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...

THE BUM ANKLE BUMMER...

So apparently I am a 24 year-old 70-year-old. I have osteo-arthritis in my left ankle. This is not completely surprising because I played soccer for about 13 years and then was a constantly injured pole vaulter and decathlete in college. So all of that beating up on myself finally came back to bite me in the butt. I just spent 10 days in the capital receiving twice daily physical therapy sessions, and the ankle feels much better. I also am now equipped with custom fitted orthopedic foot pads that will correct my crooked, flat feet. I still cannot jog or run, but I am good enough to walk all over the hills of the DR, which is what a water volunteer must do on a daily basis. So I am still chugging along for now, and hopefully I will be able to last long enough to finish my aqueduct and the rest of my piece corps service.(Which only has about nine months left-unbelievable!) And now......I have about 72 hours until a group of 41 high school kids from the states come into my site to help build the aqueduct! It should be really fun and really stressful I am sure. So basically it will be another day in the Peace Corps. But I am completely refreshed and re-motivated to get back into my tiny little village and get busy. Ha, and I will be arriving into my village "a pie"(by foot) now because the recent 8-straight days of rain in the north washed out the majority of my mud-road. So now the previously too-muddy-to-drive-on road is too-washed-out-to-walk-on and I will be taking the longer cable-bridge and mountain path to get in to where I am going. But, call me a crazy PCV, I can't wait! (We will see if my ankle is as excited)

Diversity and Leadership Youth Camp

Although a country rich in history, the Dominican Republic is often poor in its grasp of the people that shape its nation. Without anything more than a shallow idea of its significance, many young Dominicans are constrained by prejudice and discrimination and therefore lack access to many aspects of life taken for granted in the United States. Gender inequality is significant, rural public schools are severely underperforming, and a university education is too expensive for most families. Even basic social services are out of reach for many. Although a substantial majority of the population is of African heritage, social constructs within Latin America and the Caribbean have historically marginalized people who have darker skin.

Over the past five years, Peace Corps volunteers have organized a major conference to bring together youth leaders in the Cibao region to discuss discrimination and the importance of cultural diversity. I participated in my first conference last year and was pushed by their enthusiasm to work much more with my youth group. For many of the young participants, the Celebrando Cibao conference is a life-changing experience. During the three-day conference, participants have a safe environment in which to examine their own culture, be introduced to other cultures, and gain the tools to combat discrimination in their communities. We look forward to planning the sixth annual Celebrando Cibao Conference, to be held August 22-24, 2009 and as a vital step in the process we are asking for your help with funding! I know that times are tough in the states, and for that reason I am not asking for anything more than $50 from any one of you, but literally anything you give will go a long way. Thanks again in advance! Follow the link below to donate to the Diversity and Leadership Youth Camp. (The volunteer name listed on the project is Hinojosa L. of CA and the project # is 517-290)

Donate to Dominican Youth!

Check out my older blog "Celebrando...El Cibao! Celebrando...Diversidad!" from September 2008 to see what last year's conference was like.