It finally happened!

After a year of talking, cheerleading and planning meeting after meeting after meeting it finally happened. Yes, La Palma now has it's first ever Guias y Scouts troop 152. Sunday was our swearing in ceremony, we hosted a the Guias y Scouts from Jimenez and Palmar. The whole event was very official and was a great way for the community to have a little introduction into what we are and what we do. Now we have our uniforms, we have kids that want to be in the group who's parents have signed permission slips and we have leaders for the group. While planning and executing the day was a ton of work and left me really exhausted, it was really satisfying. This has the potential to be something really valuable for the community. In my tiny town on a tiny peninsula there are no activities for youth, there are no football, basketball, baseball teams, there are no music and dance classes, there is tv and a really ineffective school system. Guias y Scouts has the potential to improve the lives for many of the kids here, that being said, all of it's out of my hands and in the hands of the community. It will be interesting to see how it goes for them in the future. I have another 8 months or so to help out, in that time my goal will be to help them to not need me at all.

In Spay and Neuter your pet clinics.... Yesterday I held my 4th clinic in La Palma and things went very smoothly. We have now spayed of neutered 61 cats and dogs. I'm trying to come up with ways for this to continue when I go. I know the town in counting on another volunteer, but I don't think one will be placed here again for a while so I need to try and come up with something.

In other news... Last month Deivin went to one of the bigger towns near us to apply for his passport and yesterday it arrived in the mail. Now we're moving on to Visa applications (a much more difficult process). I'm doing my best to make sure I have all my ducks in a row with both Deivin and Tigre so that when May hits we can all leave together. Yesterday, poor Tigre had to have 2 vaccines and she was not happy about it, but, it's the only way she can come with me so we are making it happen. Laura +2.