Hope House is Open!

Believe it or not (I almost can't believe it), but DiscoverHope Fund moved into Hope House, the Development Center for the loan recipients, yesterday. The day we were re-programmed to move in. The handy man was still painting the kitchen and cleaning the floors, (we are in Peru) but we got everything up and running for our first activity today! We held the first of a series of leadership workshops this afternoon and had 17 participants with much space to move around. We weren't squeezed in together like our classes before. The women commented about how lovely, bigger and better this new space is.

After our leadership workshop this afternoon there was a lot of busy chaos; women signing up for classes, asking about our inauguration, returning materials, etc... And Hermila, one of the leadership participants, found her way next to me and asked me in a soft voice, "if you know anyone who needs their clothes washed, I need more money and I can do it." I was frozen. All the excitement of moving forward clashed with the realization that there is so much work to be done. I hope I do justice to make the doors of the Hope House open new doors of possibilities for Hermila and all the other women that are lacking a little bit to reach their needs, aspirations and dreams.

Besides the big work DHF still has ahead of us, there are a number of things to do to make our new space workable, welcoming and fully equipped, but we are in! The keys are in my hand. There is shopping to be done. The Hope House is up and running! Truly, this is momentous and exciting.