Industrious Lads

It's been a few months since I've reported on what's happening down on the "farm," but believe me, things are really hopping right now! This year, one of our major goals with our work at the Youth Recovery Center is to help them create a small business - sources of income that will allow them to rely less and less on donations for their survival, eventually becoming self-sustaining. Not only will this help them financially, it will also help the young men to learn practical job and life skills that will help them for the rest of their days.

We are working on two major sustenance projects right now. The first is the construction of a greenhouse. As you can see, we are just in the beginning stages. When finished, it will measure 27 meters long, 10 meters wide and 3 meters high. The plan is to use this greenhouse to cultivate seedlings of savory herbs and spices, rare aromatic plants, and flower bulbs. We are already cooperating with a local floriculture shop that is interested in purchasing the products. Check out Marco and Anderson as they put the shovel to the ground!

The other project that is in the works right now is arts and crafts. There is a young man at the chácara right now named Marcelo who has a tremendous talent for making crafts. He learned this while serving a five-month sentence in juvenile detention before coming to us. He knows how to make these incredible figurines, as you can see below - dolls, swans, you name it, he makes it - all out of small pieces of colored paper and glue!! Amazing stuff.

Marcelo is the young man in the middle of the picture below. He is flanked by his assistants Adam and Walter. These guys are the "production team" for the crafts, folding the hundreds of little pieces of paper necessary for these figurines. There are other things that Marcelo does as well, like painting little wooden boxes to hold remote controls, key rings, jewelry, etc...Once he begins teaching the other guys how to make the crafts, there's no telling how far this project could go!

Please pray for the successful developing and implement of these projects! We don't just want to give fish, we want to teach these men how to fish! Working together in this manner, they can achieve far more than they ever dreamed on their own.