Well, maybe not the end, per se, but a new beginning for all of us.
Hey hey, families and friends! It’s the leaders of today (Matt and Azul), and we’re here writing this rather monumental blog to commemorate the group’s biggest achievement: creating a pipe system. While not the most significant achievement at first, we need to provide a bit of context. To start, the system we created was to benefit the community of “La Piña”, a community of about 100 people, they had no access to clean water or any water at all! They had to rely on rainwater for their supply, and during a drought? No water, period. This was a three-day project, and we made great strides in the past 2 and a half days. We also got some delicious cookies while we worked thanks to Naldo! After a few hours of work setting the pipes down some community members helped us connect them, which we were able to create a current of water! We bid farewell to Francis, who helped supervise our group, and his friends who helped along the way. We made our way on the safari bus back to La Salle, our forward operating base for the trip. When we arrived, people had time to shower if they needed to and we had a delicious lunch where we ate some rice, salad, lentils, and fried yuca fries! We called people by numbers which was a change of pace from calling boys and girls. After some time we had a bonding activity where people had the ability to ask another person for their interests or subjects they are knowledgeable on! After this team bonding act, we went on a surprise trip to the city! It was fun, and I (Matt) got a liter of frozen yoghurt (or so it said). Afterwards, we went back to the retreat, and we reflected on our surprise trip, and the program as a whole. We then had free time for an hour, and then we had burgers and tacos for dinner. It was a nice refreshing dinner, and definitely helped to lift spirits. After dinner, we had our second to last nightly meeting, and passed the torch to tomorrow’s final leaders: Xadani and Ethan. Ethan threw candy to participants of the nightly meeting. I(Azul) got a Jolly Rancher! Overall, today was a good day, for the residents of La Piña, and us glimpsers. We learned a lot, and we can say for sure that the payout of the work we did will easily outweigh any stressful moments we endured. Getting dirty was worth the smiles on the glimpsers’ faces today
Azul here =), Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Hope you guys are taking good care of Zafirita and Adriellita for me! Los amo muchisimo, no pasa ni un dia sin que piense en ustedes. I hope you guys are ready for mis regalitos! ⬛♥️
Such an awesome project! You all should be proud!
Can’t wait to see you soon, Mathilde! Have a safe trip back!
❤️❤️🇫🇷
Sounds like a fun day in the city! Looks like you guys are all grouped together and are good friends now! I hope you’re having fun Mathilde, I miss you so much, can’t wait for you to get home! (I olive you) I love you much – Berto ❤️
Congratulations!! It sounds like a success. Great work.
Z – we are so excited to see you soon! Try to see the moon if you get a chance.
Hugs and love from all of us.
👏👏👏 Great job everyone! That’s awesome that you were able to set the pipes and see the water current! It is definitely a life changing resource for the community of “La Piña” and a life changing experience for all of you!
Thanks for all the details Matthew and Azul, excellent post!
Just one more day before you are set to leave the DR! So excited to see the difference when you return after spending two weeks growing together vs when you first gathered at the airport as strangers.
Love you Megan!
You’re all amazing.Keep up the great work.. See you on Tuesday naneng Jellien.
We missed you so much..
Papa,Mama..Love you ♥️♥️♥️
So proud of the group!
Wow!! That’s awesome!! So proud of you Matt! We are ready to hear all about it! See you soon. Love mom
It’s a great achievement. Doing such a project means a lot for them. They will never forget it as they use it everyday. Good job Jellien. It was such a great experience.
At last hardships ends, but it was a great adventure ate Jellien. You’ve done a great job. They will never forget what you have done. Clean water was so important and you have provided it. We are really proud of you ate.
Wow, sounds absolutely amazing. What efforts to create a lasting change for the community- access to running water, something that seems so simple that we, in US may take for granted every day.
We’re so proud of your work!
And we can’t wait to see you!
Mi nena hermosa, estamos muy orgullosos de ti y el equipo de glimpers for their hard work.
We will be waiting for you con muchas ansias.!!!!
You kids have done some amazing work out there. Lieara we miss you so much and can’t wait for you to come home. We love you and are so proud of your journey.