Progress in the field and on the fundraiser!

I’m happy to report that Gift a Goat & More! has made it to $12,400 in one month! Thank you for your support! Please help us keep the momentum going by sharing the campaign with your friends and family during its final three weeks.

Screen Shot 2015-11-10 at 6.22.25 AM — Click on the link above or the photo itself to be directed to the “Gift a Goat & More!” campaign.

The project is going well here in Panama. There have been moments of extreme challenge as we held meetings and tried to set schedules to keep the community working together for their water line. We made a lot of progress this past weekend – we placed, glued and buried about 1600′ of the pipeline.

Existing leaky pipe on the left. New pipe (during install) on the right.

It might not sound like a lot of work, but just to show you – this is my Fitbit summary from my work day on Saturday.

Fitbit report after working on Saturday — My dad bought me a Fitbit this summer and it has been fun to track how far I go. Plus the heart rate monitor is a good tool – especially when I was sick.

Nearly 11 miles of walking up and down the line as we worked. And those “53 floors” are just the Fitbits interpretation of all the times I went over the hills from the reservoir to the end of the water line.

I get lots of minor bumps, bruises, cuts and scrapes working. I have been burned by the sun, fire, chemicals and ovens, however this is the first time I got a wee chemical burn from a plant. I learned, after the fact, that the plants “sap” in the stalk part can literally burn your skin off. I had been grabbing leaves from plants in the jungle to clean off the pipes before I glued them. I selected the wrong plant and got burned on top of my finger. My finger started oozing serum immediately. I am still not good at identifying the plants, so the rest of the day, I kept asking the guys before grabbing leaves…and I plan to continue asking them for the duration of the project 🙂

Can you believe a nice green plant did this to me? This is after it healed over 2 days.

After work on Sunday, I headed over to a hostel called Bambuda on a neighboring island. The owners, Dan and Tom, are really nice and are financially supporting part of the pipeline project in the village. They spoiled me with a private room for the night (and food!). It was really nice. I stayed until around 3:30pm on Monday, spending most of my time reading a book I brought to Panama, but had yet to open until Monday morning. Below is a photo to entice you to visit the lodge if you ever make it to Panama – I am sure it is one of the most beautiful and relaxing places in the entire country.