The Center

This has been a long time coming but we have pictures and updates on The Center we work at.

In December we sort of took over some of the work being done at The Center while most people went away for the Holidays. This included helping with the painting of the building inside and out, including all the trim and security bars. We did a lot of cleaning and consolidating of materials as well as a lot of yard work to clean up construction mess, old bricks, etc.

So here’s where we now stand:

The entire compound now has a solid, new wall around it. The old one had been slowly tipping over into the street so it was knocked down and put back up correctly. 

One week ago we had wi-fi installed at The Center. We will be helping equip youth by offering very fast, cheap internet. In fact, it is with this internet connection that we plan to post these pictures!

We’re beginning to work more earnestly on our Business curriculum. This past Monday was the first half of a two part presentation on Business Evangelism: How to Integrate Faith in the Workplace. It’s great to have qualified, motivated professionals give feedback we can use to develop this training to offer through The Center.

An additional 10x10 apartment was developed from an old cooking area. Two university students now live there.

The interior was painted a sky blue color to kind of push the idea of it being cool. It turned out looking more like an empty swimming pool. We learned a lot about colors while working with the painters. Paint is only purchased in white and you are in charge of buying your own dye bottles and mixing it yourself. So where we wanted a dusty, orange-ish, brown color outside, we had to settle for Pepto Bismol. It looks like a cotton candy salesman. But it’s clean and fresh and definitely a neighborhood landmark.

In order to organize and control the moto traffic in the yard, a moto parking hangar was built to provide out-of-the-way shade for people’s motos. 

The library/book store is almost fully unpacked and organized with 9 different types of Bibles for sale in French (and a few copies in 3 or 4 other languages) from $1.50-$8. We actually just bought one for our guard—every good Muslim is supposed to read the Bible so we figured we could strengthen his Muslim faith if it meant him reading through the Bible. It’s already sparked a few discussions.

A small outdoor kitchen area was constructed for the couple who lives in the newly refreshed 10x10 apartment. 

Two weeks ago we hosted a 3 day seminar with a guest speaker from Labe (which was one of our favorite stops on our voyage to Conakry) on the topic of “Christianity and Tradition”. It was encouraging to see dozens of young people wanting to learn what the Bible had to say about some African traditions. There was a lot of discussion about the difference between practicality, superstition and strong values on topics from female circumcision to night time hut-sweeping, to tattoos, to funerals, to eating kola nuts.

We are thrilled to get to be a part of the ongoing vision of the GBU/Intervarsity staff that runs The Center. It will be a great venue for God to work through the lives of the students in Kankan.