“We are unashamedly Christian and enthusiastically ecumenical, believing God’s love extends to everyone.” In response, we enrich lives by building community.
Our mission is to serve in faithful partnership with the landless poor to build housing and communities that adequately address the diverse needs of families–such as access to clean water, health care, and education–in order to build sustainable, independent communities and promote economic opportunity.
Visit from Starfish Orphan Ministries
On Wednesday, July 21st, with the help of Starfish Orphan Ministries, we were able to start getting our Day Care project moving in the community of San Luis Talpa. We still have a long way to go before the Day Care will be up and running, but this week marked significant progress towards that goal.
A few members of the Starfish Orphan Ministries team with experience and expertise in day care were able to lend us a hand by
giving a training course for women of the community. These women were chosen based on their ability to care for children, responsibility they have shown in the past, and a desire to pursue this opportunity for a new job. The course went very well and we are extremely grateful to the Starfish team for lending us their skills and know-how. They even brought in certificates of achievement that were distributed upon completion of the course. At the end of the day we held a small ceremony where each woman was presented with her certificate. It was a wonderful time to get to praise the women and give them some recognition they may not often receive.
While the training was being held, the rest of the team eagerly got to work both helping deco-block the inside of our most recently building and playing with the kids. Their help made it possible to finish the inside walls in order to get them ready to be painted the next day. While some of the group worked, the others had a plethora of activities planned for the kids including balloon animals, Bible story plays, and interactive puppet shows that the kids all thoroughly enjoyed.
The next day, one of the team members was able to return with us to the project in order to paint the walls to get the day care ready. We spent the day filling the walls with as many animals and other drawings as we had time to. We’re excited to continue with this project and thankful the team was gracious enough to lend us Michaela to help us out in beautifying our walls.
Research Team from Global Sustainability Project
July 1st marked the arrival of a new group called Global Sustainability Project. All linked as UCLA alum, the group brought with them ideas and projects to work on development in our community in San Luis Talpa. The week was much different than our usual teams, since for the most part the group planned it out themselves.
The first day we had a meeting and our staff was able to discuss and learn of the ideas that GSP had for the week that lay ahead. They brought ideas for projects in many areas, some of which fit with what HFTH had already been looking into, and some new and innovative ideas. The purpose of this trip was to be a research opportunity, as GSP’s first project of what they hope will turn into many community development projects.
Throughout the week the group gathered information about the community through surveys, meetings, and community gatherings. We were able to have some insightful conversations with community members who brought up issues, as well as attributes of the community that aren’t easy to see at first glance. Much thought and planning was put into each part of the week, as individual team members focused on different projects.
These projects looked at things like education, employment, agriculture, day care, a community center, a playground and a soccer field. The team was able to get lots of information, learn about the culture and began to gain a general understanding for what implementing these projects would mean.
