What a week!

It’s always busy at Project Canaan and there is always a lot going on, but this past week was particularly busy. Here are a few highlights:

•      We received two massive trucks that brought us the slab (58 tons) for the second floor of Emseni 3 (children's home).  It comes as a giant puzzle that is assembled on the second floor of the building and then concrete is poured on top. We have raised approximately $230,000 of the $300,000 needed to complete this home for 40 children so we are praying for the Lords (quick and timely) provision so we can finish the building and move the kids.

•      Pam and Keri from CeramiCraft in South Africa arrived for a week of in depth training with our entire SwaziMUD pottery team. Their week resulted in significant increase in production, quality and new techniques and tricks. Our new handmade ceramic beads are stunning, consistent and make our jewelry so much more beautiful.  New product will be on www.khutsala.com in the weeks ahead.

 

•      Kim Evinsky and Sharla Miller were here working with the Khutsala Artisans all week.  Kim is our Sales Director for Khutsala in the US and Sharla is a wonderful jewelry designer.  They were here training our staff on new designs and filling new orders from new customers!  We are working on a slightly higher end line that uses beautiful hand cut pewter and our own SwaziMUD beads. They are training 15 women with new skills (10 more than we had before). 

 

•      Spencer was doing computer training at Khutsala and it has been fun to see him teaching others, and to work side-by-side in one of my favorite places.

•      Three men from EMERGE in Denver, CO arrived to dive in to the Aquaponics project, which is getting very close to being ready to start.  They were here all week and worked with a diverse team of experts in water and agriculture to move the project forward. We are hoping to have water in the system next week and hope to be planting in a month or so.

 

•      Ian took a group up to the mountain to check on the progress of the water project. They are very close to connecting the steel pipe from the two springs together. Once they are together it will be capped and filled with water for pressure testing. The water will remain in the pipe and the project will be on hold until the funding for the next phase of the piping is raised.  We have raised $300,000 of the $800,000 needed to become “water secure”.

 

Photo credit:  Sharla Miller

•      We welcomed a team of 8 members from the "World Race" this week and they will be staying with us for 3 weeks, helping out in various areas around the farm.  This is our third team and they are always a huge blessing as they come with servant’s hearts, ready to do anything we need.

•      This week we welcomed our new Special Needs teacher at the Project Canaan Academy, which is wonderful for our growing number of special needs children. 

In other really good baby news, our little boy Miles does not have TB (as we suspected he might) and little Gina has successfully passed a couple of large kidney stones, so further invasive surgery is not required.

It’s really hot and humid this week (with no air conditioning in our buildings) so we are thankful for water games, frozen treats and ceiling fans. 

All in all, a great week!

Live from Swaziland … happy Saturday.

Janine