It Takes a Village - Project Updates - April 2013

Latest News

The May Health brigade -

The health brigade for Djati has been cancelled. Also, from my understanding, Connie from Lifelink is not going to Guinea Bissau as she had planned. The recent turn of events and political  instability has made it unsafe to travel to the region.

The brigade has been moved to the village of Meio. Most of the people from Djati are working in the cashew orchards. Last time Fredy was in Djati for a brigade, few showed up.  The villagers leave early in the morning and return late in the afternoon.

In Meio, which is one hour from Djati, on the main road, more villages are nearby and so more people will attend the brigade.

The team will consist of Juan, Raquel, Dr Umaro (a Guinean doctor), Maritza and Flavia along with some of Raquel's medical assistants from Quebo.

Medical Clinic - Djati

The location has been chosen. The clinic will be located directly across from the school. I think that is a good ideas as it will also be situated near the restrooms that we built. This could be the beginning of a little Djati community/commercial center.

The building of the clinic is running behind schedule. 
The villagers of Djati have been working to get 4,000 bricks ready for Fredy. When he arrived to start the job, the bricks were not finished. They also had a problem getting all the sand they needed from the bush. They gather the sand on foot.

Another reason they are behind is because its cashew season. Cashew season is a BIG deal (and big business) in Guinea Bissau. And as Maritza says, "Well now that it is CASHEW SEASON, no one wants to run in and out of the bush carrying sand when the truck drivers have the cashew business and are BEGGING the truck drivers to haul cashews"

I can understand that! So we, will just wait until things have settled down and we will get our update and photos. As we all know, construction projects are rarely on time!

Shelly's Birthday Donation site - 

Another update is regarding Shelly's birthday donation site.  Shelly donated her April birthday to the cause to help us raise our final $1,000. To date she has raised $1,550!!! Congrats!! Good job and thank you Shelly! With that money I think we have successfully made our goal of $8,000 for the medical clinic, solar lighting and medical supplies. I await the final tally and will post it here.

Guiledge School update -

It Takes a Village has 4 villages that we will provide these essential services for. Simultaneously while we are working on Djati, the village of Guiledge is working on building a new school.

 

The situation in Guiledge is a little different. They aren't as remote as Djati and since it is located at the crossroads, there are several tribes that have decided to work together to get their school built.

 X marks the spot for the new school

So, the villagers have been quietly building their school, while we have been concentrating on completing the project in Djati.

More stories and photos to follow once Djati is complete

Come back to read more about my 14-day Caribbean Travel Blog tomorrow