Day 8-Friday 

Team 3-Ashleigh, Katie, Steph, Meg and John.

Our apologies for the delay in posting. It seems the only thing we feel like doing when we get back is sleeping!

We started by splitting up into two groups. Group 1 went next-door to the Library where we spent time reading and being read to by the kids from the local school. It was really great to spend this quality time with them and we were amazed with how well most could read. Meanwhile, Group 2 (Steph, Katie, Erin, Meg, Hannah and Sarah) ventured up the road to the Hope Centre which is a birthing clinic. This clinic provides support and education for pregnant women and young mothers of the local community. While we were there we tried to bless them by massaging and washing their feet and painting their toe nails. We all failed with painting their nails but nothing felt greater than seeing their smiles on their faces. Time was also spent helping set up their Christmas party and handing out gifts to expecting mothers.  In the meantime, Group 1 also travelled an hour away to do a feeding program in a local slum.  It was one of the most intense feeding we've done and it was really heartbreaking to see how desperate some of the kids were getting as we prepared to leave. We wish we could just stay here for so much longer but its just not possible. We are grateful however, that we have had this chance to do what we can.

This challenging but rewarding morning was too quickly followed by a trip down into the Pit of Despair. After a year of hard work from many different people, we had the "privilege" of removing the last truckload of mud (and other matter) from the pit. It was hard work for our small group especially as there were kids playing in the finished part of the pool. There were also a number of casualties including Toby's pants... As the last bucket was shovelled we couldn't have felt better.


After a chance to rest, we had an early dinner before heading up the hill to Faith Academy to watch an incredibly intense basketball game. It felt like we were in America.

Following the game, we discovered our night activity was in fact a trip to the local World of Fun i.e Timezone. To our delight we discovered the gear stick on the car racing machines were configured for right hand drivers! At the end we combined all our prize tickets including the ones Ashleigh won in a dance-off (DDR) against a very young and eager local boy! These tickets enabled us to collect 35 animal topped pens which we will give to the children at the home Saturday night.  The staff were very gracious willing to staying behind after they closed to count all our tickets. (1500approx) The night ended with a trip to Starbuck where we also did our daily debrief.

Please keep us all in your prayers as we near the end of our journey as we are starting to feel fatigued. Despite this, we are all still eager to stay and continue working with those here.


God bless