River of Thoughts

Christine Royse Niles — Changing the world one word at a time

Dulce Refugio – Status Report

Now that we are home, the project manager in me wants to share a status report:

Boys’ Dorm: the team helped mix and pour 33 meters of concrete support beams, and helped cut, bend, set, and tie 100 re-bar rings in preparation for the next pour. This represents support for the ceiling for almost half of the first floor.

Irrigation Trenches: the youth team dug 40 meters of trenches in preparation for an irrigation system for the kids playground; not only will this give the kids a safe surface to play games and soccer, but it will also help reduce the dust flying around campus!

Dorm Bathroom Storage: the team replaced slider rails, refaced, and reinforced 112 drawers in six kids’ bathrooms (18 drawers per bathroom).

Window Bars: our team cut, fabricated, and painted 760 bars to make nineteen grates to be mounted on the windows of the current kids’ dorm. This will protect kids from accidental falls!

Director’s apartment: Part of the construction plan is building a one-bedroom apartment for Marcella, the Director of Dulce Refugio, who currently lives in a room in the Girls’ dorm. Our team helped build and trim out the two custom closet organizers (from scratch….no running down to Lowe’s around here!!) for her beautiful and well-deserved new home.

Kid Lovin’: every day, our team invested in 54 kids’ lives here at Dulce Refugio through playing soccer, pushing swings, giving piggy-back rides and sharing in their daily activites. Our youth ran four days of VBS lessons and crafts, and showed these kids that while they may feel forgotten by their own culture, God has not forgotten them. Even with all the work that our team has contributed, the relationships and the transformation of our own hearts is the most incredible part of this experience.

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About Christine

I am a writer, a project manager, and a corporate refugee with a heart for orphans around the world. My two daughters were adopted from Ukraine at ages 12 and 14. I post about writing, chasing dreams, and making a difference in the world, and sometimes I share fun snippets of fiction in-progress.

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