Lesotho

Today some of us were at Good Shepard finishing up our projects from the day before. Good Shepard is a home for teen mothers and their children where they are able to receive education, child care, and much more. During our time we had been working on repainting and repairing the playground as well as setting up new clothes lines. It was really amazing to see the progress from yesterday when we were there and today. The playground is now bright and colorful which as everyone was saying will make every child’s face light up. 

We also got the opportunity to meet with a member of the Bountiful Hope Foundation which works closely with Good Shepard. She and the sisters spoke about how the foundation was started and what they do overall. For me this was a very special moment as I have a special connection to Bountiful Hope. Meeting the people that my extended family is able to work with so often in their lives was incredible. They were able to show us the church that was just built for the community to use which was just beautiful. Being able to meet these people and hear about their favorite memories with my family was truly amazing and I am just so thankful I got to experience! P.S. Paul and Cindy if you are reading this everyone wanted me to let you know they say hello!

- Michaela Malone

Today at God’s Love Centre, an orphanage and preschool, we resumed our work from the day before. Yesterday was a very productive day. A majority of the painting at the Centre was already completed and it was a job well done today. The walls were painted with vibrant colors which included hand prints from the kids. It was really cool to have the kids at to the art work. The paintings also included the alphabet on the wall next to the preschool with God’s Love Centre written above. On the wall of the orphanage, a tree with bees and flowers was painted with the numbers one through twenty painted onto the flowers. The kids loved the paintings and were interacting with them before they were even finished!

The other project for the day was to continue constructing the playground for the orphanage. The kids were very excited to see the playground go up as more parts were added today. The floor/platform was nailed in and along with slide, latter and roof. The monkey bars and swings are not quite finished yet. We also added in some safety rails to make sure the kids would be safe on top of platform. When we were leaving at the end of the day, the kids were eager to start using the playground but the building manger told them it wasn’t finished yet. We’re all very excited to see the kids enjoy the playground for the first time when it’s all finished.

P.S. Rachel, Brian, Jack and Kat, if your reading this I love you and I’m eating enough and drinking melted ice!

-Quinn McConkey