A diamond in the rough

What great luck!  Tuesday after Spanish class we heard from Philippa Wood, a Peace Corps volunteer who happened to be in Xela at that very moment!  All of a sudden our week got very busy.  We accompanied her on the hour and a half bus ride back to her community, San Vicente Buenabaj, for the night.  We got a tour of the Clinica de Salud, met the town mayor and much of the clinic staff.

  A beautiful view of San Vicente Buenabaj

Maddie and Phil deep in important conversation I bet.

Wednesday we had the incredible opportunity to accompany Phil, a rural health technician, and a health promoter on a survey of the community.  We went house to house in one of the smaller communities within San Vicente called Xemuj (pronounced Shamu) assessing their houses, quality of life, needs, etc.  Every year the clinic tries to survey and vaccinate the entire community, population 2,680, house by house, and in the past they have gotten to about 97%.

How impressive...

We are still pondering over the town of San Vicente Buenabaj for Manna, but it´s possible with Phil´s good work, they already have enough help.

Thursday we finally visited the Primeros Pasos Clinic for the first time!  The clinic is staffed with fantastic, organized people who actually work together for the bettering of society.  A breath of fresh air, and a good sign of things to come since we will definitely be working together in the future, no matter where we end up.

So far a great week, tomorrow comes another round of stove building! I hope you´re as excited as me!

Dana