Other Teams/groups and/or volunteers
Other Teams/groups and/or volunteers
2010 Grace Community church group. From Michigan a really large group came to work at the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC). From the Bamenda headquarters they spread out to do work across the area at different missions. A smaller group of them had inquired if they could be involved with an orphanage. That group (5 women and 1 man) worked out in the village for a week then came to stay at our home so that they could work another week at HHCH. We had the best time. Large group require a lot of work in the kitchen so Sara very rarely gets to be involved with the work that is being done (at least while teams are at our home since she does the cooking).
With 6 people, she was able to visit more frequently while they were doing their work. They painted the bars on the windows (intricate and time consumming work) and helped with the inside of the second building. They also interacted with the children, did face painting (a huge hit!) and brought blankets that were hand made by people in their church (they were absolutely beautiful...and each one had a hand note from the person/family who made the blanket...extra special).
In the summer of 2010, we hosted a family of 4 who were missionaries in Ghana. There they were involved with running a school program that was very sucessful. They were wanting to bring that program to Cameroon and stayed with us while deciding if Bamenda would be the right location. They brought with them 2 of their students. One of our funnier comments was when the 2 Ghanian students told that they thought that they would be staying in grass huts with dirt floors (generally very primative conditions). They were amazed that we actually had hot water, electricity and tile on our floors. So funny to hear other Africans and their perception of other African countries. So this family is now here, but are Buea....located near the base of Mount Cameroon.
In late spring of 2012 we hosted a volunteer from Florida. Our first experience with a vegetarian. She taught us many new dishes. she worked hard at the children's home and was here when we rescued 4 of our children. We miss you Erin!
In June of 2012 we had a family (friends and supporters of ours) come and stay with us for a week. They spent a lot of time at the children's home playing and loving on the children. We will never forget the dances they taught to the children....what a fun time!!
January of 2013 we were blessed to have several supporters of a fellow missionary stay with us. They actually run one of the Operation Christmas Child branches in the U.S. We have been blessed to have been involved with this program on different occassions. They stayed at another guest house (Liz is highly allergic to cats...we have 4), but we were blessed to help out with the food (Sara did the cooking for most of their meals). They ran a program for the children at HHCH including Bible studies for different ages, crafts and lots of other fun activities. They blessed the children with lots of stuff from the U.S.
Most recently we had a volunteer stay with us for 2 months who was able to put into practice her nutritional expertise. We were excited to have her help us with the menu at the children's home so we can get the best nutrition for the lowest price. She gave a small nutrition presentation at Harvest Christian Home and helped several people who had high blood pressure and diabetes(with a better idea of the types of foods they should be eating). She also went up North to help build the school, served at the Joni and friends retreat and loved on the HHCH children....Katelyn and the kids had a blast together.