If you have been reading my blog for very long, you know that Global Partners in Life has purchased a van and a refrigerator for the special needs orphanage we support, and we have remodeled their bathroom. After feeling good about those accomplishments, I spoke with the leader of the orphanage. I asked her, if we could raise the support, would she like to have the kitchen remodeled?
I pointed out to her how there wasn’t much space for preparing food, the ceiling was too low, it was dark, it needed more storage, and the big old hot water heater was in a closet where her pantry should be. Her reply was yes, but what I had mentioned weren’t the main things she wanted done. Her priority was a dishwasher! She told me that when one child gets sick they all get sick, because she doesn’t have a way to sterilize the dishes. I liked her priorites very much. The second item she wanted was an oven. She told me that she wanted to give the children a greater variety of food and maybe healthier food, because they fry everything on a two burner stove top. She liked my ideas about the other changes, but they were not her main priorities.
Luckily a friend that has been to China with me a couple of times knows the construction industry there well. Once he had the measurements of the kitchen in hand, he helped plan out the new kitchen and sent us the drawings.
The leader of the special needs orphanage liked the drawings, and she approved them. To me, the biggest change was moving the doorway to another wall, which gave much more continuous counter top space. The door had been to the right of the refrigerator in the picture above.
We were all very excited about the project. I am very thankful for my friend and for all of his help with the plans and drawings.