Hello! I am back after more than 2 months of blog-less-ness. Why? Well, the combination of lack of computer and little money (the new house has eaten up every cent) has really limited my time in the internet cafe.

But no worries! After a 10 day vacation in the USA for thanksgiving, I have a new computer!

Stay tuned the next few days for frequent updates and pictures.

Happy holidays!

IVE MOVED IN TO MY NEW HOUSE! It is fantastic! Cool, breezy and a great kitchen! My host mother gifted me a working stove/oven, and I received plates, cups, pots, utensils from about 10 different community women. I have already noticed a huge difference between having my own home and living in the home of others. Now, whenever people come over I have to prepare coffee, juice or food (as is the Dominican custom). But, I also have the pleasure of entertaining others in my own home! I feel much more relaxed in the new home.

My water filter meetings have taken place! 13 filters are each going to my three communitites, and we only had to raffle off the filters in Guayabo due to huge demand (since there were more than 13 people who wanted them). 1 filter will be going to the local school. I will be ordering the filters this week and hopefully in October we will be installing!!

I went to the dentist for the first time for a cleaning. It was a very modern office with state of the art facilities! No cavities! Woohoo! The best part about peace corps is that they pay for all your medical needs-- no questions asked! And, we have specific peace corps doctors at the capital office at all times for any necessary consultations. They make it so easy!

September is full of beginnings and endings. This weekend marked the graduation of my women´s reproductive health class, my second sex-ed class for youth, and my health promoter training workshops. I have now started the water filter project which consists of 3 community meetings in each of my three communities. In Guayabo there has been a huge demand for the water filters. We will see if it is the same in the other two communities.

Also, I will be moving into my new Dominican house next week! The lighting and water have been installed, only a bit of paint lacks. I am having some other volunteers visit the first weekend in October to help paint the outside of the house. My community women are so great-- many of them have already starting gifting me plates, pots and cups! I probably wont have to buy any kitchen tools! Imagine that! Unfortunately, I wont be able to upload any pictures until Thanksgiving due to my broken computer.

Today I returned to the capital to do a presentation to the new health volunteers who arrived in country a few weeks ago. They seem to be a great group! Tomorrow I take back a volunteer to my site for the weekend to show them what the true "peace corps experience" is like. This will include my escojo class, my health promotors workshop and distributing flyers for a water filter meeting. Hopefully they enjoy!

These last few weeks have been packed with workshops and planning for the upcoming fall. Last weekend I was in Santo Domingo at a Rotary sponsored bio-sand water filter training. Bio-sand filters use 4 different types of sand to trap and kill 90-99% of bacteria, viruses and parasites contained in unfiltered water. The filters themselves look like blue plastic trashcans with a small hose coming out the side.

Advantages: lightweight plastic container. Easy to install. Filters last 30 years. We are getting 40 filters free from rotary.

Disadvantages: once the filters are filled with sand, you cannot move them EVER (because it will disrupt the levels of sand. You cant move them even to mop.). The sand is purified, and thus I cannot store the sand materials in any common house (due to ants, rats, etc). This means I will be storing tons of sand in my shack. Also, we are only getting 40 filters free from rotary (and I have 100 families wanting them). Finally, I am doing this project in three communities and will therefore be lugging hundreds of pounds of sand on motorcycle on unpaved roads.

So, as you can see, there are advantages and disadvantages to the program. However, no matter the disadvantages (because clean water trumps all), we are 100% doing the program (and I will most likely have huge biceps by the end). You may be asking yourself, how will Leigh choose the 40 families? Well, priority will first go to families who have children under the age of 5 (since they have weaker immune systems). Next, families that lug their water directly from the river (since many actually receive water in their home through aqueducts). Finally, families that don’t purify their water (since many families buy bottled water).

I have also spent the past few weeks planning my 4-weekend workshops to train health promoters in 10 different communities. My first one is Saturday! My 10 government health promoters will be learning 12 basic health promotion topics (ranging from infectious disease, child nutrition, domestic abuse etc.), as well as how to manage health comities, how to give effective presentations, how to facilitate home visits, etc.
This means preparing for 10 hours of workshopping, including the purchase of writing materials, folders, snacks and drawing the 12 presentations on easel paper. I´m really excited especially because I designed and will implement the educational program all by myself! My first real independent project (not assigned by Peace Corps).

Also coming up in the next 2 weeks are the graduations of my second sex-ed class and my first reproductive health class. I have also been asked to give a presentation in the capital to the new group of health volunteers that arrive this week in country! Finally, in 2 weeks I have a new health trainee coming to my site for 4 days to visit and see what a ¨real¨ volunteer does.

Lastly, I`ve been here for 1 year already! Can you believe it?? Only 15 months to go.

playing with fellow health volunteers at the beach.

rafelito ready to eat a delicious 4th of july meal at home!

so its been a month. sorry! ive been busy and bored at the same time.
updates:
-the house that my community is building me will be done in two weeks! ill be moving by september!
-i spent one week in july working in puerto plata with the university of southern maine medical mission. we visited poor mountainous communities and gave out vitamins, aspirin, athletes foot medication, etc. while doing basic analysis for the patients. there were about 50 medical/nursing students and 10 peace corps translators. it was super interesting and a great mini-vacation.
- this month i start educating current health promotors in 10 surrounding communities. i will have 4 different workshop weekends, amounting to 10 hours of presentation. lots of preparation. they will be learning about 12 large, basic health topics and how to present information in their community.
-this upcoming weekend i am attending a training for bio-sand filters held by the rotary club. hopefully we can build these filters in houses.. purifying the river water we currently drink.

exciting updates:
-my host mother randomly brought home a waffle iron and gave it to me! she had no clue what it was! sunday brunch-- here i come!
- my host mother will also be gifting me her current oven and stove (it is in bad shape, so she wants to get a new one).

hope to type up a better update soon!