Back in Action

Hey Everyone!

We just wanted to send a quick note to let all of the supporters of the Orphanages here in Herat know that we were down for a while, but we are back up and running again. Thank-you so much for your continued support! We will be adding new pictures and sending out an email update to all that we have email addresses for. Also, we are planning on going to the Orphanages within the next week or so to deliever winter clothes, school supplies, medicine and make some much needed repairs.

Kitchen Overhaul

Hey Everyone,

We have just completed the overhaul of the kitchen. The old kitchen was pretty bad. The plumbing leaked. The floor was pretty nasty. We purchased dishwashing soap to ensure the dishes get clean and bleach for the floor. The 'stove' (resembles a metal end table with a big propane burner in the center) was replaced with a 'stove' with four burners resembling a metalic coffee table.




The shelves you see on the wall have no bottoms. We had those removed. Most of the shelves in the lower cabinents are broken. Note the black coming out doors under the sink. We had the plumber come out, take a look, and replace the plumbing.










Here is another shot of the kitchen cabinents.















Here is a photo of the cabinent maker's shop. He was generous enough to knock the price from $1100 to $700.















We put more cabinent space in order to get the pots off the ground.















Here is the new replacement cabinents with the new sink. The top is marble. Looks a little barren, but is more practical.











The total for the overhaul -

- $700 for new cabinents
- $100 for the new stove

Thanks for everyone's support and assistance.

Bless,
Brandon and Bill

New guy

Hello everyone !

I just wanted to introduce myself. I am Bill .
I will be helping Brandon with these's projects and
Eventually taking over ... But hopefully I still have him
for at least another month or so..

So we had to do a maintenance call at today. The Freezer stopped working ,
But luckily it was just the plug and was an easy fix.

But I mainly just wanted to make an appearance and introduction, and thank you all
for the package's, they go a long way.

Thank you for all your support to the kids.

Bill

Woodwork - Finished!

Hello All,

The woodwork was finished and it already adds so much to the rooms and their learning. Four blackboards were installed and four shelves for the classrooms.

Here's the carpenter's shop and his assistants.

Also, 18 large screens and 4 small screens for windows were installed to help keep flies out.

The carpenter even fixed some of the shoddy work done by the previous carpenter.

Note the guy on the end of the door. That's our electrical guy. He brought his tools to work on the exposed electrical wires in the girls' bedrooms.

Donations

Hello Everyone,

Communication is the key to a smooth running operation. I apologize about the delay in comms and have no excuses. Things have ramped up security-wise and we have been busier than usual. We did make a run to the orphanage on June 7th and 11th (sickness came back for a round two at the beginning of June). We brought over some of the great packages you all sent.

On the 7th something was going on so we dropped off the packages. Since the headmaster was not there, we did not have the opportunity to ask. Some girls could not come down to greet us. Others were gone. A very different vibe than what we were used to. We did mix the individually-packaged flavored power with bottle water and gave everyone one bottle. The kids were in awe as they watched the color fill the bottle. Everyone was happy to get their own bottle.

On the 11th the reception was much different and everyone was back to their usual selves. We brought in one of our electricians to look at the sockets (when I went in May, there were exposed wires and broken sockets), I assessed the woodwork that was done and we brought in a kitchen cabinent guy to provide pricing for the kitchen.

Thank you everyone for your donations. I received the following boxes:

Cassie Thompson and Alpha Delta Pi-Zeta Zeta - 8 boxes

Mark Miller - 1 box

Whitehills - 1 box

Mary Peterson - 1 box

Wayne Huddleson - 3 boxes

Bullochs - 2 boxes

Stacy Smalls - 1 box

Carol Ruth - 1 box

Carol Stolicny - 4 boxes

Kenco Engineering - multiple boxes

Webberts - 1 box

Heidi Blankenship - 1 box

Julienne Roberston - 1 box

My wife - 2 boxes

I also received money from the following:

Mr./Mrs. Schultz - $100

Ruth McKinney - $100

St. John United Methodist Church Augusta, GA - $400

I hope to contact each one of you individually to personally thank you. The money has been and is being used to improve on the current infrastructure to create a better standard of living for the kids.

Some of the things that we need-

tolietries

soap

shampoo (individual size)

femine hygiene products

kids vitamins

kids allergy medicine

cortizone/skin itch cream

headscarves for the girls

ideas for storage for the girls in their bedrooms (something light, compact, foldable, a couple of drawers/shelves - right now, i am leaning to unders the bed tupperware)

money donation for infrastructure projects and local products(to date we have spent over $1000)

pens

Things we will buy here (cheaper, good quality):

- poetry books (in Farsi)

- notebooks

- extension cords

- rugs

- washing powder

- dish washing soap

- dishes

Other projects that we are working on/have been requested-

vehicle for transportation

phone (since a landline is not an option in this building

food (Meat products)

convert two bathrooms stalls indoors to shower stalls.

Thanks again everyone.

Recent Injury - Update

Sorry folks for the recent inactivity. Many of us got hit with a stomach bug, but are all better now. Due to the bug, we have delayed our visit to the orphanage until all participants are 100 percent healthy.

We did get to take the groundskeeper to the doc. The doc treated the groundskeeper and gave him pain medicine to take as needed. After the doc's visit, the groundskeeper flexed saying he felt young again. What an awesome spirit!

Recent Injury

This evening some of our guys went to the girls' orphanage to treat the groundskeeper for a injury as a result of a motorcycle accidents. Two-wheel modes of transportation are prevalent throughout the city. So are accidents. The groundskeeper, an older gentleman, had multiple contusions and was suffering from injuries outside of the skill level of our medic. We were able to provide pain medications to ease his suffering and will transport him to the hospital tomorrow. His spirits are high in spite of his injuries. Previously, he has survived multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head that leaves him blind in one eye.