Thursday 1/15

This message shares with you recent activities important to us. Exciting things are happening in unexpected ways,

This week we visited the orphanage that we learned about from our seatmate on the flight here. It is along the main road between Nejapa and Apopa, tucked away behind an iron gate and a high stone wall. Once you enter, the environment changes dramatically. The basis or foundation for the buildings is an large old hacienda. Additions to this building include comfortable rooms for 7 babies and toddlers, 5 young children, 7 teenage girls and 8 teen age boys. There is a large dining room and kitchen. This is not an institution - it is a loving home. Rachel and her husband Mauricio began it 5 years ago for two or three children and it has grown. They have a continuous stream of volunteers from their church in Ohio who do the building projects and help care for the children. The children and facilities sparkle in very dirty surroundings. They have one special needs child, Kevin, born with cerbral palsy. He is almost 3 years old, skin covered bones, weighs about 20 pounds, has food allergies, but alert and observant. A family in Ohio wants to adopt him but the adoption process is long and difficult from here. He needs a home and family that can provide for all his physical and emotional needs. We appreciated our time there, found it very encouraging that the hearts of a young couple can be so strong and dedicated, and look forward to a future visit to observe the growth of the ministry.

Yesterday, we attended the morning meeting of Club Rotario, our host project partner. The focus of this meeting was leadership, service, and projects. This project is the Club's largest project so far. We learned from the lead engineer from the US that if this project were to be done in the US, it would cost $2,000,000. Because of the volunteer labor and donated use of equipment, the final cost should be just under $200,000. Overall, the material costs are right on budget!

Surprizingly, I had my first public speaking experience in Spanish. I did a banner presentation to the Club from the EWB team thanking them for their support. I was terrified but it went well and they all were very supportive of my amateur effort.

Members of the Club are visiting the project site today unannounced to see the work in progress and get a better understanding of the scope of the plans accomplished and yet to come. They acknowledged there is another phase to come in 2010 and they are committed to it.

The final trenching on the east side is still being filled and tamped. In La Granja, our community side, trenching is well under way on the first lateral road. This phase of the project will be more difficult because of the density of the homes and the narrow one-lane roads. The EWB teams work today and tomorrow. They leave for home on Saturday to be ready for classes to resume next week. Many of them have told us they will be be bored sitting in lectures and at their computers, and will be wanting to get out and do some hard physical labor. The project now has a designated community leader who is supported by residents of the community. We will stop back to the site occassionally before we leave to check with him on progress and needs to keep EWB informed.

We ended our evening sitting on the correadora, enjoying th evening breeze, stars, waning moon and dinner. SORRY - We just had to tell you that! Wisconsin weather is making a big hit here - many people have commented on the cold and snow at home.

David and Nancy