Jefes

We are really wanting to expand our programs with our older boys. Unlike the younger kids, they need more than just crafts, singing, dancing, and games. Many of them are considered adults in their culture, and we need to set them on the right track so that in the future they can support their families. If you are interested in supporting these programs, please use the paypal button on the sidebar and specify your funds for the older boys.

Yordi

Yordi is hobbling around on crutches. He fell out of a tree trying to pick grapes, and broke his arm and ribs.

October Photos

Edwin, Domingo, Jose, and Alberto with Liz


Edwin


Alberto



Leuri and Jose


Jose


Angel and his bench


Edwin and his bench

Art Contest

We finally announced the winners of the Art Bench contest! The older boys painted the wooden art benches that they had previously made in wood shop. And the winners were; Alberto 1st place, Eddie 2nd place, and Andy 3rd place. The girls club picked the winners. 1st prize was 500 pesos, 2nd was 250 pesos, 3rd was 150 pesos all coming off the balance of their bike loans. Each child that participated and painted a bench all received 50 pesos off the balance of their bike loans for trying.

Alberto, first place


Eddie, second place


Andy, third place

Bike Update

The boys are doing a great job with the bike program. They are keeping the bikes for 2 or 3 days at a time now before they come to the club to pay up their money. They are all down between the 3,000 and 3500 peso mark now from 4,000 pesos. It is so nice to see them really happy about being responsible for something. They bring the bikes in to repair them, and are quite happy to clean them as well. Andy told me the other day that his bike is like his wife, he has to take VERY good care of her!! Here is a photo of Niko, our Bike shop teacher.

Boys and Bikes

The boys have finished fixing up the bikes and are moving on to stage 2 of the bike project- starting up their small business! The boys below each have rented out a bike and are working on getting friends and people they know to rent the bike to make some money. If they are able to get customers and make their business a success, they will begin making the money to pay off the cost of the bike, so that they can keep it for their own!

Alberto


Angel


Domingo


Edwin


Franciel


Henry


Jose


Junior


Seliel

Bike Business

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......

Benches and Bikes

There are 2 projects the boys are working on right now. The first was mentioned in the last post; the bench decorating. The second is working with bikes. 25 bikes were donated to DOVE. The boys are being taught how to fix them up, and they are really enjoying it. After the bikes are fixed up, they are going to use them as a small business. They will rent the bikes out to friends and charge a fee. Half of the money will go to DOVE, and half they will get to keep. The money that goes to DOVE will be for their bikes; once they make enough, they will get to keep one of the bikes for themselves. It should take a few months for them to make enough money, and then they will get their bike in time for Christmas. Here are videos of the boys painting and working on the bikes.

Bench Decorating

The boys love doing art class, especially working with paints. This week they are competing in a contest to see who can paint the coolest looking bench! They were the ones who made these benches back in July as they learned wood working, and now they are going to use their artistic skills to make them look even better!

New School Year = New Start

September has brought a new school year for the boys, and we are happy to announce that they are all in school! Many of them had dropped out or been kicked out by the end of last year, but they are taking the new school year as an opportunity for a fresh start. Most of the boys attend Integracion Juvenil, a non-profit institution specifically for troubled kids to keep them off the streets. Domingo attends Chocolatera and Alberto goes to a night school twice a week. They have been provided with uniforms from DOVE and some generous sponsors, and are looking forward to learning both in school and in Dove's weekly english classes.

Pictured are Junior, Domingo, and Jose on the way with Liz to get their uniforms, donated by Hal and Kim Chrisman. You can read about their experiences that day with the boys HERE.

New Building

We are in the new building and the boys were a huge help in assisting Liz in moving all of the supplies in and helping to paint the murals on the wall. Here is Domingo in an english class, working on the english words for different types of food. Below that, Angel poses in the Sports area of the Club.


*August 2009

Bench Building

In July, the boys got a chance to participate in several days of wood working lessons. At that time, we were just weeks away from moving into the new Club building and we needed benches. Rather than hiring someone to make them, Liz thought it would be a great idea for the boys to learn how to make them- thus, learning a bit about wood working in the process! They had a great time and all want to learn more.

Summer Photos

Jose and Domingo


Doing English class in Hilda's school before we moved to the new building




Part of the group


Seliel at the beach


Junior with his mom and one of his brothers


Domingo and his family


Seliel working hard


Seliel and his grandmother


Kelvin with his mother and brother


Alberto with his brother, Jose, and sister, Kaila


Seliel


Junior and Domingo


We went banana boating, which they LOVED!



Jose. He is wearing a necklace with a photo of himself- so typically Jose!!