Next few months!

Sorry I left everyone hanging with the last post.  I have decided to stay here in Guatemala and continue my journey as a volunteer.  I might not be able to continue exactly what I was doing in terms of projects and being in the same community, but I will be able to continue gaining valuable experience and working alongside great people here in Guatemala.  It might not be the most ideal of situations but the idea of service and doing your best with what you have is what I came here to do. Even though I will be in a new community for a short amount of time, I need to look at that time frame and do what I can, trying my best.

I will be moving about an hour and a half south of where I am currently located.  I will be moving to another municipality where there are a few other volunteers currently located.  With the new changes there will be more towns with a greater concentration of volunteers.  I have about another month here in my current site trying to arrange everything, leaving projects in good hands, organizing everything with the bottle school and get everything organized to move to a new site.  I have been very fortunate to talk with Peace Corps administration and have had meetings and conversations about my situation. They have granted me the ability to supervise my project and take a few trips back and forth to get it done. That was a big factor in my decision making.  I couldn’t leave the community where we were going to do the school. I made it clear to the local municipality where I work, the community of Guacachipol and to Peace Corps that my goal was to finish the school whether I was a volunteer or not.  Thankfully, together, we have worked out a plan to allow me to finish this project while remaining a volunteer. 

As for life here, my two site mates have left last week as they completed their service.  A big congrats to them for doing a job well done, finishing with a bunch of projects, and leaving a great impact here in town and surrounding communities. I was honored and humbled to work and take part in daily life alongside them for 16 months.  Hopefully we will be able to meet up once we are all back stateside.

In the month of March, things will be hectic.  We will be starting the bottle school construction (FINALLY!), I will have to move and get to know people in a new town and work environment, try to pitch some new ideas there all while keeping tabs on the construction here in my original site.  When it rains it pours right?  This will be a busy time but definitely welcome as progress has been made and now we will be able to put everything to action.  I finally have a lot of support from the new mayor and things couldn’t be better in site.  I will do my best to really soak up everything in the last few weeks I have here with great friends and look forward to making new friends in a new town.