San Pedro Breifing Update
July 8, 2008
Project Staff inaugurated the San Pedro, Paraguay project on July 2 with the arrival of 40 Volunteers to Asunción. Volunteers headed northeast for 150 kilometers to the headquarter city of San Estanislao (aka Santaní), where they enjoyed their first Paraguayan meal at the locally renowned restaurant, ¨Tio Rico¨. The following four days were filled with a variety of activities at the briefing site ¨Tajy¨.
The briefing activities were focused around Guarani language and culture, the history of San Pedro, reforestation, and building fogons (healthy stoves). For many of the Volunteers, building a fogon was the most valuable and rewarding part of training; they devoted an entire day to constructing three fogons for local families in need. The eager Volunteers refused to stop working even as the sun set in the northwestern sky. Eleven hours after starting, they stood proudly next to their first fogon while the families that received the stoves watched with tears in their eyes – a truly auspicious beginning!
In addition to the technical training aspects of briefing, Volunteers were placed in community partnerships where they met their Project Supervisors and the Volunteers they will be living and working with for the next four weeks. Briefing ended as Volunteers danced to the music of a local band, “Amanecer”. Early Sunday morning, the Volunteers left for their host communities eager and enthusiastic, if a little nervous, accompanied by their host families. They are all safe and sound in their new Paraguayan homes.
