A Cooking School Graduate!
First of all, if you have noticed that our Facebook presence has been a little lessened over the past few weeks, I wanted to let you know why. I (Matt) had my account hacked a couple of weeks ago, and since then my 1st account was deleted by Facebook, and my new account (which if you have not accepted or received a friend request from me, you should send one to Matt Bush) is restricted. That means that I cannot comment, post, share, or like anyone else's post. You probably also know that, on a personal level, it is not a big deal but Facebook is one of our primary communication tools for All Things New so just pray with me that it gets fixed soon.
Also, if you missed the All Things New documentary, Oasis of Hope, make sure to Click Here to see how our kids look and what they do in a normal day!
The purpose of today's blog is to bring you some really good news...Yolmenda graduated from cooking school!
You may be wondering if she dropped out of high school to pursue this, but she did not. She actually went to cooking school on the weekends for the past year honing her skill. She has worked for All Things New as our Saturday/Sunday cook for the past 2 years and has done a wonderful job, but she wanted to get better.
One thing to know about Dada (Yolmenda's nickname) is that she is an extremely hard worker and will commit to something when she wants to do it. When we first met her, she was essentially acting as the "mom" of all of the younger boys in the orphanage starting with Vageley, her cousin. She would make sure they were dressed, bathed, and had on appropriate clothing. She would make sure they behaved and sent them to bed when it was time.
She did what she had to do, but she should not have had to do that as a 14 and 15 year old girl. She did, however, grow up during that time and she is one of the more mature kids at All Things New. She loves church, is devoted to Bible Study and prayer, and she is fiercely loyal. It may take her a minute to open up and to care about you, but when she does, she is all in.
She has the potential to do a lot of things. She is smart, talented, and hard-working, and this is a great combination of skills. She struggles to communicate and to be open with people, but that is to be expected.
It is great that she is learning to cook. She has been doing it for years already, and this additional schooling is just another way to set herself apart in a skill that could turn into a job one day. She also has the drive and intelligence to finish high school, and I hope that she will be able to join our coding program one day as well. Those are all great options that not all Haitians have!
The bottom line is that we are thrilled for Dada's graduation, we cannot wait to see what GOD does in and through her life, and we are proud of the young woman she is turning into. Thank you to everyone who has and continues to support her, she certainly has a bright future that would not be possible without you!