This week we were in East Java. We flew to Surabaya and then from there visited two pesantrens (Islamic boarding schools) in Mojokerto, a neighboring city. One of our projects this fall has been building toilet and washing facilities (MCKs) at a number of pesantrens on Java. We have previously noted this project in two prior postings. On Thursday we participated in a closing ceremony for the project at a large school of 800 students. In addition to building the facilities, we also presented hygiene classes utilizing a puppet show and handed out hygiene kits to each of the students. The hygiene kits were assembled by the members of our church in Jakarta and Surabaya. Over two thousand kits were distributed during this project. Following one of the hygiene classes this week, members helped us distribute over 300 of the kits.
At the closing ceremony a number of members from the Surabaya congregations attended. The trip took all day as the journey was over hours each way. We really appreciated the member’s support. One of the members, Devita, showed us pictures of when she was at our house in Centerville with her mother 19 years ago.
This project has been a particularly challenging one in that the locations have been at seven pesantrens in three different cities. Originally there were three more pesantrens, two of which declined our offer to construct the requested facilities once they knew we were Christians. The hygiene classes were also a bit of a challenge in that although the content of the classes was approved by the sponsoring Islamic society (NU), local reception to teaching anti-smoking is not always popular.
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| BOYS HYGIENE FACILITIES BEFORE OUR MCKS WERE BUILT (FOR BATHING AND TOILETS) |
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| GIRLS HYGIENE FACILITIES PRE-MCK |
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| BAND AND SINGERS PLAYED ARABIC MUSIC |
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| DEVITA AND ELDER AND SISTER SMITH FROM MALAYSIA |
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| EILEEN USING THE MCK WHILE MANY CHILDREN WATCH |
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MEMBERS OF OUR CHURCH THAT ATTENDED FOR THE DAY
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| CEREMONIAL STUFF |
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RUSSELL SPEAKING AT CEREMONY
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| PLAQUE ON MCKS |
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BEHIND THE SCENES AT PUPPET SHOW
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Wow for several reasons! The old to the new facilities is incredible! They needed the upgrades. Living in Centerville, it is hard for us to imagine that there are people all around the world, who don’t have the basic modern conveniences! WOW!
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