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| I feel a year-long party coming! |
Ouch! It’s been two months since I posted. Where
did December go? I’m back in Peru and
back to work. I’ve never felt better--and full of enthusiasm for my work and my
life here in the rainforest. This time was
a soft landing home. Despite a 40 hour door to door trip from Perth, I didn’t have any jet lag other than goofy sleep
patterns, which took about four days to settle.
I always like starting things fresh on the first of the month or the
year. It was great to get back to
Iquitos on the last day of the year to wake up on January 1, 2014 in my own
bed! It was five years ago on January 1,
2009 that I first moved into my apartment. I still love it--it’s small but well designed, with lots of
glass and a jungle garden right outside my doors and windows. I can't believe I've been here just shy of six years as it continues to be a life-changing experience. Remember, my door is always open for
visits—my couch and hammock are free, the water is hot and the beer is
cold!
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| Sawyer PointONE |
The big push is on to get ready for Adopt A School. There’s still time and space to join our volunteer expedition trip to deliver books and school supplies the first week in April. If you want more info, let me know. We’re going to place Sawyer PointONE filters and buckets in all our classrooms this year. There will be 200 new water systems thus each child will have access to clean water during school hours. Many of the student's homes have clean water options, but not all. CONAPAC is still pushing for more donations to complete the final 12-15 communities that need clean water systems. In the meantime, kids without clean drinking water at home will at least have it at school. It’s a start so here's the link to help further: http://www.conapac.org/water_plant.html
Also check out www.sawyersaves.com for more insight into this lifesaving water filtration system. To place one Sawyer filter with related delivery, set-up and training support costs $175 per family. Once we finish with the classrooms, we’ll move on to those final families still waiting for clean water. The bucket and Sawyer filter in this photo is in my flat. I don’t drink the tap water so this is a great solution for me, too!
With luck I’ll be living and working in Peru for three more years. James will join me for a good part of the time next year--the next step in our implausible, but joyful relationship. Unfortunately, the wheels that turn here are coming off. I can’t renew my contract and reinstate my work papers despite officially documented proof of the reason for my absence. I have to start all over again. This is complicated, time-consuming and costly. It will require communication with a lawyer in Lima, at least two plane flights to Lima to go to immigrations, a visit to INTERPOL, and a vast gathering of documents. Along the way there will be fees, taxes and bribes--yet no guarantee of success. They sure don’t make it easy to do the right thing but I will press on and see what happens. If I’m meant to stay and continue my work, I will. If not, then the journey has only detoured not ended.
