don't you need a table runner?

I could not BE more proud of these women. They seem so wise and so much older than me but honestly, I think I am at least ten years older than most of them. Except maybe M, I think she’s 30. Their lives are like nothing I can imagine and I admire their drive and tenacity and faith and joy. I love to watch their friendship and how they care for each other. They know and understand real community in a way that all of us need to know. They share and give and have each others’ backs. They forgive, support and encourage one another. And they NEVER stop talking. We have finally finished those dern pinafores and they are quite cute. I will show you. We are going to go to the Preschool tomorrow to see them hand them out to the children. I am so proud of my employees for digging in and making them and learning something new. 

I met with a business planner yesterday. Last week as I drove to the afternoon vocational school class, the tiny prayer entered my head, “God I need a business planner." He gave me one within the hour. She was volunteering in class, is British, does projections for a huge company in England and is a genius. We sat down with fabric and ran numbers. She showed me what we need to sell to break even and what would yield a good profit. So now I have a good idea in my head of what we need to produce each month and a much better understanding of what we need to do to keep these 5 people employed. That is my main goal at this moment. With bi-monthly payments and a little bit of financial consultation and budget creating, I know we can help create better lives for these 5 people. 

Meanwhile, we have boys completing their internship at Kauri today. I am so proud of them too. They worked LONG days. Rofi would go to school in the morning and then work in the afternoon until 11pm. They are going to receive letters of recommendation from the general manager there which will speak volumes here in helping them get a job in the restaurant/tourism/hospitality industry. I am expecting good things. Rofi wrote this on his Facebook page this week, “It's very nice to see the people praising what we do. And over the all when we heard that keep working hard. You will see that one day you will be the best”. He is learning that hard work pays off and I am learning that a little encouragement goes a long way. A lot of what these boys need is simply to be loved and encouraged, to have someone SEE them. I see it happen every day. A boy on the street will look at me with cold, hard eyes. All I have to do is smile and go up to him and ask his name or crack a joke and suddenly I have gained a friend. It is all too often though that I don’t stop. I ignore the stares and keep going. I don’t know why. Lazy I guess. Introverted, in my own world, and maybe a little bit selfish. But enough about me.

I could do none of this without the help of Tim & Andrea. I can’t believe I finally have HELP! They both just went back to England but only for a short while and they will be back soon. The plan is to open a small cafe’. This is something we have been wanting to do for a long, long time. We want to have our own small business to train and employ our students. Tim will teach from the ASDAN course (life skills) and Adele will arrive to resume 3 month English language modules. In addition, we hope to soon be sending our students to Mama Twyla’s for computer classes to learn Microsoft Office, learn to type and create their own resumes/CV’s. 

So this is why you rarely hear from me. We have started a small business and the vocational school continues to progress. The weather here has been windy and so mild, I don’t even want to talk about it for fear that it will change. We’ve had “clean” running water for the past 72 hours. Fearing that too may be too good to be true. I will be “home” in Georgia as soon as it gets sultry here and look forward to autumn and tennis with the old folks. Meanwhile I’ve got to brush up on my Makua so I can join the sewing ladies in their gossip tomorrow.