Tools and Toys

Part of settling into life as a Peace Corps Volunteer is finding activities that help other people and that also make you happy. Scott has been successful at this by acquiring all the tools and materials for building the climbing wall in the backyard and building it as quickly as possible. I have noticed that each child learns a different lesson from the wall, whether it's simply confidence or perseverance or even teamwork. I admire the determination and ingenuity projects like this require.

Yesterday our Brazilian comrades completed a final project, in which we got to take part, of fashioning a school playground out of tree trunks hewn from the jungle into an obstacle course of steps and high bars. Scott helped dig holes and set posts. It was their final project before leaving Bella Vista this morning for farflung parts of the world. They may soon be living in Namibia, for example, and with their contagious enthusiasm for world development and for cultivating and conserving the earth's resources, both human and material, they will surely continue to make a remarkable difference in people's lives. They will be sorely missed here.

We only hope to continue the ongoing projects they have begun and to attain some measure of their positive energy.

Here Scott is all smiles with his fancy new drill from the States. Thanks, Dad! He says.

And below are pictures of our trip to Placencia several weeks ago to purchase a saw, another important toy-I mean, tool- for the project.