August 24, 2017 For the past couple of days, we’ve been doing many things.The beginning of Wednesday started with an ecofiltro tour. We met the founder who told us the story of how/why he started it and how he was a social entrepreneur. He showed us the original model and why it worked so well. Read More…

August 24, 2017 For the past couple of days, we have been building the Eco Stoves with the Open Windows Foundation. It was such an amazing experience! The first day was super long and tiring as we climbed many, many hills. After the demonstration, we all realized it wasn’t going to take as long as Read More…

August 21, 2017 We’ve had an amazing weekend here in Guatemala! Starting with Friday, we went to the Ecostoves factory to meet Carlos, the mastermind behind the concept! He gave us a tour of the land while our translator for the day, Sadie who is Stephanie’s sister, helped out. Carlos showed us all his previous Read More…

May 18 Although this was our last day of work, it was definitely our best. We started off with an uneventful morning full of sanding, chipping, brick organizing and water carrying. It was a surprise for us to find out we would be taking an early break to see a performance put on by the Read More…

April 25 Here’s a last look at the this fantastic team at work.   April 24 Last night we had an incredible dinner at Palm Paradise – a hotel many of the previous volunteers will remember having stayed there on four previous trips. Lots of fun in the medical chairs! A few nostalgic visits today. Read More…

April 29 It is hard to imagine how much delight three rooms can give to a family, but this is what the Developing World Connections team in Duenas, Guatemala, experienced when they built a home for a family there. The main room is 15’ x 15’, the kitchen 8’ x 12’, and the toilet 4’ Read More…

Thursday, April 20 Today was our last day at San Jose Abrero. It was nice to see the improvements we made but also recognize how much more work needs to be done. Only with programs like this does the school get any funding or improvements. I was really proud of our Bodwell students for working Read More…

March 24 The day starts bright, sunny and hot. Many other days have been overcast in the morning and we’ve had the benefit of having some working time before the sun burns off the cloud. Not today! It’s full sun from the get go. Today is bittersweet. It is our last day at the school. Read More…

March 6 and 7 On the morning of March 6, we visited the Eco-Filtro, a water purification factory, and took a tour. We learned two things: that culture acceptance is important, which is why chlorine cant be used to purify water in Guatemala (where people dislike the smell and the taste) and that silver can Read More…

March 17 The final day dawned pretty much like our other days in Rajasthan: clear, hot and sunny. The difference was that today we did not have to work.  Today was all about celebrating how far we had come with the project, about the connections we had made with the local villagers and about the Read More…