Core Development
A central part of the PHD program has been leadership training in the 15 communities. This has been facilitated through the formation of committees which look for solutions to basic necessities identified by the community members themselves in areas such as health, education, housing, youth and women's issues.

Now, representatives from each of these committees, who have been growing their leadership capacities, form a community team which represents the community to the municipal authorities. Their principal task is to identify needs to the authorities and insist that they actually provide the services which they are responsible for providing. This new arrangement has been remarkably well received by local authorities of different political stripes. It provides the them with a coherent group through which to relate to the communities, and increases the total energy and capacity for problem solving in places where energy and developed capacity are scarce.

This is a beautiful example of creating a truly community-based democracy. It is typical of the thorough and thoughtful approach which we have witnessed for 20 years in our work of our remarkable partners at the Institute of John XXIII.

Home Building

The housing program, which was delayed for months by the government agency INVOR's reluctance to release funds, has begun and is moving with alacrity. Two models of homes are being built. In the semi-urban areas, a company was contracted to bring in metal and cement prefab houses, which are as-sembled with the assistance of the families who will be the new owners. With a small group of skilled workers from the company and the labor of the community, houses have gone up quickly. Two of these new "instant villages" have already been built, and sud-denly there is a tremendous surge of joyful energy from families who are experiencing a brand new house.

Quest staff have been privileged to visit each of the new communities during different stages of construction.

February: In February, we experienced the burst of energy immediately after the decision was made to proceed without the government aid.

We visited the first site in Puertas Viejas early in the morning on our way to remote communities in that region. Digging of the base for foundations had just begun as the sun broke. After a day of visiting the remote communities, we passed by the construction site again as the sun was setting, to find the people still working on the foundations. The level of energy was impressive, and in spite of the rock hard clay and the blazing sun, the excitement had not dampened. Within a few weeks of our return, we were informed that all 55 houses had been built and people were preparing to move in. To ensure fairness about who received which house, a "lottery" was held to determine the new owner of each house.

July: In July, we visited a second construction site in Villa del Carmen, where construction of 70 homes was well under way. The abundant rainy season was complicating the work, as every incoming load required a hurculean effort to get the trucks through the mud and close enough to the site to be unloaded. Digging latrines was another task complicated by the extremely muddy conditions. In spite of all of the difficulties, the desire for new houses overcame the multitude of obstacles, and the houses were constructed in record time. We recently received pictures of the newest village with all of the houses built and painted, a new water system installed, and all of the families moving in!

Water Systems

Work has also been progressing steadily on the water systems. Wells have been drilled in three locations Reyes Sur, Cerro Pando and Las Lajas. What has been discovered is that the careful engineering studies done previous to the drilling was a very important investment. In these extremely dry areas the average for drilling wells which encounter a sufficient water source is 33%. We are celebrating the fact that to date, water has been encountered in each of the three locations where drilling has been completed.

In Reyes Sur the original plan had been to run tubing and have spigots in several centralized locations around the village, but early on it became clear that conditions did not permit this type of installation. An electric pump would have been required which would imply the ability to collectively pay a monthly electric bill. Income is sufficiently scarce in these communities, that even a shared monthly electric bill was viewed as unsustainable. Instead a central location has been built based around a Nicaraguan designed "rope pump". With this method, water is extracted from the well manually, so no "out of pocket" funds are necessary for ongoing use. A small constructed area includes a cement floor to improve sanitary conditions and places to wash clothes and bathe. This way, only water essential for kitchen use will need to be carried to the houses. This is an exponential improvement in previous conditions, where water had been gathered from sites with unsanitary conditions, leading to a myriad of health problems.