Thursday, January 7th, we again split into 2 teams. AJ, Nimah, and Evan stayed to check on the water system that had been installed for the Brother's back in 2014 by a Living Water team from First Presbyterian Church of Richmond with the help of AJ. AJ and the Brother's have maintained in contact since, and is the reason we were invited to stay with them while we helped Dr. Maklin. In turn for their kindness, AJ and the rest of the team wanted to help out at the Asile any way possible. Nimah and Evan also conducted an as built of the guest house at the Asile for Dr. Maklin, as he would like to use the blueprints as a layout for a guest house for the Hospital, where visiting nurses and doctors can stay.

Because Frank was preoccupied with well work for a majority of the week, we wanted to give him an opportunity to visit the community. Frank, Shivangi, Nicole (me), and Jessica went out with Dr. Maklin to the remaining communities that will be serviced by the Hospital to administer more surveys, get a sense for the community structure, and really just try to talk to as many different representatives from the various communities as possible. We were amazed to see just how terrible the road conditions were in some places! See below video just to get a sense for what we're talking about.

We also were able to stop along the road and see how "Casabe" is made. Casabe is a thin, cracker-like bread made out of yucca. It is sweet, and was super delicious! We bought a whole bag to bring back to the Asile.

Casabe being made.

Later that evening we reunited as a team, shared what we had accomplished for the day, ate a delicious meal, and went to bed to prepare for the following day.

- Nicole