So much happening!

Hello everyone,

We're getting excited now - only four weeks until we arrive back in the UK. We can hardly believe 9 months here have gone so fast! We're just finalising our itinerary, so we'll let you know where we'll be and when, so we can arrange to see as many of you as possible when we're back.

It feels like there's a lot to organise before we fly out. The People's crafts has a new card range coming out, so we have been busy getting the stock together to start production, and next week we should be able to start training the employees to make the new cards. They are more complex to make then the current range, so our training abilities will be put to the test!

We have added another 2 members to Next Level youth group - a brother and sister from an American family, so our group now has 18 young people in it! This week sees the last session in a special 3 week series where the boys and girls have had their own meetings, looking at identity, self esteem, body image, and relationships. It has taken a lot of preparation, but the sessions have been great so far, and we feel we are seeing some breakthrough in the lives of the young people. There has been an increase in openness and emotional warmth in some of the girls particularly - as if some barriers have come down for them somehow.

It's also been a busy week with Next Level as we try to increase their responsibilty and involvement in Kinderbond - the outreach work with children in Worcester's townships. This week two of the young peopel will be performing a puppet play, and next week five of them will be doing a hip hop dance at Kinderbond - it's wonderful seeing them getting so involved, and each time they experience success we can see a tangible difference in their confidence and self esteem.

Well, it's our day off today, so we're going to leave you and have a nice cup of tea - keeping in touch with our roots!