R&R in Shell

We have 2 weeks in Shell between jungle trips, so some time to plan, catch up in the office, and settle down to some sort of normalcy - there's been a lot of travelling around for the last 6 weeks.  We also had a visit from our bosses in Quito so have a plan for the next few months.  It looks like there’s enough to keep us in Shell, and that we should be able to move some of these things on – but it’s quite a daunting list for only 4 months more.

• Improvements to the hospital’s sewage system- this one’s fallen to me to manage. At the moment there’s a septic tank, which is too small, and discharges straight into the river. Last time the tank was emptied, the sludge was also pumped straight into the river. So I’m looking at various alternatives for not polluting the watercourse, as well as a few improvements to the clean water system for the hospital.
• Evaluation of projects completed in the past couple of years – we’ll be visiting the communities and finding out how they’ve used the water system, how they’ve maintained it, any problems, and any further work that we might do.
• Visiting a set of communities who HCJB’s field medicine group works with, and who want water projects, to find out what we can do for them. We’re visiting them next week and if it’s suitable we’ll be working on these projects next year.
• The water projects we do aren’t paid for by HCJB. Usually we visit communities who request water systems or similar, then if they really want it they’ll allocate part of their government funding to it. It’s great working in this way - it means the community only gets the system if it’s a priority, and it’s a system that can continue without us.

My challenge - the septic tank; parachutes over Shell

And in other news...

• Steph, Stephy and I have started a bible study and prayer time every few days – not much but something to dedicate our time here to God. It feels great to be actually doing this together rather than just saying we want to which is what’s been happening for the last few weeks.
• 50% of Ecuador’s electricity comes from HEP and the reservoirs are at their lowest in 45 years because of the lack of rain. So we’re on electricity rationing at the moment. It’s quite well managed – we lose power for 2-3 hours each day, but they manage to tell us timings the day before so at least we can plan for it.
• The town is preparing for ‘Shell Day’ so there are lots of dance rehearsals and the military are practising their parachuting technique.
• We’re finally starting to learn how to cook all over again - and buying some more local ingredients.  Rice, yuca, plantains, avocados, blackberries - we're finding out where to shop, how to cook the new foods.  My aim is to get some lessons in cooking soup - it's so good here.
  
• I’ve managed to get involved with teaching Sunday school and going along to the ‘youth’ group (which is not for teenagers, but for anyone over 20ish who’s not married).  I've been finding it hard to meet local people as there are so many missionaries - but this has really helped.
  
• We spent an evening baking scones, whipping cream, making meringues, cutting cucumbers, slicing bread – and then provided a cultural experience for some American and Ecuadorian friends!  Afternoon tea with croquet on the lawn was a high treat – made more authentic by the alternate sun and cloud.