My "Road"

Here is what was left of my road after 10 days of rain in Jan/February.  It has recently been refilled with more dirt making it passable.  But how long will that last?

Keep on keepin' on...

So I just finished hosting the second Builders Beyond Borders group, and they did a great job! We installed about 1700 ft. of tubes in the ground, all the tubes needed for the upper portion of my community, and they painted my storage tank! We are now going immediately into construction on the footing of the community center. That all needs to be poured and ready for the group in April, who will then work on putting up the walls, roof, and windows/doors! And on top of that I am going to be used as a translator in a medical mission this week, with American doctors coming to treat patients from the mountains around me. Phew! Life is kind-of crazy now but it feels great. Oh!-a perfect example of that is the fact that I broke my pinky toe yesterday and I am sitting here with it taped to my other good toes/didn't remember to mention that until right now! (don't worry, it has been checked out by a doctor, and this tape job was the treatment) Things are really hectic but I love what I am doing. There are other projects also possibly on the horizon but I don't want to jinx them by mentioning them here. But I will let you all know if they come to fruition!

Just like the last group, we had a little faucet opening ceremony at the end of the 6 day trip. My host dad tried to say a couple words but got too choked up to continue. It was very humbling. I constantly get caught up in the frustrations of coordinating all of this work and forget the basics-we are bringing water to people that have never had it. And those people are now almost family to me. It is an amazing thing. Below are a couple pics from the March group of B3.  PS I have BIG hair, and its not coming off until the aqueduct is done.  

Update

Hey, so sorry I haven't been in internet world for a while. Just to let everyone know- We had a Builders Beyond Borders group in February and it was great. We put in around 1500 ft. of pipeline and at the end I filled up our tank, and sent water down through the pipes they had just layed to a tapstand. We had a little water inauguration where we turned on water from a faucet for the first time ever in my community! Everyone cried, even the macho Dominicans, and it was a thing I won't forget. The whole trip was great. Since then I have been working with the daily work brigade of Dominicans, and have been planning for the next (2) B3B groups. The group in Feb. had such a great time that the company asked to come back again in April! So we have a group of 30 coming in two days to dig and put in pipeline again, and then in April we will have another large group-of 45! This group in April will be working on two projects-1)continuing work on the pipeline and 2)building a small solar-powered community center. So I have been busy working on the design and budget of that recently. We started excavation of the center yesterday and are working on planning for delivery of all the needed materials into my site. Thankfully, the local mayor has finally done some road work and now trucks should be able to get up there. No more hauling all the materials on animals and on peoples backs!(at least until the next big rain that washes out the roads again) So thats where I am at. Im a Peace Corps volunteer and camp counselor/cultural guide for next two months. Ill try to get some pictures up of the youth groups but probably won't get much free time to think until the last group leaves on April 16th! But just as my first 9 months were characterized by slow, grueling searches for funding with little results, it seems like my last 9 months will be filled with projects being completed! I guess sometimes it all comes back to you in the end...