A dental clinic inside an orphanage....why not?

For a while we've been partnering with dentist volunteers who have come to the Home to check on the girls. Through their generosity, we now have the amazing opportunity to establish a fully functional dental clinic at the Home!

This portable dentist chair has been offered to the Home at a hugely discounted price.

It easily folds into a box, ready to be transported.

And then it unfolds like this, Transformers-style.

Beautiful smiles all around

The total price to purchase the dentist chair, dentist tools and supplies is only $2700. 

This amount will enable us to install the chair at the Home permanently, and offer free dental care not only for the girls at El Puente Home but also to the entire community.

Would you consider donating towards this? Your generosity will go a long way!

British Embassy Visits the Home

We had a lovely time visiting El Puente Home with Mr. Robin Shackell, a representative from the British Embassy in Asuncion. His mother Susan also came.

Just arrived, meeting the girls.

Mr. Shackell explains the board games he brought.

They were given a tour of the Comedor, the Home and the Learning Center, which should open to the community in February 2015!

Rocio shows some of the instruments they've been using for the girls' music lessons.

At the Comedor, admiring the recently-harvested squashes which the girls themselves grow.

In front of the Home. From left to right: don Carlos, Susan, Mr. Shackell, Osvaldo and Rocio.

Checking out the girls' bedrooms.

What's a visit to the Home without an amazing meal prepared by Maria Luisa?

After dinner, the girls performed two dances for their special guests from England.

Mr. Shackell and Susan then handed out gift bags for all the girls, who were only too happy to receive them! They got goodies from the British Embassy: mugs, notepads, pens and a bag.

We also gave away some toys donated by Dream Works, and letters sent by Rob and Jackie.

No such thing as a late Christmas present!

The following morning, in true Paraguayan style, we lounged for a good while drinking mate, chatting and listening to the loud thumps of ripe mangoes falling from the trees.

I then had a short session with the girls were we talked about perseverance. We discussed what the Bible says about not giving up, especially in the face of adversity.

After our talk, we all wrote down our resolutions for 2015! 

It was a memorable visit and the girls were very happy to meet Mr. Shackell and Susan.

Thank you so much for coming! We hope to see you again!

We did it!

Fundraising success! Thanks to the generosity of our friends, family, coworkers and our church Calvary Chapel Mountain View, we were able to reach our goal of $1200 to complete the Learning Center at El Puente Home!

Christina and Makayla helped us sell Goat Milk Soap:

This is what the Learning Center looks like as of last week:

The front will be detailed and painted:

All the lights are installed. There is just some wiring that needs to be finished:

Future classroom: 

In the back, there are storage rooms that could use some shelves and closets: 

Next year, we'll start fundraising for furniture and supplies. Most importantly, we're looking for volunteers to start the after-school programs: English, Computer Lessons, Music and Reading Reinforcement. 

What a great way to end the year. Thanks to everyone who has helped out!

Expanded Kitchen and New Laundry Area

Expanded kitchen! 

 Maria Luisa is very happy with all the space she now has.

New laundry room!

The washer and dryer are no longer out in the hallway, exposed to the elements. 

Pending construction projects: finish up Learning Center, touch up paint at the Home and build another laundry area for the girls. So much happening in such little time! 

New truck, clean teeth

Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you: Osvaldo's new truck:

Thank you OSA for putting in the extra funds to make this purchase possible. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, as Osvaldo's previous truck was malfunctioning too frequently. 

Also, we were able to contact with some amazing dentist friends who volunteered to visit the Home and do a full check up on all the girls. Health services are extremely limited in Quyquyho, so this is a huge help for all the girls (not sure that they loved the actual check ups, but they were thankful too!)

Waiting for their turn

A little too happy to be at the dentist

The dentists brought this awesome chair that folds up and fits in a box, for easy transportation

Captive audience

International Dinner

Our last fundraising event was a dinner featuring dishes from all over the world. In each table, we put a picture and a short bio of each girl living at El Puente Home. Our friends were encouraged to write letters to them, which we will personally deliver next week when we're there. By the end of the night we collected 86 letters!

Two fundraisers down, one to go.

This past week we kept busy with two events. The first one was a "thank you" dinner for our church, Calvary Chapel Mountain View. Their support for our trip and El Puente Home has been incredible and we wanted to show our gratitude with a simple pasta dinner after our midweek service.

Also, happy birthday Rob!

And just today we wrapped up our last garage sale before the trip. Tons of people stopped by and helped us make $818! Additionally, we got unexpected donations of two laptops and a projector for the El Puente Learning Center. Wow!

Our last fundraiser event will be our traditional International Dinner, on August 23. Once again we will have amazing dishes from around the world and an opportunity to learn more about the girls at the Home.

You can always donate online here: https://ccmv.webconnex.com/paraguay