Cornerstone’s team spent their Monday helping at the CAPS library, volunteering at Driftwood Farms, & enjoying time in community.
Read past blogs from this team and others at Team Updates – Many Hands Impact
I woke up to the smell of burning trash! Hoping it wasn’t close & not a building at Camp Abaco! I later found that the island burns trash at their different local dump sites to dispose of the waste on the island. A necessary evil, but hard on these old lungs & I got up feeling grumpy! French toast & sausage links for breakfast, so they feed us well. Lulu & Doreen are the best!
Debra & I went with Lisa for the day to work at the library at CAPS (Central Abaco Primary School). She is a retired school teacher but doesn’t look very retired with all the work she does here. Central Abaco Public Elementary school lost its library in the hurricane, so Many Hands has built a library for the kids in the primary school with donated books. We picked up Dee on our way. Dee & husband use their sailboat to transport things around the islands, such as medicine, missionaries & for us, books!
Once we got started, we looked up the books with the UPC code or their title to mark them with the grade level & a point system for the kids to earn after they read it. At first, the students didn’t know how to choose a book & picked out ones they wouldn’t be able to read, but Lisa shared how much better that has gotten. We then put a piece of colored tape so that you could easily see each book’s grade level. Then, we placed a UPC code on each book to place it into the school’s computer system. I have never been in such a quiet school. I came to find out that they were all busy taking exams & very disciplined.
While we played with the books, the rest of our group traveled south to the Driftwood hydroponic farm run by Glen & Tracy Kelly. It’s an awesome setup & they have such a heart for the island’s people. They have chickens for eggs & grow beautiful vegetables – green beans, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, peppers & rutabagas. Also, guava & the sweetest little bananas.
The gang put up the frames for 2 shade houses & the net cover for one. When we joined them for a lunch of taco salad, fresh green beans & zucchini muffins, they were already a sweaty bunch. Glen let us try guava & passion fruit off of a nearby tree. After lunch they finished their work, while some of us planted spinach & rutabagas, or cut bad lettuce or gathered eggs. Glen’s mother, Nan, is from England & Nan has lived in the Bahamas for over 50 years. She is in her 80s but was busy packing up green beans, while some of us did lettuce or tomatoes. She says she never wants to go back to where it is cold again. She prefers her hot tea with milk instead of iced tea. She is growing beautiful Christmas flowers in front of her small home.
Driftwood sells a lot of its produce to stores & restaurants, but with their partnership with Many Hands, they will also donate produce and help to provide nutritious meals to the First 1,000 Days program. There are so many different individuals who want to come together and help one another, just another example of what you can do with “many hands!” I came home & while some played in the ocean, others showered or rested. The no-see-ums (or sand flies) seem to love me the most! So some have decided that it is my job to let them bite me so they will leave everyone else alone! Another delicious supper of ribs, mac & cheese & potato salad. We worked in our IMPACT books & went over what we were going to be doing tomorrow! We then had the opportunity to hear from Tim Brand, Many Hands CEO, and learn more about where Many Hands is headed in Abaco and where he is seeing God move.
Now, this woman is headed to the shower & sleep! G’nite mate!
– Peggy Crooks
