Workshops

The Workshops:

Bakery:

This is the workshop I’m in, and I love it. The two teachers are so nice, and since I’ve gotten to know the residents better, working with them has been fun. I love baking at home, and I’ve learned some new recipes that I hope to try out at home! We bake something every day, ranging from cakes, bread, cupcakes, cookies, etc… I come down at 8:55 am, but the residents are usually in the thick of things since they start their work at 8 am. Depending on the day, we bake different items. Once a week we make the week’s supply of bread they use for breakfast for all the floors. That’s one of my favourite days since we are busy and there’s lots to do. Except for the toast-making day, we usually do 2 to 4 different things at a time. Most of the items we make are sold to the teachers and residents of Bethesda, which is great because I can buy them too. Other times we get orders from outside people, which we make, bag, and package in pretty containers. My favourite part of being in the bakery is sampling the items; the teachers there spoil me, and I get to try most things that they make. Haha. My favourite baking we make is coconut filled buns, they are so yummy.

Yummy yummy treats!

Every day around 10:30 am they clean the bakery, it is a rather long process but they do a good job.

Coffee Packing:

In this workshop, whole coffee beans are brought to the residents and put in a machine that grinds them. There are different stations with residents assigned to each one. The first station is lining up little paper cups and putting coffee filters in them. The second station is putting the ground coffee beans into the filters. To make things easier, the big coffee grinder is programmed to put the right amount of coffee into each filter, so all the residents have to do is put the cup under the spout and press the button, and it’ll automatically fill it. The next station is sealing the filter with a special sealing machine. Finally, the last part is to put the packaged coffee into its own individual bag, and the special thing about the individual bag is that it has a printed picture of a artwork that one of the residents in the art workshop creative. A lot of times these residents don’t have much to do so when I pass by I just hear them singing karaoke and dancing to the music.

I got to see the residents in action for the first time. This big machine is the grinder and as you can see it’s putting ground coffee in the filter.

Wood Working:

Here the residents sand wooden objects that are sold in the Bethesda gift shop. They sand different items, from crosses to Christmas trees and stockings etc… There is one resident there who is pretty capable, and he uses the machine that cuts the wooden objects, while the rest of them sand them. However, sometimes they sand them so much they end up lopsided. The nicest items that this workshop makes, which I plan to buy a lot of, are these wooden circular key chains that have a fruit of the spirit etched on them in Mandarin.

Top Left: Love. Top Right: Gentleness. Bottom Middle: Joy.

Craft Room:

Day after day, hour after hour, a group of residents spend their time drawing, painting, and colouring. I don’t know how they do it, but they love it, which is a good thing. I had to do a 4 hour shift there one day to help out, and it was very chill but pretty boring. Their art is put to good use though, the art that is drawn or painted is printed to put on bags, shirts, cups, postcards, calendars etc… you name it. For the 70th anniversary, we are doing an art exhibition and displaying their creative projects so the guests can view and buy them.

Let the imagination flow.

Car Wash:

This is one of two places, the other being the gift shop, in Bethesda that is open to the public. This is where the fittest guys go and work. At the car wash they wash cars, no surprise here. I’ve seen them in action a few times, and from what I’ve seen, they do a really good job with each car. On the days they don’t have a lot of work with public cars, they do the Bethesda cars so they always look clean and shiny. This is also one of two workshops, the other being the bakery, where the residents actually earn money to personally use.

Hard at work.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Hosanna