Yesterday we had the privilege of hosting 35 young men and women from the Faylar Church for a volunteer work day.  The enthusiasm that these young adults exuded was very encouraging.  What is even more encouraging is the dedication and commitment they have shown to the Project.  They aim to schedule one work day like this every month!   A community development project HAS to be embraced by the community and they have to take ownership for long-term success.  This sounds very obvious but in reality there are a lot of projects that don’t emphasize or see that simple concept play itself out.

The day was spent pruning trees, cutting grass that we will store for cattle feed, and cleaning up the property.  A few of us were also on the lookout for our newly discovered slithering beast.  Just before Christmas, Eric took his parents out for a visit to the Project and witnessed some real live National Geographic content near our reservoir.  While they were standing near the reservoir, they hear this commotion of monkeys screaming and jumping in the air and they look closer to see what the commotion is all about.  Turns out this 4m python has grabbed a monkey by the leg and his coiling himself around him for his afternoon snack.  Amazing!  It appears the animals are all loving the regenerated forest as well as we are always spotting more and more wildlife coming back into the land. Needless to say, for self-defense reasons, I had my machete close by while I was pruning those acacia trees.