Community Park Update

The park project is advancing by leaps and bounds this year!  Each team that has contributed a mural in the last few months has added to the beauty and joy in this place.  And, perhaps most visibly, the city government has installed the landscaping as promised, and the rainy season is helping the grass grow nice and strong.  In a couple weeks the park will officially open its doors to the community (we've been waiting for the grass to take root before letting it get used).

The Carrillos park project was started in 2010 as a joint effort between the city government (who provided the land and landscaping) and Strong Missions (who provided the materials and labor through volunteers like you).  The neighbors, and especially the children, are thrilled that there is now a safe place to play so they don't need to play out in the streets, and can't wait for it to open its doors.

Please enjoy the photos below.

The slide and teeter totter were donated and installed by the municipal government.

A couple of the murals which were not seen in the pictures above.

Many thanks to all of you who have been part of this project!

March Photos

It's been another full month here in Carrillos, and here are the photos to prove it! This month, we've enjoyed the company and service of Oakwood UMC from Iowa, Carthage UMC from Illinois, and the youth of Kingsbridge Parish in Ontario.




This is the ramp and stairs of the playground. Forms made, cement poured...and the Ontario youth also poured a lot of the sidewalk running through the park.







This is some of the Ontario youth, watering the stairs and smoothing out the ground so they can pour the sidewalk.







The Iowa group dug the trench for this part of the wall, and they laid the block. Then the Canadians formed and poured the top, and laid the block for the corner section. Truly an international effort.





How many people are in this picture? Yes, that orange hat in the second septic hole is on top of David's head. The Carthage group, including these hardworking couples from Atlanta, worked to prepare Strong Missions' new headquarters down the street. They also did welding, painting, and some holes in concrete for our new office building.







In addition to their park work, the Iowa group painted and cleaned a classroom at the school.

February update!

It's already February, and a lot has been happening here in Carrillos. We've had wonderful people from various parts in the midwestern US (and a few from elsewhere) busy working. The playground/park walls have their final coats cement, and the long bench is done. They also did some grading above the upper wall, and dug out and poured the sidewalk. I'm continually amazed at how fast things get done around here--the Wisconsin VIM group did that whole bench in their five work days, from digging the trench to laying the block, to pouring the concrete top. (Of course, I'm especially proud of them because I am also from WI.) To be fair, I should also mention that the Minnesota group brought some incredible skills here, completing 30 high chairs for the Posada de Belen, sewing blankets and knitting hats, and doing a wide variety of other projects as well.
And we also did another session of VBS at the Pentecostal church, and dedicated painters have finished several classrooms, exterior walls, and metal stairs at the school. Catching a quick breath before volunteers from Iowa arrive in a few days. (Really, what is with all these midwestern people coming now? It must be all the snow up there right now, I keep forgetting what they're escaping from!)
Sorry for the long update--lots to catch up on!
--Scott
(This picture is of Minnesotans digging out for the sidewalk. More pictures coming soon!)