his wife and three children who are by themselves back in Haiti. “I don’t even know where they are,” he said.

by Laura Brost, COTN–USA staff writer

Visit the COTN website for pictures on this story and more stories like it!

http://www.cotni.org/articles/328-a-child-s-story-antoine-of-haiti

We made the website

Children of the Nations writer Laura Brost highlighted our Hospitality Program on the COTN website this week. Go here to check it out!

http://www.cotni.org/news/398-hospitality-training-in-the-dominican-republic

Annual Homecoming time

Each April our entire US staff unites in Washington state for a time of fellowship and learning. The trip consisted of three different events (with some time for visiting friends here and there). The first few days were spent with my department, the Venture Department. A couple of us hopped around Seattle and hit the hot spots on day one. Next we had a "Venture Fun Day" and went rock climbing. On a real rock! On a real mountain! How amazing. Yes, I may have been the tiniest bit scared, but not too much. Then we had a training retreat for all of the awesome people who have volunteered their summers to be in one of our countries hosting teams or interns. We stayed at a neat cabin in the woods where I may or may not have jumped in a really nasty duck pond for $15. (You would have done the same thing). Besides our most important training times, we went mini golfing and caught a Mariners Vs. Tigers game. Mariners won. I-CHI-RO!

After the Venture weekend came to a close, we headed to Seabeck for an all staff spiritual retreat. It's a blessing to be given time to be together and just enjoy each other- No talk of work, just plain community. I really had a chance to get to know people better.

We finished the week with our all staff conference. Chris Clark, the International President, shared the vision of COTN with us again, and offered encouragement with updates from all of the countries. Praise Jesus, we now have a Country Director in the Dominican Republic. All in all, a successful week. Stay tuned for more posts with encouraging children's stories.

The best is yet to come

We're on our fourth work day here and I can't believe how much we are getting done. A big round of applause to all of my supporters. Without you this would not be possible. I've been in the process of creating a paper reservation system for the Casa so they can better serve and manage our guests. We serve a variety of guests; from teams coming to care for our children in the villages to locals having weddings and birthday parties. We hope that once everyone is familiar with this system we can transition on to an electronic one. This week I was able to introduce everyone to our brand new reservation system, and they loved it. We also came up with new and fun ideas for our little gift shop, and more improvements we want to make to this great hospitality house.

The most exciting thing of all- As of now we are set to start our first tourism class for some teens in our villages this April! COTN partners with an institution called Infotep. Infotep works with different NGOs to promote education. They run courses, provide teachers and give materials to our students. We have just added tourism and hospitality to the list of courses provided. Once the students complete their class, we will offer them an internship at Casa Bethesda where they can get on the job training. Praise God! How amazing.

I'm so excited to come back in July and see our progress!