“This trip has been the most challenging of any that I’ve come on,” said Walter Want, leader of the electrical project; this is his fourth trip.
The presence of a generator made it possible for the dental clinic to operate the sterilization instrument as well as the air compressor necessary for suction, but the sterilizer and the air compressor couldn’t be run at the same time for fear of overloading the system. This required someone to run outside the clinic to either turn the air compressor on or off, depending on whether the next few moments were to be dedicated to suction (generally necessary for cavity filling) or sterilization (necessary to clean the instruments the dentists use).While the clinics continued seeing patients, the electrical team, who had initially hoped to spend their time in Vuelta Grande wiring at least one of the homes in the village, pressed on with their work at the school even after the arrival of the generator.
Young boys from the villages typically join their fathers in the fields after they reach the age of about 10 years, and, in doing so, terminate their education. However, Ervin Aspuac, a teacher from El Hato, had arranged to teach classes at night for these boys. Without electricity to run the lights, this would be impossible. And so even after the rest of the Rotary team members had packed up and left, the electrical team remained at work.
The only project that the electricity issue didn’t complicate was the water project, which got its start today. Kathi Futornick lead the way to check on the status of this endeavor with Trista Whitehurst and Antigua Rotary member Jacques Dallies.
The day ended early for the clinics, which had to begin the process of packing up by about two-thirty in the afternoon. Today was the final day in Vuelta Grande; they begin working in El Hato on Monday.
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