What's going on at Dulce Refugio
I know that many people have passed through this orphanage and left their mark at Dulce Refugio. I want to keep all of you informed about what is going on with the kids and the construction process. Please remember to keep us in your thoughts and prayers; I hope you continue to help us out here at Casa Hogar Dulce Refugio. Gracias amigos!
February was exciting and we got off to a good start with the new project. Many people from the church came to volunteer and it is great to see the Body of Christ come together to do His will.
Day 1: Our 1st day on the job we got there early and went over the plans for the new church building. A lil later the bull dozer came and destroyed the old adobe structure that was on the property and cleared out a ton of trash. We hauled out about 5 truck loads. Now the ground is ready for us to work!
There was a missions team from Florida in town and they came and helped us dig the trenches for the foundation. Later, we are going to fill in these trenches with steel and concrete to support all of the bricks stacked on top.
It was good to work along side Nick & Jose again. They are volunteers at the church and they were transporting the team around. Last year, they helped me out a lot when I was constructing the school. Nick did a ton of different jobs around the orphanage and Jose helped a lot with the painting. He did two murals that gave the school a beautiful touch. It's always more fun to work with friends!
I took a break from the new church project for a couple of days to weld some door protections. Nick enjoys welding so he helped me out with this project. The church I attend, CFC, has a couple of feeding programs. One of the feeding programs is in a very bad neighborhood. A couple of months ago they were robbed and everything was taken....tables, chairs, EVERYTHING! This month somebody tried to get in again, so I volunteered to help secure the place. Hopefully these door protections will deter any criminals from future attempts.
There is such a need for Jesus in this neighborhood so please pray for safety, protection, and success in this feeding program!
At the orphanage, we have a new member on staff. Rafael (but we all call him Rafa) used to live at Dulce Refugio many years ago. He was a young boy when I used to live and volunteer here. I haven't seen him in a loooong time and now he's all grown up. He is going to be doing the driving for us and helping out around the orphanage. Welcome back Rafa!
We said goodbye to Pepe. Pepe came to Dulce Refugio last month and was a handful. We tried really hard to work with him but he just wouldn't listen or follow instructions. He also was lashing out at other kids and we decided that we couldn't risk this behavior for the well being of everybody else. It's a difficult situation and sad that we couldn't help, but we have to protect our kids. I hope he finds a nice home and things go well for him.
Sundays are fun days for the kids here at Dulce Refugio. Usually we go out to a park or for ice cream after church. I saw that they were setting up a temporary fair not too far from the orphanage so I decided to take the kids. The people in charge of the rides were very nice and gave us a generous discount so all of the kids could have a couple of turns to go on different rides. It was a good day and the kids really enjoyed it.
Back at the new construction site, I ordered all of the steel we need for the foundation...125 steel bars that are each 12 meters (40 ft) in length. We started cutting them up and bending them into rings which we will use to make the steel columns. It took us a couple of days.
With all of the steel cut and bent, we started making the steel structures that will soon be covered in concrete and support our entire building. We had to make four HUGE bases that will support the columns that will hold up the entire roof. I've never had to make bases this big before, but this is the way the engineer wanted them...they were over 6 1/2 ft tall! I had help from some of the guys at church and we got things done quickly.
And finally, back at the orphanage:
As this month's blog comes to an end so does our bunny project. For the past 3 years we have raised bunnies for the meat and also just to have around because they are so cute. BUT they were a lot of extra work and lots of rats were getting into the cages in search of food. We just didn't want the responsibility anymore and it was unsanitary so we decided to call it quits. We ate the last of the rabbits and don't plan on breeding them anymore.