Lending a Helping Hand to Families in Dumfries

Our morning started off earlier today as we headed back to Dumfries to help out a family of the church community we visited with yesterday. The matriarch has lived with her son in the red structure below. A construction team recently built a 16'x16' living space for her so she can move next door to her son. You can see the below and after photos...our kids did a complete coat of primer to get the building ready for a future group to put exterior color on. After the first painting stop, we moved closer to Bethel Baptist Church and completed a smaller 10'x10' coat of primer. The family is also members of the church community and graciously offered our team some coconut water to try!

The Jamaican sun was hot today. After we finished up painting, we returned to the house for lunch and to get ready for an afternoon at the beach. Because it was Easter Monday, the beach was pretty crowded with locals since most businesses and schools were closed. Happy to report that everyone used their sunscreen and reapplied generously! As a trip leader, I had the opportunity of teaching a few of our girls how to float, kick their legs, move their arms, and making progress toward being swimmers!!! We might practice again in the pool at the house before our catamaran/snorkel adventure, but I was very proud of Blair and Brianna! Tomorrow we will be headed out to the largest orphanage in Jamaica and will have a chance to connect with youngsters. These children will be sent to various smaller orphanages or possibly to foster homes. We plan on using supplies from GAC's Jump Rope for Heart to have a great time with the Jamaican kids!