Light Of Hope Center

God has provided the opportunity for me to serve in another country for 5 weeks. I arrived on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning, I went to the Light of Hope Center for girls from the slums. The girls come from very poor families, many of whom's parents are beggars. The first thing I saw were little brown bodies streaking from the shower to get dressed! After they eat breakfast, they take showers, an put on a clean uniform. Each Sunday they get a lice treatment. Each girl has her own toothbrush, comb, hairbrush, and hair ornaments in her own basket. After they are clean, the girls sing praise songs and pray. Then the teacher tells a story from the Bible. After Bible time, they have 1 1/2 hours of academics: Reading, writing, and math in their national language. AMerican volunteers teach a half hour class of crafts, or English. After class time, they have lunch with the afternoon group of girls. After lunch, the morning group goes home and the afternoon girls repeat the morning schedule. After their classes, they have a nutritious snack and then go home. The older girls receive training in sewing, house cleaning, or other skills to help them get a job. I've been asked to provide some training for the teachers.

 This is one of the teachers. She has been here since the center began. She got married today! The girls were thrilled to attend the wedding.

 This is the other teacher at the center.

 Some of the girls have become believers. They are in a weekly discipleship class and have been baptized. The hope is that they will lead their families to the Lord. Some American girls with a translator visit some of the homes each week to tell stories. All of the girls' homes are visited each month by the teachers.