Yesterday and Thursday I helped my site mate Zane set up the town's first library!! The books that were donated were absolutely amazing! Most of which were all brand new textbooks and children's books. I am so excited for its opening. Zane did an amazing job getting everything all set up. He is still waiting for the municipality to hire a librarian so he can train him/her on how to run the library. So for those that have any books they would like to donate send them my way or I'll take them back with me when I leave in January. So Zane leaves for good the 12th of October! How time flew! This coming weekend we will be celebrating Val's 28th birthday and Zane's goodbye party. So this weekend should be a lot of fun!
So this is to give you all an idea of how the library is turning out. Everything you see is all donated! I helped Zane decorate, put together bookshelves and set books up. I'm so excited for the town to enjoy this library!My promoters graduation was posponed because, guess what? The doctor decided to plan a health center excursion to the coast instead. I walked into his office to remind him about Friday and he nodded his head, paused and agreed then I asked him about the excursion to which he fumbled a bit and started apologizing and then invited me to come along. So basically, he would have been fine if he didn't go to the graduation. Ugh! Why do these people have jobs, I don't understand! Hey all, let's plan a trip to the coast even though the past month has been independence day, the queen election, sports day, and in a few weeks there will be another excursion to Livington. You would think all these people were in retirement for the amount of time they spend working. Oh and don't forget the past 3 strikes held around Guatemala where the whole health staff skipped work to go and strike. Sooo, now the graduation is on the 15th of Octobre. Let's see how this one turns out.
So now some good news. My SPA grant from USAID was approved!! I am just waiting to open up a bank account under one of my women's groups and we can start construction!! I am so excited! So hopefully by the time I come home all 60 stoves will have been built.
Also, I talked to the school director of one of the elementary schools here in town and we are in the process of building a whole classroom made out of recycled plastic bottles filled with trash! When I proposed the idea he was all for it and very excited. We set up 2 presentations for the students and for the padres de la familia (or parent representatives of the students, kinda like the PTO) in order to get everyone on board. School ends in the middle of October so the project wouldn't really start until February of next year. But they will have an assignment to collect and stuff bottles on their summer vacation. I made it so that the classroom with the most bottles will win something as well as the student with the most bottles. So I am very excited for this new project. This will not only involve the whole school, but the teachers, parents and the community. Not only will they be cleaning up their town but they will also learn about the importance of recycling and saving the environment.
This is to give you all an idea of what a bottle project looks like. Instead of using the traditional block for the walls, they are using plastic bottles, cool, right?! This just so happens to be a whole school, I am only hoping for a classroom. And look at all the students helping to build! Ownership, teamwork, bonding - all things to look forward to!So I am very excited for the next few months to see how everything unfolds. I definitely can foresee opstacles and frustrations and probably delays, but all with patience and positivity!!
Thanks to all who have donated - without you all this stove project would not have been possible!! I am in the process of starting another project in February, so donations will still continue, so keep spreading the word!!
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