Lila

Here is Lila. She comes to Castel-Pere three times a day to eat cause her family is dirt poor. Gotta get her into the school next year.

Peter

Deraye, Peter and Rico posing for the camera this afternoon. Peter came in yesterday. He has construction work experience and is proving invaluable.

Buddies

John and Romadin hanging out in their school uniforms. John's mother died a couple of months ago but he is coping well. Mothers' Day was celebrated last week and that was tough for all those who are orphans. For many of the children here, like John, Espwa has become their family. We are far more than a school or an institutional residence, we are family.

Picnic, anyone?

Will and Peter on the way back from one of the containers. The cooler is holding samples of "stuff" we have that needs to be sorted, used or distributed. It will be a long and dirty job that will take a while. Life for volunteers and staff is far from glamorous. We have our moments of joy but there are lengthy times of just plain old drudgery. Come to think of it-- isn't that life?

Chores

All the boys have chores here at Castel-Pere. Cleaning out the laundry trap is Faubert. It's a messy job but someone's gotta do it. Not only is he a good worker, he doesn't grumble when asked to do something like this.

1 Potato, 2 Potato, 3 Potato, 4

These gorgeous sweet potatoes come traight from our farm

It takes a lot of hands to prepare them before they end up on the children's plates. Our kitchen staff is fantastically devoted and they put in very long hours. Wish we could them a raise.

Well

Jim Luttrell is with us for several weeks. He was instrumental in getting us the well-digging rig shown above. He's already gotten it working and is now doing some training so that a team of our older boys can dig proper wells and become independent in the process. The first well is situated in the children's southern neighborhood. God bless you, Jim.