We had a lot of hours in the heat this week

 

We were invited to the Bushrod Island Stake Self Reliance training graduation. In America we were lucky to get just a handful of people for an entire stake for self reliance training. They had to limit enrollment.  People graduated in soap making, pastry making, sewing, general self reliance, finance and starting your own business.  The church provides the instructors, the materials, the place to meet and a meal afterwards. The entire program is free.

It's very difficult to establish programs that are actually effective here. Everyone is so poor, resources are so limited, and there are so many circumstances you have to work around. This program appears to be working well. There are only a few businesses here so when people graduate they immediately start their own small business. Classes are only held in those areas where there is an actual demand.

A pastry making business can be quite effective here. Many people don't do their own cooking. There are lots of small cooking stands on the side of the road where people cook rice and stews and that's how people eat all their meals. A little shop that sells pastries is very popular.

What people need most here are jobs and income. The church holds these types of classes in all of the larger population centers. About half the people who attend are not members of the church.

Palm oil is big business here. The palms grow well. Here's a small starter orchard.  I don't think the palms are planted in rows.

A member of the church who owns a private school contacted us for possible assistance. This is the 12th grade class. Everyone not only dresses in a white shirt but they wear a tie. The girls have to have their hair braded or matted. Registration costs $60. Yearly tuition payments total $200. Parents sacrifice to send their children to private schools because the instruction is better than in the government run schools. 

Most in the country cannot afford to send their children to private schools. All of our humanitarian projects so far have concentrated on improving the quality and enrollment capacity of the free public schools.  A lot of the poorer students can't even send their children to public schools because of limited capacity. The two public school projects we are currently working on should increase the capacity by about 1000 students.

On the windowsill is a portable speaker we bring to church. We play the hymn music so they don't have to sing a cappella.  The challenge has been that they will sing a hymn at varying tempos and so it's rare that the words will match the music.  I have a program that allows me to adjust the tempo of the hymn. Sometimes they will sing at 80% of the tempo and sometimes at 120%.  The problem is that I cannot adjust the tempo quick enough to match their singing. 

I asked the music director if I should give up playing the music. She said I should keep on playing it and they will eventually learn.  People here generally have very good attitudes about learning new things.

Today the fans came out at church. This is Cheryl and her fan. The lady setting it in front of me had sweat dripping down her back. This was our Sunday school class. It was hot, the primary was just outside the open door and so it was very noisy and we could only understand about 50% of what was being said because of their accents.  Nevertheless we were glad we were there. These are humble people that we learn a lot from.