One of the highlights of being in Liberia these past 6 years is when family has come to visit. I have been blessed that my whole family has visited-Yeiko -(named after my Japanese grandma) was the last Mayes member to come and see what her big sister has been up to for all these years! So I put her to work ;)
First-Yeiko helped out with doing some BioSand Water fitler (BSF) follow up with a family. This is the only picture that I had of the two of us doing BSF follow up with a great lady who has had a BSF for the past couple of years. She is still faithfully using the filter for drinking for her and her children.
Yeiko also helped teach part of a CLP class along with my sister-in-law Jenn Kauffeldt. It was so much fun to have them see and particiapte in these two great programs.
Notice how we both "talk" withour hands...
It was great to have Yeiko (pronounced like the watch seiko) come out and see these WASH/CLP programs first hand and to talk to the ladies and families that have been impacted by them. However, more importantly was how the trip impacted her. It really brought to life the needs of these women-for simple things like water and literacy-my little sister has become an advocate!!! She often talks about how grateful she is for everything she has and how people need to know about the needs of the ladies and families she met in Liberia. Although I am the sister overseas, she is doing more than her part raising awareness and support for our SP projects here in Liberia. That makes her big sister very, very proud of her!! Happy Birthday Yeiko!!!
In Foya after a hard days work!
Training-I had a good couple of runs this past weekend-it was very hot and I was very tired-my times were not that great. So why were they good runs? Because of the amazing friends that I have that helped me through each run. On Saturday I had a 6 mile run-Seren and Joni had water ready for me every time I passed the staff house-and they were yelling out encouraging words (or commenting on my super cool compression knee socks!). On Sunday I had a longer 13 mile run...I wanted to go off of ELWA (the compound we live on) and on the road and needed someone to take our truck to follow me with water and my vanilla gu. Seren and Danielle got up early on their weekend, 7:30am, to drive and make sure I got my 'fuel' when I needed it. Seren even ran 4km with me, which makes the miles go by faster. I had to stop at 9am- 8.5 miles into it due to the heat-I ran again this afternoon to try and top off my mileage-but it wasn't the same without my peeps!! Thanks you guys-you rock!!!
That's it for the weekend-I am going up country this week and will post some pictures and stories from our CLP/WASH projects..the reason I am RUNNING!
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