B3 and everything else in 2010...

First of all, I want to apologize for not writing in three months. A lot has happened since my last entry. I went home for X-mas and New Year’s, and had the pleasant opportunity to hang out with family and friends. Those 13 days were a whirlwind of fun as I road tripped with my college roommates from San Francisco to San Diego, and back up again in six days. It also gave me the chance to hang out with my family, especially my brothers, who I’ve missed dearly. Although I didn’t get to visit everyone I wanted to see, the trip was a perfect send off to my second year of service.

I arrived back in Peru on January 3, and I had plenty of work to do, as I was preparing for my first big project at my site. The past four months or so, I’ve been working with an NGO “Builders Beyond Borders” on a water project in Coayllo. B3 is an NGO which raises money to do combination volunteer/tourism projects for high school students in Connecticut. Each year, they choose a country in Latin America, and make trips to these countries to look at possible construction projects the kids can work on during their spring vacations. This year, Peru was the lucky country, and three PCV’s including me received projects in the months of February, March, and April.

So on February 14, Valentine’s Day, the first batch of kids arrived at my site. My town, as most of you know, consists of about 500-600 people, and for that week, 35 students, 6 adults, and 10-12 PCV’s and Rotary scholars were going to be living at my site, helping out with this water project.

Coayllo receives potable drinking water optimally for an hour a day. B3 is helping with a project which will give 20 families new connections to the water system, put approximately 275 meters of new PVC tubes to the system, and provide my site an emergency water line, which is about 100 meters long. This emergency line will offer my town an opportunity to have water while maintenance is being done to the water system, or when there are malfunctions to present network.

For one week, the B3 kids, their adult advisors, some community members, and my friends picked and dug until the project was complete. Their effort was shown through the blisters on their hands and the dirt across their face, but in the end, they fulfilled their mission, and had a very lasting effect in my community. While they were here, they made friends with a lot of the kids, and their departure was sad, as it left my town in its normal quiet state, asking for their return.

The next group of B3 kids will be arriving in one week. Although I was stressed out the whole week for the first group, “Rhombo” was a pleasure to work with. The kids worked their tails off, and were very optimistic during the project. It was a delight being with them, and I hope “Esperanza” brings that same work ethic.

So this is what I’ve been doing the past 2-3 months. It feels good to get something concrete done at my site, and after this week, I can say that I increased access to potable water for my community, and did something worthwhile…with help, of course.
I can remember my first year of service, and how different an experience it was, not knowing what I was going to do here, and how uncomfortable I felt being at my site. Now, I feel at home, and I’m surrounded by five new PCV’s, who have changed my experience here ten-fold. It has given me the opportunity to share my community and service with them, while helping them adjust to their new homes for two years. They’ve helped me a lot already, and I look forward to what this second year of service will bring.

Again I’m sorry for not posting an entry for a while. My camera hasn’t been working, and I felt sad about not having any pictures to post, but it is finally working again, and I’ll be up and writing (and posting) in no time. Take care and I hope to hear from you guys soon. Chau!