The Jail without a door

In Santa Maria de Fatima, Richelle and Kizzy told me they had seen the village jail. When I asked where, they pointed to this little shack without a door and in disrepair. "Nobody's in it", they said.

The whole time we were visiting these villages I was seeing these tight nit families, who despite disease and sub par hygiene, seemed quite at ease with themselves and the world. No doubt whatsoever that they work their fingers to the bone for what they have, and they have worries. But they can teach me more about life than I can teach them. They had spirit about them that I just love.

I think it is exactly right, the African saying, that it takes a village to raise a child. In the Amazon, because the village raises a child, you can have a jail without a door.

Can I go back to Peru now? How about NOW?

All I can think about is going back to the Amazon villages, to help them more. We have a trip set up for April 17th and we are working hard to get everything together.

We need to get corn for the village of Santa Maria de Fatima to plant time there this month. For each home in the village, that amounts to $30,000 dollars for the village. For all the things we are doing for the villages the clock is always running. We are organizing volunteers we need to help us, w also coordinating with the villages, working to design hydro electric, meeting with charity groups, creating a web page, negotiating with companies in Peru for better prices, completing the application processes with the government of Peru, and dozens of other things. Most of this is being handled by Kizzy and David who also have to work at their day jobs and being good fathers and husbands.

But once you get these people in your heart, no matter how much you do, you want to do more. The only way you can make the people around you understand is for them to see it and be there. There are worse things in this world than to have an immense desire to help people. So we'll keep working.

Won't you come with us?

Casey

The simple things

I was just thinking about when we brought the solar powered lights to Santa Maria de Fatima and the Mayor stood up to speak. He said that they would now be able to peel their corn after dark so that they could increase their productiveness. Think about all the things you do after the sun goes down, these people stop their lives at night. A 45$ light donated to the foundation will make such a big difference to these people.

We are so blessed to live in the USA. Even if you don't have a cell phone, cable tv, or internet, you can have a room lit up to work, clean, read, or just spend time with the ones you love. My children drink clean water from the tap everyday, are vaccinated from disease, and they are educated to their maximum abilities. In our villages every child has parasites from the water and education is really only for the very young.

I hope that everyone can look around them and be thankful for their many comforts and opportunities.

Light and the end of the tunnel for LIGHT

There are new possibilities are coming to the surface to use the Amazon river and not just tributaries for hydroelectric. The Amazon moves too slow for most Hydro electric applications, but my brother and his engineering colleagues have come up with sound engineering applications to use the Big Slow and we still think we will get 1 Kilowatt. From everything I have seen it sounds like it will work just the way we want it to. The nozzle effect is a very basic thermodynamic solution, and I don't know why no one has thought of it yet.

Shipping for the hydroelectric generators looks quite reasonable too. This makes it more likely that we will be able to make them work because affordability is a main factor. That and the Peruvian government not taxing our imports is a big deal.

I am finding it extremely difficult to get my brain focused on things in the US. Pretty much everything I've done since I have been home has been shadowed by my thoughts for my villagers.