Fishing time!

Saturday, January 3, 2010

Today was a GREAT day the club. Todd and Cindy, two of our board members and fundraisers for DOVE have been collecting fishing rods over the past few months. They ended up collecting 30, and shipped them down here before they arrived since they were not able to check them as cargo on their airplane.

So today, throughout the course of the classes, each boy picked out thier fishing rod with Todd, according to size, height, etc. and then at the end of the day they were able to take them home. The boys were SO excited, and they could barely contain themselves all day.

Normally we do not like to just give out presents to the kids, however the fishing rods are a very different story. The rods will be able to help the entire family...they will be able to properly catch fish to eat. We have seen a few different makeshift ways of fishing and nothing works as well as an actual rod.
Along with the rods, Todd also brought tackle, and each boy recieved a ziplock full of hooks and tackle to go with their fishing rod.

The boys were super excited, and later on that day, as we were driving down one of the back roads, in the pouring rain, we saw two of the boys, huge smiles on their faces, fishing rods in hand, and in the other a fish in a ziplock. "For the lunch" they said...they could not have been happier. Thanks Todd and Cindy!

Salon Work

One of the longer term goals for Dove is to teach the kids vocations so that as they grow older, they can support their families. These older girls are interested in working in a salon. Conveniently, there is one located right near the Center. The girls are very excited to learn how to work in a salon, as you can see from their big smiles! The girls are: Yohani, Loraina, Vanessa, Rosemary, Elizabeth, Raysa, Anamilka, Isamay, Patricia, Tatiana, Alani, Cristina, and Yaneli.

Cameras and Computers

One of the easiest ways to 'break the ice' with the kids, being a volunteer not knowing Spanish, is to pull out your camera. They will go crazy! The kids LOVE cameras; they love taking pictures of themselves, of their friends, of their families, and they love seeing photos of themselves. It is the same with computers. Although they don't have many (if any) opportunities to use a computer, when we do pull out our computers to show them videos of themselves or to play music, they all crowd around.

This said, we want to start a photography class and a computer class at Dove. Knowledge of using a computer would be a huge asset in their futures, and would help them to get good jobs. The photography class could open up a huge new world for them in terms of the arts. It would not only give them a way to record and spread the word about the conditions they are living in, it would also give them something to be proud of and something to work hard for. It would be a great learning experience, and it would also be fun.

I know that a lot of people upgrade their cameras often and have their old ones just lying around the house, unused. It is the same with laptops. Items we would need in order to start these 2 classes are: digital cameras, laptops, a printer, photo paper, and camera memory cards. If you have any of these items that you would be willing to donate, please let us know and we will arrange the best way to get it from you. You can comment on the blog or send Liz an email at dovemissions@msn.com Thank you!

Bike Business

The following was written by Cathy Flynn, Dove's Vocational and Recreation Center Program Director.

We posted earlier about the work that the boys are doing with the bikes. Here is some more info...
We had a bicycle workshop with the 14-17 year old boys this week. We had Niko come in and teach them how to put the donated bicycles together, how to grease the chains, how to adjust the brakes, rules of the road, arm signals, etc.
We have been wracking our brain trying to figure out the best way to give out these donated bicycles. We were going to raffle off one a month to the Estrella del Mes, (Star of the month) but realized that would take 24 months for 24 bikes, and we want them to be used, not sitting idle. So we sat down with the boys yesterday, and what better way, we asked THEM what could we do, as we weren't going to hand them a free bike, what could we do?
Well they discussed it amongst themselves, then told us they wanted to start a business!!!! They want us to give them a loan, like the bank, in the form of the bike. They will then rent the bike out for 10 pesos for 15 minutes, to their friends. We will charge them 4000 pesos per bike, and they will pay down the loan until they pay off the bike and it's theirs. In the end they will take all the profit and start their own bike shop. It will also give us a chance to teach them about contracts, legalities of the rental, contracts, the cost of repairs etc.
Can't believe THEY thought of this idea, we are so proud of them......









Don't forget to check out the blog page for the older boys to read more about what they have been up to!