Where in the world is Rachel?

The past 2 weeks we've been working in small groups with various community organizations, in order to get our feet wet and practice facillitation & strategic planning. So this week, we gave a final presentation to the group and were so excited with how well everything came together. It was an added bonus when the group leader told us we did all their work for them, which was a huge encouragement to us.

I was also elated to get to play volleyball one night with the locals and some of the volunteers. It felt so good to get out on the court again, no matter how hard the guys were spiking. Not so great when the nurse told me the next morning that my wrist was sprained, but what's a flesh wound?

The second to last day, we volunteers held a Day Camp for the kids of the Mo Po community focusing on the theme "Healthy Communities: Inside & Out" and had a great turnout. I co-facillitated the team-building games station and it was awesome to see everyone working together beyond what we had planned. So much energy in these guys!

Our final day of training was eerie. Not only did we have to say goodbye to 70 people we had just spent the last 3 intensive weeks with (we felt like kids at summer camp), but also were being told of a hurricane closing in on St. Lucia. So after the guacamole-making festivities and goodbyes, the staff cut the day short and had us all bunker down in our homes until further notice. First hurricane in the Caribbean, here we go.

more St. Lucia photos: http://flickr.com/photos/rachelhoward/sets/72157601292196747/