Today, we got to participate with more of the community. People came throughout the morning to help wherever needed. Many of us were mixing cement and one woman, Maria, never took a break. Elsa (another chaperone, who was incredibly helpful at translating for us!), Nancy, and I kept having to stop because the shoveling was too much for our backs. I learned how to set cement blocks from Sheldon (another chaperone, and expert builder who has lead many mission trips to Kenya to help build a hospital), which was cool. He seems to really enjoy seeing how buildings are built in different places. It seems like the more time I spend with him, the more I like him. After lunch we went to one of the community learning centers to interact with some kids. We played games, colored, and got to take a tour of another school that Seeds of Learning (SOL) is working on. When SOL first came to Villa Japon 2 years ago, there was only a two classroom school. They built a second and the community ended up doubling their enrollment. Now, they are building a third 3-classroom building because the high school kids can only attend school on Saturdays due to the fact that every classroom is currently housing 2 classes - a morning shift and an afternoon shift. The hope is to be able to have enough rooms in order to ensure that kids stay in school all day because kids are less likely to attend if they have to attend the afternoon shift. It was really interesting to interact with the kids because they were so accepting of us all. One boy, Bryce, insisted on coloring with me. Then he took Alicia's phone and took a selfie with me. The kids also made us friendship bracelets. Such a great day.
David (one of our youth), Elsa (top right), and Nancy (bottom left) playing Jenga with one of the kids of Villa Japon.
Me with one of the children from Villa Japon.
Axie (middle), one of our youth, interacting with some of the children from Villa Japon.
Claudine (one of our youth) helps a boy from Villa Japon with his Math homework.
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