These past few weeks have included
several exciting developments in the process of moving along the
construction of the community center. Working with the governmental
system here has been, by far, one of the more challenging things to
moving the center along relatively efficiently. With the help of a
local architect and engineer, we now have a “green” center design
that will be “officially” signed and approved by an engineer so
that we may meet with the mayor and more formally request assistance.
Additionally, we received a very
generous donation of bamboo, which will help tremendously in the
building costs and construction of the center, as the center will
largely be built from local bamboo. The optimal cutting time for the
bamboo was this past week, and the bamboo then needs to be cured to
ensure it lasts over time. We will be working on this process over
the coming week, after the bamboo is delivered to Camarones. This
involves drilling small holes at each nodule in the bamboo and
injecting water mixed with Borax and a few other things into the
small holes. Additionally, the bamboo must be elevated from the
ground, with the hole-side up, and protected from any rain.
I will post pictures of the processes
as we have them. In the meantime, please feel free to
send me any
questions or comments you might have. And, as always, if you are
interested in organizing a fundraising event, please
contact me and I
will work on helping with the details!
