Moving forward with PEF

PEF is moving forward. This week, we have received 25 loan approvals. These are for students who have completed and submitted their applications in the past 6 weeks. There are another 80 loans in the pipeline. The process is that they complete the application on line, then submit it. It goes electronically to the Employment Resource Center where the application is reviewed for two critical points. 1. is the chosen employment going to provide a living, is it viable in the market place, 2. is the school you have chosen going to provide the training and education that you need for this job. If the answer is "yes" to both questions, then the Employment Resource center electronically transfers the application to the area office in South Africa. Then it comes back to us for review, then it goes to South Africa again and there it is approved and sent to the PEF council in Salt Lake for final approval.

We are very excited that so many students are receiving approval to go to school.
We have just received approval for another 125 students. We began this weekend Planning for Success for 100 of the students. This is the first step to submitting the application for a loan.

We will have 700 students in school by the end of 2012. 1500 by the end of 2013.

We will open the other Congo city in January. Lulumbashi, it is a city in south eastern Congo, and the home of the other mission in the country.

We are working the government and church to gain approval to go into Brazaville in the Republic of Congo. This is our neighboring country. We look accross the Congo river and see into Brazaville. Because it is a different country, the goverment must approve it.

Needless to say we are very busy. Our Service Center (fancy name for our office) is always full of young people. We have three computers set up just for the students to work on their applications. Often, we have those three working, Suzanne and my computers being used by students applicants, and our three lap tops are also in use.

We have a Service Missionary who works three days a week. He is a great young return missionary who speaks very good English and is very bright. He is usually at work helping with applicants.

This morning, Suzanne is teaching a train-the-trainer course for English. She has people from four stakes who will teach ENLISH AS A BUSINESS LANGUAGE. She is preparing them to go back to their stakes to teach classes within the wards. We have determined not to teach English classes, but to teach locals how to teach and manage the class. If we taught the classes, we would be gone in a year and the classes would die. We have great materials for them to use. Suzanne is teaching good teaching methods and providing them with manuals and ideas. If someone can speak English, their possibility for employment goes up. Embassies, Humanitrian Organizations, retail jobs, etc.

We are well and happy. Every day is a new adventure and new excitement.

I added a fun picture of chairs stacked at a stake center. This is the only church where we have seen folding chairs, but they are used to stacking them and the "folding" concept was pretty much lost on them.