Rock Man

Voted as the number one photo so far this trip: Jeff Taggert giddin 'er done. There is now a 10x20x6 deep hole for the septic tank. Group Comments: We're not sure if it's a sign of great strength or great weakness. / The rock was photoshopped in there; originally it was a watermelon. / At least my daughter will be happy to see me on the blog!

Talay Mental Institution

Yesterday morning we visited the Talay Mental Institution where we support the breakfast feeding program. We were interested in seeing what they were actually serving, as we are paying for women to serve them protein. The meal was impressive and ample, with beans, fish and rice, among other things.

In the pictures you see that they do not have beds to sleep on, but rather folds of cardboard. The conditions were quite shocking and difficult to witness. There are plenty of work opportunities there, including a lot of painting.

There is also a center that we painted on the grounds on a previous trip, and it showed that they were using it, with pews there and the paint showing some wear.

Morning Fishing and Tai Chi

A group of us gets up at dawn (6am) to walk along the "boulevard," a very nice concrete boardwalk across the street. The ocean is much calmer in the morning, and many of the fishermen are out and about. The tide is also low, exposing the sand and rocks beneath. Some of us go down to the shore to do tai chi! This morning there was also a really cute gal playing in one of the fishing boats after the men returned to empty their nets of small fish. (You can see them coming to shore in the photo of Evans doing tai chi.)

Elementary School

Yesterday a few of us, Betsy, Ginny, and Alma, visited the local elementary school where books we had sent over had been distributed by the librarian, Lorna, at our partner institution, Silliman University.
It has been the best place to come for comraderie, the wealth, the joy, and all of the people. They were so happy and thrilled to receive the books! It was such a joy to see them so excited.

More Women's Sewing

Here are some pictures of the women in Cantil-e we are training to sew and be a part of a cooperative. As you can tell, they are super excited. The last photo shows one of the "star pupils" and the beautiful dress she made for her daughter!

More Prison Photos

Top: the chapel with "lanterns", beautiful piñata looking things made by the prisoners for the holidays.

Next: prisoners are allowed to sell certain goods to make a little extra income. Here was an unmanned shop right outside the men's dorm/cell.

Next: Even pastors pump iron! Or rather concrete, in this case.

Next: this broken down car serves as a model for prisoners to learn and practice on.

Final: the favorite game here seems to be a form of checkers. These creative prisoners collected white and red bottle caps as their pieces, flipping them upside down to "crown" them. Many watch silently on. (Ending that sentence fragment in a preposition is for you, Brennan.)

Dinner with Sulliman University

Tonight we had a very delectable dinner with various persons of Silliman University at the president's house. Unfortunately, the president was not able to join us, as he was not feeling well, but we had a nice time and brief yet productive meeting afterwards. PCUSA Missionary Cobbie Palm led the meeting, bringing the two entities together. We agreed by the end of March to draft a partnership document that would include an overall Memorandum of Understanding between Silliman and First Pres Ann Arbor, followed by a Memorandum of Agreement that outlined what specific projects we would work on over the next 2-3 years, which would include the next task force trip. Everyone seemed cautiously hopeful about what was discussed. We returned from dinner to meet with Chitty, an old friend from past trips/projects (last picture).