Sorry, it has been a little while since we have updated. I (Joel) made a trip a couple of weeks ago to the Camp in Santo Domingo for more meetings on the Agua Potable project. Again, just to refresh your brains, this is the project that I am helping with to bring clean water to the Camp as well as a nearby community of 300 folks or so.
Well, with this last trip, things progressed very well. Our first meeting was with Santiago, the project coordinator from FACE, as well as the Vice-President of the area leadership that covers that area. We were discussing the possibility of the project and its funding. During the course ofthe discussion, we figured out that before we can know exactly how much the project will cost an official “study” will have to be carried out. A study is conducted by local officials in order to discern the feasibility of the project, determine the project costs and every other type question like that using all of the necessary topographical type information and equipment. The one problem with it (as with many things in life) is that a study costs money. And the small amount of funds that are available for the area (that the Vice-President is in charge of) are for carrying out a project like this and not just doing a study. But from that meeting it was deicided that all of us, including the Vice-President, would go to meet with the Mayor’s assistant the next day to discuss the funding for the study. This we did with a similar type result. The mayor’s assistant wasn’t able to give us the necessary funds for such a project but that he was willing to go with us including the Vice-President of the area to meet with the people who could the next day. The meeting the next day also went well. From that meeting, it was decided that they would do the study and provide it as a service; however, the community would need to pay for 20-30% of the costs of the study. So, now, all we are waiting for is for them to determine how much the study will cost so they can tell us how much the 20-30% will be. I’m not sure where the money will come from for this 20-30% but we are praying that God will provide.
The Santiago Partnership