For those who came out to my fundraiser last year!

First of all, thank you all again for taking part in the most special night I ever had. Your support has been so important to my service, and i could never thank you enough...neither could the teachers and students here in Guatemala!!
wow! It has taken so long to get everything moving with some projects here in Guate, but with 4 months left of my service we finally got something going!

Completed Project La Rancheria

During my powerpoint at the fundraiser, I had mentioned two specifics projects in two schools that I would focus on, but God had another plan for me and my service. I did return to my original site in enough time to complete a project that was already half-funded. The 10-faucet project was implemented in La Rancheria, a school of 180 kids...and i was lucky enough to be around for the inauguration with the entire community, so I am very thankful for that.

I returned to Guate on Jan 4th last year, however as most of you know on Jan 26th I was robbed in my home by people i thought were my friends. This night changed my service. Peace Corps made the decision to move my site. I was so angry for so long but it turned out to be a blessing, I love my new site. However I had to leave with no goodbyes and left my work with 35 schools and over 3000 kids behind. A member of the staff came with me and i had 4 hours to pack up my life (including mrs. cooper and her 2 week old kittens!)

Students from Triunfo La Paz!

My new site was Santa Maria Visitacion, and my task was clear. I was to certify 3 schools as 'Healthy." which I did. However these schools had already been in the program for 4 years and had 2 other volunteers who had preceded me. These 3 schools did not have any needs! They were already connected to water and completed all of the requirements of a healthy school, including hand-washing stations so I was not in a position to go through with any projects. I spent 5 months with them and we had a wonderful certification ceremony.
Now I am working with four schools who have never been in the healthy schools program, so we are starting from the ground up! It is challenging but super fulfilling because there is so much to do, each and every school has specific sanitation needs, most importantly none of them have a hand washing station.
The news is........On Monday, we begin construction on an 8-faucet hand washing station in Triunfo La Paz, a school in rural Santa Clara La Laguna with 111 students and 7 teachers!!
This Saturday I am heading out to the Ferreteria, or hardware store with the principal and the carpenter, who is also a father of 3 of the students, to buy all of the materials we will need. We think the project will take 6 days to complete, but this is guatemala, so that might mean two weeks...but either way the project will be completed for the students when school starts back up again on January 2nd.

Project will go here !

This is so exciting, as of now they only have one faucet in the school and this will provide the means these kids need to practice healthy habits right in the school!
The project will be constructed on a wall which is right next to the bathrooms so the kids will be able to hit the Bano, then head right to the station to wash their hands, it is gonna be awesome!
Please stay tuned and check for updates in my facebook album called 'Peace Corps Projects"

Current Water Situation at Triunfo La Paz

After this is completed, we will look into doing another project in one of the 3 remaining schools, two of which have over 400 students, I would like to spend a little more time with each school this January to see who is the most motivated in the healthy schools program and who i believe has earned the project.
Thank you all again so much this would not be possible without your support, and I don't just mean from the fundraiser night, your support throughout my service has been so important to me and I can't believe I only have 4 months to go before I come home for good. I love you all, q dios la bendiga!


STAY TUNED!