Opening of the new club room at the Mountain and the house in San Blas

Last week was a busy week with the opening of both the new club room at the mountain and the house in San Blas! We are really chuffed that both events could take place before our trip home to the UK. The event at the mountain included a distribution of clothing to local families, including some more of the jumpers from the knitting project, a performance of songs in English by the children from the club, music from our church worship group and a meal of spaghetti bolognese for all the 120+ people who came! We were very pleased that nearly all the children brought at least one parent with them. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed money, labour, and other resources for this project. Here are a few photos of the event, plus you can click here for more.












San Blas has already had a number of guests and it is still an ongoing project, but with the completion of the painting of the guest rooms now seemed a good time to invite our friends round to see the place. It was an informal afternoon with snacks and a chance to look round. Next year we will have to have another opening event for the cafe area! We have a big team of volunteers coming to stay after Christmas so we are just sorting out buying extra beds before we leave so that Jed and Jaime will be able to host them. Again, here are some photos, plus you can click here for more.

October News from the Mountain Project

Work continues on the club room and toilets and although progress has been a little slow we are excited that it’s all now coming together. As you can see from the photo, the ceiling is nearly complete and the wood floor is nearly finished too. Pastor Americo has also decided to knock through a side wall so that we can have an adjoining office and storage area which will be so helpful. In the bathroom, the pipes are all in for the toilets, sink and a shower and the tiles have been put in.

We are planning to have an ‘opening’ event on 22nd October when the children will sing some of the English songs they have learned and we will have an exhibition of some of their art work. We hope lots of their parents will come. That week we also hope to complete questionnaires with the families in order to help us decide the priorities for work in the community next year.

These last few weeks we have been holding the club in the Pastor’s house as it has been windy and, at times, wet and cold, making it difficult to continue outside. It is a little cramped in the house, but often some of the kids play volleyball outside, or take part in the sports challenge programme I have put together for them in the undercover area. Our themes for English and the Arts and Crafts have been ‘Food’ and ‘Families’.

Volunteers recently have come from the USA, Canada and Germany, and in addition to the language schools ‘Fair Play’, ‘San Blas’ and ‘Amauta’, we have started working with ‘Maximo Nivel’. We have enough staff now to continue until a couple of weeks after I leave in November. We’re a little unsure what will happen over the last part of term and summer holiday period (Dec – Feb) but Pastor Americo and Mary are planning something special for Christmas and a holiday club in January, so there will at least be something, even if not the daily club. I already have some enquiries about people wanting to come and work with us next year!

Another positive development is that the Bible Club on Saturdays has been going a lot better. I have helped the girls with resources and ideas and we have begun to use some of the money raised in the UK for help with nutrition (donations given as part of the jumper project) to give them a healthy snack each Saturday.

For more photos of the project click here.

More pictures will follow soon after the room has been painted and we have had the opening event next week.