Summer is here

Well its hard to believe that it is the end of March all ready. We had three different groups come down, so that really sped things up. The first group was just a two day tour of our projects, it was fun but a lot of traveling. The group was down to install a solar panel on a school in a different part of Boaco, so AsoFenix helped them by doing a training for the local technicians. The village was located up some of the worst roads I have seen in Nicaragua, and the four wheel drive on our SUV wasn't working...so needless to say it was an adventure, but we made it back safely.

We just finished up with two other groups. One group was installing biodigesters (which turn cow manure into cooking gas). We didn't have a chance to spend much time with that group because we were leading another group. They installed several biodigesters and also helped raise funds to install 10 in Bramadero and another community nearby.

The group we were with was a group from Lewis and Clark University in Oregon. They came down down to help us begin to understand the social impacts of our projects. The physical impacts are easy to see and measure, but the social are more elusive. For example, we know that having water in each house means that women and children don't have to walk in more to carry it. But what does that mean to their lives and the community in whole? What do they do with the extra time they have and how has this impacted other parts of their lives? We had a great time getting to know people in other communities. We both found that we really enjoy the social aspects of the projects more than the technical side.

This coming week we will have a chance to go on vacation with Sarah's parents. We are going to a beach for a chance to relax. We are very excited about it and looking forward to the rest.

Life Works in Circles

So once again things are changing for us only this time they are circling back to the beginning. We will be looking for a house in Teustepe, where we thought we would live before we arrived. We lived in a village called Bramadero for 5 months during our first year and decided it is better for the community and us if we don't return to living there. The last 8 months we have been living in Managua and working in communities in the Boaco area. MCC prefers to have their workers living in the area they are working in, so we will be looking in Teustepe, which is a town in the Boaco area. We were a little disappointed mainly because we have become accustomed to life in Managua, but in the end it does make more sense. Of course, we are excited about the possibility of having our own house, but not too exicted about the looking process.