It is with great pleasure that I relay the results of our 6th mission trip to Stir the Fire International! It was a wonderful 7 days of service to the children and supporters of the program.
There’s probably no better way to start than with a list of accomplishments:
- 81 church women were served with medical presentations, blood pressure, and glucose screenings, nail painting, and the opportunity to make a sock puppet. In addition, the ladies went home with a supply of cooking oil and rice provided by your donations.
- 500 eyeglasses were distributed.
- Over 700 children (345 at Twapia and 371 at Baluba) received a deworming and over half received health exams.
- 9 laptop computers were donated to the teachers (7 at Twapia, and 2 at Baluba).
- 144 shorts and 152 dresses were distributed to the children of Baluba (much more impoverished). Many more were left there to be given out as needed. Some of the teachers also received dresses and were thrilled!
- 14 fruit trees, grape vines, and strawberry plants were purchased for the garden. Surveying and farm visits were very successful, and a 5-year plan for the garden is being configured. A solar light was installed for the gardener who lives there, and he was thrilled for the opportunity to have light after dark!
- Meredith also made a small clear plastic portable planter for each classroom. It will be each class’s responsibility to tend to and they can learn about the growth and root structure of a plant.
- $500 worth of medical supplies were purchased for use at the school, and a room was allocated for use as a nurse’s station with the intent of saving money on health costs by performing more minor procedures and exams at the school. We have one former teacher named Ruth who is in nursing school now and at the completion of school will return to teach and be our nurse as well. Until that time she will visit the school as needed to help, as will Shastry, who is Pastor John’s son.
- 904 books were purchased and installed in the new library! You know it’s a good thing when your teachers are brought to tears! We had grand intentions and time invested in establishing an Excel spreadsheet to catalog the books, but God would have other plans, and it was left that the books are a gift and will need to be inventoried on a yearly basis to maintain accountability.
- Our teachers Sherrie, Christina, and Alyssa observed classrooms when they weren’t perfecting the library. They used a standard form for evaluating the teachers and reported NO CONCERNS for any of our teachers. They are excellent!
- Billy and McKenzie put on a youth program to discuss faith and the fruit of the Spirit. They had expected 20–30 youth but there were over 100! Afterward, soccer balls and frisbees were unleashed on the crowd, and let’s just say it was a bit dangerous to be standing there!
- Children’s uniforms were in poor shape and were repaired as we read books to the kids. Connie and Jeannete each picked a favorite book to read—over and over! I think children there are still saying “hee haw” after hearing the story of the Wonky Donkey!
- Landon worked with our groundskeeper on plumbing issues and did lots of minor repairs.
And the icing on the cake was, of course, time spent with these wonderful people and children. Smiles abound the entire time we are there, so much so that it is hard to leave! So hard.
Monica and Sherry did a fabulous job of preparing this team for service, and we hit the ground running. It was a joy to watch God’s people serve God’s people. And I think we came home more blessed than ever before.
God bless you for your support over the years. There were many times that we were told that this school woulnd’t exist—and these smiles wouldn’t exist—without the American base of support. They are SO very grateful.
Check out our gallery for more pictures!
