Update

Well,

Things have been happening. Though there would be many pictures, I don't have them with me right now. The kids have officialy opened their YCEM store. We all came together I think it was on the 15th December this year. about 10-15 kids gathered in front of the little mom and pop store by the side of the highway. I don't know how extremely well things are going. But I get the impression it isn't yet a commercial succes. I suppose this is good because otherwise the kids would just get it all for free, without putting a lot of effort into it in the beginning.

That night of the opening of the store there was a gathering in advance in front of the stoor while the kids stocked up the store with goods. After a couple of hours the night was beginning to set in and Laura (a leader of the smaller leaders) opened and Walter gave a speech, then Yenny and Yilbert and I think Laura herself too. We al had a little bit of home made cake and afterward the kids started to play some music. They actually asked me to dance to some of their music. I had been milling some grain earlier and now Juan Josey (a volunteer/visitor) was inviting me to use the milling motion to dance. So finally... after a couple of minutes I did and I started to dance to the music. Much to the enjoyment of all. Now it was not the most spiritual or the brightest music. But it felt acceptable to do so and made connection between me and the kids. If we are to make a change in the lives of the kids, having things in common with them that are enjoyable and fun is a great way to go.
Hugo, Juan Josey and Eider joined inthe dancing and festivities too and we continued until I think about 10PM. Many of the moms were there and one of them brought food.

One delightful thing that happened was that the kids were arguing over what kind of music to play. One wanted the regular cultural music and the other YCEM hymns. There needed not be any prompting from the YCEM leadership, and they were free to just play the regular music but still wanted YCEM hymns more!

A couple days earlier we had a leadership activity.  The mayor invited us to do things at the local park. We gathered there during the afternoon. Hundreds of people were invited. Personally. There were about 100 people there. I think about 2/5 were from YCEM and the rest visitors. There were many games played. The kids had prepared the games all themselves. They were quite creative too. The mayor had specified that he wanted some music to be played that I really abhorred. I was tired and not capable of resisting the music so i left early.

Thank you for reading and hopefully I will post some photos as soon as I get back!