Me, Betty, and Kristin: ONE YEAR LATER
Then it was April. We had our official mid-service conference, our last training session until we COS (Close of Service Conference in Jan 2012). How exciting we all got together and shared our experiences and really celebrated how we have been here for over a year and our now the "Senior Volunteers" or leaders in our program. It was really nice because the first three months of this year drug on but once we hit April time has been flying. Also, I've really enjoyed being a mentor to new volunteers. After this conference, we've just been continuing to go to work and trying to get things organized for our new work plan of this year. We are focusing on completing 4 projects and applying for 4 more during our service, As well as working with other schools to reach our healthy school metas but more on that later.
View of one of our schools
By Mid-April Shannan my dear friend from Camp Cheerio came to visit and we had such a great time. We went to Semuc Champey and went on cave tours and swimming. We made fun new friends at the hostel we stayed in from Japan and Spain. We went to Antigua for the Semana Santa (Holy Week/Easter) Processions and just caught up. She also was able to see my site, meet my host fam, and just hopefully relax and enjoy the Guate.
Shannan and I in Semuc Champey
Procession in Antigua
Shannan and I at the ruins in Tecpan
After Shannan left. I went to the lake to celebrate the end of Semana Santa and relax with some volunteers and celebrate my friend Damian's Birthday. It was really fun but I was like enough already I need a break. Finally things have slowed down a bit in terms of visiting other volunteers and traveling but the work situation has really started flying and I'm so excited about it.
Today marks the day that we started two water projects in two of our schools. We are building three 2000L tanks that will have 8 faucets on them and One wall of 8 faucets at these two schools. It has been a process to organize this event and it was difficult at times to get all the support we needed to complete the project from the community as well as the local authorities. 2 weeks ago we weren't sure when we would be completing our projects when our APCD (boss) came to Tecpan and helped us to meet with the mayor asking for him to supply some money in support of these very necessary projects. After a 30 minute rant on how there wasn't the money, He agreed to give us the money we needed to complete our projects. That got the ball rolling. In the past two weeks, we bought materials and met with masons to finalize the plans for our projects. Today we broke ground. One of the schools invited us to a ground breaking ceremony and it was so awesome. We also had new trainees visiting us today so they got to see a real treat. We got to school and were "honored" with a musical event where all the local authorities, kids, and teachers took turns thanking us for this project and the little kindergarteners did a dance and gave us candy. It was so nice to see all of this year process coming together. Then it was my turn to "Give words" in front of everyone. I was thanking them and saying how excited we were to be starting this process and that we appreciated all they had done in this past year... and then I started to cry. It was one of the most beautiful days of my service thus far. Seeing everyone together was so wonderful and feeling like we actually were doing something made me so happy. I cried. Then the school principal got up and told everyone how wonderful it was to see that I was so happy I was crying and that he couldn't wait for the project to be over so we could all cry together in celebration. It's amazing how overcome with emotion I got but it was so beautiful and exciting. I couldn't help it. Today really was one of the best days of my service and I love that we got to share that with the new trainees that have only been in country for 2 weeks. It was so nice. Then we had an event with all of the trainees and they had to share their experiences with each other. Mine and Betty's group said that they really admired what we had done and were honored to have been a part of that celebration and that they hoped to someday be as successful as Betty and I....I could go on but let's just say today was an ultimate high point in service and I can't wait for 2 weeks from now when the projects are finished and we can see those kids washing their hands and brushing their teeth.
Betty and I with the School Director
The official start of the project
