Start with Prayer

Starting each week with an all staff prayer meeting is a great way to reconnect after the weekend and start the week off right. My small group was leading today but I didn't feel comfortable leading any bit of it so I baked two coffee cakes this morning that was my contribution. Talked about reconciliation.

Because all the workers for Hands at Work are volunteers or raise support or get small stripends, then that makes life hard for the average volunteer on the ground. These caregivers often have very little themselves, then come away for 2-5 days a week to look after the orphans or sick and still have to return to their own homes at the end of day. They often walk long distances and use their own resources to help the children. HAW wants to care for these caregivers without committing to salaries that can disappear depending on the funding, so that the world can see the church stepping up to take their God-given role. One way they are helping them is by helping them to start 'Income Generating Activities'. Selling hens seems to be the most common IGA right now.

In the afternoon we learned from Levy, about expansion and how HAW goes into a new area. He is the first person who will go to break ground in a new country and area to make connections, do community mapping and communicating between the Hub here and the new potential area. They are looking for areas that are the poorest of the poor, so if there's good water supply, another int'l organizataion, or other resources then HAW doesn't want to go there.

Fortunately I slept very well, so maybe last night was just a once-off thing rather than a pattern.