Day Four: A Day of Work

Today was a day of work, to help enhance the workspace of Stitching Hope. Our group split up into several work groups…some assembling drawers and cabinets that will be installed for the women to have extra working space and store their kitchen items. Others took on the task of painting the exterior of the Stitching Hope building. Others met with local water system operators, engineers and consultants to review the progress on making the water distibution system self sufficient and sustaining. Yet others took a trip to Leon to purchase ingredients for our cooking lesson exchange that we will experience tomorrow on a day trip to Miramar. (Details and photos of that tomorrow!)

I was on the painting crew, led by our painting captain Dave Strauch. Don Grauer, Susi Kawolics, Alyssa Zimmerman and I followed orders and as a team, we did a pretty good job!

Indoors, I had the opportunity to watch the women of Stitching Hope at work. It was fantastic to see the process as they hand painted fabric and prepared the different garments! I was introduced to their products this past summer. They are absolutely beautiful…I’ll post a couple of samples if I can. The women take great care and pride in their work, and each piece is one-of-a-kind. In the future, every time I see one of their products, I will see the faces and hands of these lovely young women who worked so hard to create each piece.

This evening is very quiet…we are missing five of our people. No, they are not lost…they are staying overnight with a couple of local families. This was a great opportunity that was offered to our group, and five adventurous souls, Gay Quintin, Diane Tuuri, Alyssa Zimmerman, Dave Stauch, Jim Newell, accepted the opportunity. Gay and Diane are staying at the home of woman in the Micro Credit program who raises pigs; Dave and Jim are staying at a farm just down the road from us; and Alyssa is staying with a family that is raising their grandchildren. Each group will have an interpreter staying with them as well, so they will be able to communicate with their host families. They will be doing all the normal activities that their families do on a nightly basis; and in the morning, they will do morning chores, whatever they might be. I’m sure that they will have many stories to tell about their experiences!!

Tomorrow, they arrive back at the Peace House for breakfast and then we will be off to our next adventure. Stay tuned!

Buenos Noches!