The CAT dealer delivered a backhoe and generator to us this morning from Santo Domingo - this is something they are doing at no charge. They asked not to publicize their generosity, but I think it is safe to do so in a blog! The are super supportive of our project and every time I have talked with my contact he expresses their excitement to be helping us by donating their equipment.
When we met at the CAT dealer in July in Santo Domingo, I found myself in this moment of awareness - realizing here I am - me, a guy from Virginia, sitting in a conference room with 5 Dominicans and fellow Solid Rock representatives, at the Caterpillar Dealer in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, discussing the possibility of them helping us with the clinic project - who would have thought this is where I would be, how did I get here, this is just amazing!
I have found myself in these "aware" moments often these past few years as my life has taken this awesome twist. I am excited for more to come!
Back to the day in summary -
* Alot of excitement today as the small surgical team that is here got rolling seeing patients and the ground-breaking group spent the day visiting the CCED school, toured the clinic and went to El Circado.
* Visiting with these long-term Solid Rock people is so neat, I will post another day about a discussion with Dr Dillard - a fascinating man.
* The workers stepped up production today due to having the CAT generator, it allowed more drills to be operating at one time. I will see in the morning exactly what they got done.
* We had a good meeting with a lawyer here who will be helping write the contract with the engineer - our last hurdle. Interesting to see how a legal document brings out the differences in our cultures. We are a very "detailed" society compared to the Dominicans! This is understandable in our society, but maybe not the best either. I think with the help of my friend Frank (a Dominican), we will get things worked out to everyone's satisfaction. Frank is a great co-worker on this project, I don't know how we would pull this off without him. He is Dominican but has lived the past 5+ years or so in Pennsylvania and is now a US Citizen, so he understands both cultures and is very good at melding them together. This melding is, what I have recently decided, probably the biggest challenge as I try and fold the two cultures together and communicate the progress of this project.
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