rachelanna.com

Dear Friends,

Lately, I am very busy with work–I have a whole lot of projects coming at me from every angle. At work, we are publishing a magazine and putting on a Community Expo, just like last year. Today at work, it feels as though I made about 50 calls–I was on the phone all day, but it was worth it. The number of advertisements has tripled in the past 3 days.

I go to several meetings a week in various different circles of groups and people. On Monday (Nov. 8), I was at a meeting with about 40-45 fishermen discussing issues pertaining to the beach and hurricane relief. Every fisherman on the beach (which is several hundred) is about to be given a roll or two of wire which they make their fish pots out of. Since my # 1 project is the development of the fishing beach, I was able to get a few minutes where the men told me their ideas of what they would like to see on the beach.

Thursday at 1:00 I was at a meeting with some other community members and we were supposed to meet with a UNICEF representative. As it turned out, the UNICEF rep couldn’t show and the group applying for the funds wasn’t quite ready anyway. We learned more of what the project needs to get the funding though, and that was good.

Next week Tuesday (Nov. 16) is our next Fishing Beach Management Committee meeting, where we should be electing an Executive body and confirming the Constitution. I hope that we will also have a chance to talk about development issues, or at least set up a committee that is willing to really dig in and commit thought and time for real progress. I say that because at so many meetings, the people come to chat but not to work.

Another project I am working on is applying for some funding to fix up the local Community Center–partly for hurricane relief and partly to make the center more user friendly (like connecting the bathroom and kitchen to the sewer system).

Anyway, this is just a snapshot of what I am up to these days. The job is really nice because it is pretty flexible and the demands are always changing, thus keeping me on my toes. I find that I love work, and it is when I don’t have work to do that I am in trouble–or when I procrastinate doing my work.

One of my favorite things to do for fun is to ride my bicycle around town and so forth. Not all the roads are paved, so sometimes the ride is very bumpy, but that is okay because my (mountain) bike has shock absorbers. When I ride, anywhere I go, several people always wave and say hello (being the only white girl in town makes me pretty popular) and I say hello, morning, afternoon, or evening, back.

Lovingly,
Rachel