Water and Rain

The rainy season has begun. We have had 7 straight days constant down pours with violent lightning storms. I am starting to understand how Noah must have felt, but the only animals I could gather right now are a mouse, 3 goekos and a giant spider. I have gotten used to the mouse living under the sink. I am sure it’s a girl because she likes my clothes. I call her poo for obvious reasons.

With the storms we have been with out electricity for several days. It will flicker for a little while but ultimately kick out. This has put a damper on the internet connections. We have been fortunate though to still have water in most places because we operate on collecting system that uses pumps in the dry season and can catch rain in the rainy season. It is amazing how crafty the design of the plantation is. Dr. Youngberg did a lot with a very little.

Speaking of water we received wonderful news yesterday. It began over “burgers” at a fairly local restraunt/bed and breakfast which caters to the American way of life. I heard a group of gringos talking and being the shy girl I am forced my self to go and chat. It turns out they have invested a bunch of money into building a new clinic nearby to serve the poor. They actually knew about us but hadn’t made any contact to find out our story. Their funding was clearly superior to ours because they have corporate sponsors and we survive on personal donations. I was pretty direct in the conversation discussing the goal we have of unifying the medical system in Pina Blanca to better serve over 50 villages that feed into the town. At one point I flat out asked why they didn’t try to work with us instead of building their own infrastructure from scratch. I didn’t get an answer but the seeds of thought had been planted. Two days ago a bus full of doctors and contractors showed up at our door. They came to get a tour and understand what we were about. They brought clothes and books for our smallest children. They were really wonderful and so excited to see how much we had to offer. In the end they said they wanted to help us finish the new dorms for the children. You see, the hospital as we call it, that we currently have, is built of wood. The children live in it along with 50,000 termites, a dozen bats and couple hundred rodents. In this building is also the small clinic we operate throughout the day and our “kitchen”. When it rains the water pours in along with the wind. It’s constantly damp and the stench will knock your nose off. God help us if we ever had a fire, with the severe lightning storms it is a constant worry. We need new buildings to get the children out of the hospital as soon as possible, at which time we will tear it down and start building a new more modern hospital that can protect the children from the elements. Last evening we had a meeting with them. They made clear their intentions to help. They can’t fund it all but will help to the degree that they have excess. They also said they were going to help us get a water collection/purification system at a low cost that would help us guarantee our water supply to the whole plantation. If this really happens we could utilize more of the ground for growing crops. A major barrier to increasing our agriculture has been the inability to keep the ground watered in the dry season.

We are holding our breath but we are hopeful……..