Simeon and I (Joel) went to Santo Domingo last Friday and Saturday. Simeon went with me because Kim has a ton to work on right now in her preparations for her HIV/AIDS workshops. It went great for the first time of Simeon being away from mom for a little while. We had a lot to do, and for Simeon to play with, so we kept busy. Besides a little car difficulties, the trip went very, very well.
The purpose of the trip was for the Agua Potable (Clean Water) project in Santo Domingo for the camp and the neighboring community of Santa Marianita. The community has decided to do the water project themselves. That means they are planning on constructing the Water Treatment plant and doing all the piping themselves. In order to do this, we first need to have engineers come out to do an official “Field Study” which costs around $7,0000. Unfortunately, the community is filled with a bunch of farmers that don’t have a lot of money so they weren’t able to come up with the needed funds to do the study.
However, my good friend Santiago, one of the FACE coordinators, came up with a great idea. Santiago and I went to the Central University here in Quito and asked the Engineering Department if there would be a possibility that some Engineering students could come out to do the study as their thesis. Surprisingly enough, they said “yes, there is a possibility of that.” We were very excited to hear that. But the next step of the process was to have the head of Engineering Department at the school come out to do an inspection and see if the study as a thesis would work. This is what occurred last Friday. I met the gentleman who traveled from Quito on the highway and lead them to the community to do the inspection.
It seems as though things went very well and everything seemed very positive. They said that they would let us know in a week if it is possible and how much it would cost. The only costs that there will be are for room and board and transportation for the students, which will all be much more affordable than the $7,000. Once the study is complete, there will be a lot more opportunities for funding for the actual construction phase of the project from local and provincial governments. Safe to say we are very excited about these most recent developments. Please pray for a positive confirmation from the Engineering Department this Friday.
The Santiago Partnership