Lizzie in Ecuador

It's been a while... I came back to the UK in May and had a couple of weeks off with my family and friends before starting work again with Mott MacDonald in Cambridge.  After 2 months on a new project I was sent to work in Houston, Texas, in our client's office.

I've been missing Ecuador, my friends, the culture, even the weather, ever since I left and from Texas it was much simpler and cheaper to return to Ecuador than from England, so I jumped at the chance, took some holiday and had 10 days in Shell.

I didn't make it into the jungle, but did see Domingo and Hilda from Karamá in the town one day - they are well, the kid who had to be flown out the the hospital because of snakebite is recovered, the community listened to me and diverted the path to the spring so that they wouldn't destroy the spring protection, and it was great to be able to see them.  Steph gave me some photos of the finished projects - completed latrines, the water tank in Karamá, and Adín very proud of his new camera which he requested from us in lieu of wages!

Steph is back in Shell, and apart from finishing these projects has been evaluating previous projects and visiting new communities.  Unfortunately there aren't likely to be any more projects funded by the local governement in the near future, so Water Projects Shell is re-assessing what projects they'll be able to do in the future and thinking about other sources of funding.

Alex and Alfredo now have a daughter - Camila had the good judgement to be born on my birthday, and it was brilliant to have timed my visit so well!