Thursday was our third and last day at the community of San Marcos. Most of the work today involved finishing sections of the road started yesterday, and paving new sections – mixing, moving, and laying concrete. Our team was more efficient today, as we had a better intuition about the flow and pace of the work involved, as well as in pacing ourselves in the hot and humid climate.
By the time we finished work for the day, we had completed nearly 100 feet of finished road. We had purchased enough supplies for the community to completed even more road after we leave.
We experienced some “extras” on our last day here. First, the Diocesan medical team made a scheduled visit to the clinic adjacent to the church. The Diocesan medical team provides preventive and other medical care that the people here wouldn’t otherwise receive. It was gratifying to have the Diocesan doctor, Daniella, thank us for working on the road. She said that before the road section that was built last year was completed, she often could not make visits in rainy season.
Second, one of our team members (Mary) donated art supplies to the church. During lunch a group of children colored pictures for us.
Third, we stopped work early today for what we thought would be a short prayer service with a few members of the community. Instead, at 2:30pm it was announced on the community loudspeaker to come to the church for a service of Holy Eucharist. During the sermon, Father German offered his thanks for our visit. He also told us that as our visit was during the week, many of the people from the thirty-two families at St. Marcos were working today and unable to attend. Following the service, we said our goodbyes to the families, work crew, and community of San Marcos.
Photos will follow in later posts.