We Travel Next Month...Yikes!

Wheels up is on June 10th...and I am starting to get nervous.  I always worry about making sure all our projects go smoothly and I worry that every person on the trip having a great time.  Every year our projects get delivered with excellence...notice that I did not say they go smoothly because they never do.  One example from last year was our project to build a bike rack for Concepcion Roman Catholic School.  How hard can that be...design was simple and easy for us to build a rack that could hold half the bikes in the school yard.  How hard can that be?   Well we did not plan on the wood being hard!  We decided to make a very sturdy and strong bike rack so we purchased 2x4 to make the frame.  Again how hard can that be...well lets just say hours into the project and hundreds of nails and screws broken by the wood.  We eventually moved to plan B...use a good old hammer and beat down on the nails with precision.  It worked...but it left many frustrated and tired workers along the way.  Projects definitely do NOT go smoothly but the great experience for me on these trips is that everyone (including local Belizeans) always jump in to help solve the problem.  We alway solve the problem.  Like the time we mixed water into the oil paint or the time we were stuck without a vehicle miles from the village or the time the van roof was leaking and it was storming or the Cane Farmers Riot (I could write a book about that one)...many many problems but they always always always work themselves out.  They don't necessarily get solved the way we would like but they do get resolved and in the end ...Everyone is Happy.  Happiness it the real impact we desire.