Tag Archive for: engadi

Local children love the new playground! #brotherhood

Watkinsville Finishes Workweek

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Yesterday, the Watkinsville high school team finished up their workweek in Paraíso. The team of one nine individuals finished all of the major playground structures, and neighbors and local residents are thrilled! You can sense the renewed feeling of #hope within the neighborhood almost instantly. The team did awesome work on the playground, and as you can see in the photos, they were constantly joined by local children who couldn’t wait to play on the playground. We encourage you to take a moment and check out their work in the photos above!

Today the team will spend their free day hiking an active volcano here in Guatemala before heading back to the States tomorrow. Thank you, Watkinsville students, for spending your spring break bringing glory to the Father through your service!

#engadi

Evidence of Hope- #1

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Each day this week, as the team of students from Watkinsville FBC arrived to work on Paraíso’s first community playground, they experienced evidences of #hope within the community located in Guatemala City’s northern slums. Upon arriving to the central playground, the team encountered mothers with their children playing together on the unfinished structures. Mothers who no longer felt it necessary to stay indoors for their children’s safety. Mothers who deemed this playground a GOOD and SAFE place for their children to play. Mothers who see this playground as a beacon of #hope, a change for the better, within their community.

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This hope, through Christ’s love, is what Engadi is all about.

#engadi

Watkinsville’s Workweek in Paraíso

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The team of high school students from Watkinsville FBC have been hard at work this week in Paraíso continuing progress on a playground for local children.  The play area is the first of it’s kind in the community and is strategically located only 1-2 blocks from four nearby elementary schools. Several families in the area have expressed their gratitude, excitement, and #hope at the idea of their children having a place to play at such a central area in their community, and local children have formed a #brotherhood working with teams from the States to help construct the area. Watkinsville has done a great job at continuing the plans for the playground, and we can’t wait to update you with their finished progress at the end of the week!

#engadi

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Watkinsville Family Fun Day in Paraíso

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Yesterday marked yet another day of bringing #hope and #brotherhood to Paraíso through hosting local families at an open neighborhood community space to bond through fun and games. The team of high school students from Watkinsville FBC spent the afternoon yesterday playing games and drawing with local children and their parents. Engadi was able to use the event to evangelize to those in attendance through a message given through our Director of Discipleship, David Medina. In addition, opportunities were created to hand out New Testament Bibles to many of the families in attendance. We are thankful for Watkinsville’s partnership yesterday to help Engadi continue spreading the Gospel and bringing #hope and #brotherhood to Paraíso.

The team of high school students will spend the rest of this week continuing work in Paraíso on the playground mad of recycled and repurposed tires that Engadi began last month. Check back to see photos of their progress throughout the week!

#engadi

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201604 Watkinsville

Derek Group Takes Outing for Ice Cream

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This week, boys within the Derek Program who succeeded in having satisfactory attendance in both community service and their weekly discipleship group were treated to a trip out of Paraíso for ice cream with Engadi staff members- David, James, and Manuel. Over the past several months, the #brotherhood of young men has formed a tighter bond from within, and can regularly be found encouraging each other in attendance and work. During this outing were three boys that had achieved perfect attendance in their discipleship group and in community service for both February and March. Engadi is proud of the strides made by each individual boy within the group, and enjoys watching each grow and develop into Mighty Men of Paraíso.

#engadi

201603 Ice Cream

Benaiah Home Update

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Engadi Ministries is excited to announce that we are on the verge of taking three at-risk young men into the Benaiah Home. This marks a milestone of growth for the ministry, and while we are very close to welcoming all three boys into the home, there are still several things that must take place before we can do so. Here is a simplified breakdown of the primary steps to officially opening the doors of the Benaiah Home, and several ways that you can pray for Engadi as that date draws nearer.

The first step that must take place is that each boy and his parents must provide a set of legal documents that allow Engadi to care for him within the Benaiah Home. After receiving that paperwork, Engadi is then able to work with a local private school and Guatemala’s Department of Education to enroll each boy there. This educational step is a vital step since it would be counterproductive to remove a boy from his current situation without having a way to continue his education.

One of the schools in Paraíso where the boys are transferring from.

One of the schools in Paraíso where the boys are transferring from.

Engadi has chosen three boys that were slated to enter the home during the first part of 2016, and has a second three boys picked to join them in the home after a few months of acclimation. We have received the legal documents to complete the first step for each of the first three boys, and are working to have them approved by the Department of Education to transfer to our local private school. One has already been approved and is move-in ready! Due to the unique situations of each of the other two boys, we are still awaiting their approval to transfer schools which could happen any day.

Of the second set of boys chosen to move into the Benaiah Home, Engadi has begun the process to enroll them in the home to hasten the process. We are still waiting to receive the first legal documents for each of the second set of boys, but two of them have already been approved to transfer schools by the Department of Education! Praise God!

Engadi wants to specifically request prayers that Guatemala’s Department of Education would approve each of the remaining boys (two in the first set, and one in the second) to transfer to the local private school near the Benaiah Home. Pray also that the legal documentation for the second set of boys would have no hangups, and that their families are able to provide the necessary documents. Finally, we ask your prayers for each of the boys as the will soon transition into the home and also begin attending a new school. Pray that they are able to acclimate to differences in their environment with relative ease. Pray that they are able to catch up in school during the coming months as many of them have fallen behind by several grade levels or have dropped out all together to help support their families.

Engadi thanks you for your prayers, and praises God in faith for what He will do through each of the boys that comes into the Benaiah Home, and for the plans He has in store for them. We look to Him to open all of the doors, and make this chapter of Engadi a reality for His glory.

#engadi #hope #brotherhood.

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Opening its doors soon- The Benaiah Home

#StartWithASmile Campaign

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This week, Engadi Ministries, along with many other charitable organizations worldwide, is taking part in Amazon Smile’s #StartWithASmile campaign. The campaign seeks to raise awareness and share help Engadi and similar organizations share their stories using social media to allow readers like you to be informed on how we are changing lives, and let you know ways that you can get involved (at no extra cost to you)!

Here are two ways you can help Engadi Ministries when you #StartWithASmile:

1) You can help support Engadi financially when you do your regular Amazon shopping through Amazon Smile. Just follow the link smile.amazon.com/ch/45-4213421 and log in to your usual Amazon account. Make sure Engadi Ministries Intl. is your selected organization, and you all set! Do your regular Amazon shopping with the same selection, same prices, and same great service, and when you check out, Amazon will automatically donate 0.5% of the total of your eligible purchases to Engadi. It’s that simple, and costs you no extra!

2) You can also help get the word out about Engadi by sharing posts you see on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. This is one of the fastest, easiest, and best ways that you can spread the word of how Engadi is working to bring #hope and #brotherhood to Paraíso, a small impoverished community in the northern slums of Guatemala.

#engadi

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Beds Delivered To Benaiah Home

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Imagine growing up without a bed to call your own. Perhaps your bed was a shared couch your family found in a trash heap just outside their squatter community. Maybe it was a simple bedroll of cushion spread out on a dirt floor each night. If you were lucky enough to have a mattress, it was undoubtedly several decades old, had numerous previous owners, and was shared between you, your siblings, and maybe even parents each night. This is a far too common reality for children growing up in the slums of Guatemala City such as Paraíso.

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After spending your childhood years in one of the conditions above, could you imagine if, one day, you not only had a new mattress with sheets to sleep on, but you got to call that bed “yours?” This will very soon become a reality for the boys who are coming to live in Engadi’s Benaiah House. This week, nine brand-new mattresses were delivered to the home from the local mattress factory. As we prepare to take in our first three young men to the home, please be in prayer for the transition each of the boys will make. It will certainly be difficult at times, but we pray that it would ultimately be a transition that would bring a #brotherhood to the future men of Paraíso, and foster their #hope of becoming Mighty Men in Christ.

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“In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”
Psalm 4:8

#engadi

TEDxUGA 2016 : Illuminate

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Esteemed photographers Phillip and Eileen Blume of Blume Photography will be speaking live this Friday at the TEDxUGA event. Their talk will have a focus on Engadi Ministries, and ways that they have partnered to help bring awareness to children living in slums of Guatemala City such as Paraíso. In 2012, the Blumes wrote, directed, produced “The Lost Boys of Paradise,” a documentary film on Engadi Ministries Intl. Since then, they have also created short films as follow up pieces to their full-length film, and also continue to serve on Engadi Ministries’ Board of Directors.

Phillip Blume of Blume Photography on location in Guatemala in January, 2016.

Phillip Blume of Blume Photography on location in Guatemala in January, 2016.

The event, which will be held at the University of Georgia can be streamed online at tedxuga.com/livestream. The Blumes will be speaking at approximately 3:45 pm EST. You can catch the LIVE simulcast of the entire event from 1:00-5:00 pm EST, this Friday, March 18 at TEDxUGA.com. We encourage you to tune in live Friday to hear Phillip and Eileen as we are excited to hear their “ideas worth spreading.”

 

“Ideas have the power to educate, motivate, inspire, and illuminate. Great ideas light a fire within us, and often the biggest ideas start with the smallest of sparks: a spark of genius, a spark of imagination, or maybe even a spark of madness. The University of Georgia strives to seek out those sparks and illuminate the brilliance within us all. TEDxUGA 2016: Illuminate will bring UGA’s brightest minds into the spotlight to share their stories, experiences, and ideas worth spreading. Today’s ideas will illuminate tomorrow’s possibilities. All it takes is a single spark.”

#TEDxUGA #BlumePhotography #engadi

Each of the ~200 tires was hand painted one of several bright colors.

Playground in Paraíso

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The team of youth from Asbury United Methodist Church has been hard at work in Paraíso this entire week working on a very special project- a playground for children in the community! The play area is strategically located at the top of the soccer stadium in Paraíso, and is about 1-2 blocks from four different local elementary schools.

The playground site is strategically located at the top of the soccer stadium in Paraíso, only about a block from four local elementary schools.

The playground site is strategically located at the top of the soccer stadium in Paraíso, only about 1-2 blocks from four local elementary schools.

Monday, the team worked to paint tires and level the play area which is located atop one of Guatemala City’s former landfills, so the ground was full of all sorts of debris. They followed up Tuesday by finishing painting tires, including two giant tractor tires, and beginning to set the tires into the ground. They were joined by numerous local children who were excited to finally have a playground in their very own community. Several of the boys within the Derek Program also joined the work to lend a hand to improve their neighborhood. Wednesday, the team finished up by constructing a jungle gym/mountain of stacked and secured tires.

Tires were then secured into the ground with help from local children, including many of the young men in the Derek Program.

Tires were then secured into the ground with help from local children, including many of the young men in the Derek Program.

Throughout the week, many residents expressed their gratitude and renewed #hope in their community that the new play area had brought. While most other neighborhoods in Guatemala City have a communal play area for children, residents of Paraíso conveyed that this was a wish that they had simply never been able to afford within their own neighborhood, and the government had never bothered to offer to Paraíso. Parents became emotional at the sight of the new play area slowly coming together, and children expressed their excitement at finally having a designated place in their community where they could play.

The playground still lacks a few more structures that will be finished in the coming weeks, but so far it is looking great! Thank you, Asbury youth for your hard work and determination this week to bring #restoration and leave a lasting #legacy of Christ’s love in Paraíso by bringing #hope and #brotherhood through creating one of very few safe places for children to play in Paraíso.

#engadi

The team from Asbury partnered up with local children and families to work on the playground, bringing #hope and #brotherhood to Paraíso.

The team from Asbury partnered up with local children and families to work on the playground, bringing #hope and #brotherhood to Paraíso.