On My Way Home

Happy Holidays everyone! I sincerely apologize for the large gaps of time between my blog entries. I am currently in Hawaii taking a short vacation before I head back to the States where it is a lot colder. I will arrive in Baltimore on December 22nd at 4:44 p.m., just in case you want to meet me at the airport. I left Chuuk on December 11, stayed in Guam for 2 nights and have been in Hawaii since the 13th. I'm staying with some host family members of my fellow Volunteer friend John. We've attempted to do a lot of touristy things, but have spent most of our time riding Honolulu's public transportation system called The Bus, which is supposed to be the best in the country. However, we have done a lot of hiking , hung out on Waikiki beach and gone to a picnic, among other things.

So I know a lot of you are wondering about my water catchment project. Before I left Chuuk, I bought all of the materials and transported them to my island on a ship. Community members have prepared the site for the water tank, placed the reinforcements. and have poured the cement for the foundation. There was quite a bit of money left over. I have given that money to the new Volunteer at my site named Johnny. He has taken over my responsibilities for the project. He will oversee the construction and make sure all the materials will be used for our project. Johnny will use the leftover money to buy additional materials, such as PVC pipe, if needed. Before I left, I gave community a speech to motivate them to work on the project. I know they want a water tank, but it seems like the community leaders are doing all of the work and the youth are not helping as much as they should be. I only saw them unload materials from the ship and bring some cement blocks to the construction site. One of the goals of this project is sharing of skills between the men and the youth. By working with the men, the youth will learn valuable transferable skills they can use later in their lives in order to earn some money or build their own water tank or house. I hope the youth will get more involved when that actual tank construction happens. I told Johnny to take pictures during each phase of construction. I will do my best to post those pictures so you all can see what has been done with your generous donations. Without your help and support, I could not have not bought all the materials and witness the beginning of construction. I wish more work was done on the catchment before I left, but things move slow here on the islands. I want you all to know that the project is in good hands and it will be completed, hopefully within the next couple of months. Any leftover funds will be donated to other Peace Corps Volunteer projects around the world.

Now that my Peace Corps service has come to a close, I have to start thinking about my future. I really don't know what I'm going to do. I haven't really been able to do any job searching in Chuuk due to the rare occurrence of power at our office. I will figure everything out when I get back home. I do want to apply for some government jobs, maybe even to a job at Peace Corps Headquarters if one appeals to me. I'll probably apply to a few teaching jobs as well since, after all, I've been teaching for the past 2 years. I'm a pretty open minded guy so I'll keep my options open. If you have any suggestions as to how to go about my job search or if you know of any job opportunities in areas I have mentioned above, please let me know. I would love to hear from you.

I would love to see all of you when I get back home. If you want to meet up sometime, send me an email at bbgruver@gmail.com. I don't have a cell phone or car but I plan to get those things in the near future. Bye for now.

Fundraising for Water Project

Happy 4th of July everyone! I'll be missing the fireworks and good food here and light a firework and eat a burger for me. I hope you all enjoy it.

I know it's been a while for my last post and for that I apologize. In my last entry I briefly mentioned about a water project. Since then, it's been posted on Peace Corps website (www.peacecorps.gov/contribute) and folks in the U.S. has raised over half of the amount I requested.

For those of you who don't know, I am raising money for a water tank that will serve 75 plus people in my community. This number included 6 families who go to other peoples' houses to take a shower and wash their clothes because they don't have water tanks or running water of their own. The water catchment system I am raising money for will provide running water to these folks. PVC pipes will allow water to flow from the water tank to each family's home. They will no long have to leave their home to do daily tasks such as washing clothes. This project will benefit the out-of-school youth in my community by allowing them to help build the tank and learn valuable skills from more experienced workers. Hopefully this project will help them find paid work in the future.

Thank you to those of you who already donated to my project. It is amazing individuals have donated more than $4,000 a month and a half. Your contribution will make a difference in my host community long after I'm gone. Community members will remember you all for your kindness and generosity. You all are allowing me to do this project through your financial gifts. I am just facilitating it. Please keep on spreading the word to other people. I have 4 and a half more months left of Peace Corps service so I would like to raise the rest of the money as soon as possible. With your help, I know this will be possible.

If you have not donated yet but would like to, please visit Peace Corps website at www.peacecorps.gov/contribute and type my last name (Gruver) in the space provided on the main page and click search. That will bring you to my project, "Improved Community Access to Water." Click on the title so you can read the project summary and to contribute. I would suggest that you all donate online since that will be the quickest way to raise the money. However, if you feel uncomfortable with that, you can donate by mail. Please fill out this form and mail it to the Peace Corps office. Thank you in advance for your tax deductible donation. My community and I really appreciate it. Please email me at bbgruver@gmail.com to inform me that you donated.

I also want to thank those of you who donated books to my school. This summer my principal and I have been busy finishing building the book cabinets before the school year starts. Other than that I have been working on my garden. I am growing cucumbers and eggplant. I recently made a ceiling out of sticks for the cucumbers they can lay on. I am also planning on doing a map project which involves painting a map in each classroom at the school where I teach. I want to paint maps of Chuuk, FSM and the pacific since those are areas they students learn about.

Early tomorrow morning I am going to the island nation of Palau for a COS (Close of Service) conference which is a graduation of sorts for me and the other PCVs who arrived in Micronesia in 2008. Our group is going back to the States in November. On my way back from Palau I will stop by Yap State in FSM for a couple days. I will return to Chuuk July 16.

I'll sign off for now until I get back from Palau. I hope you all are doing well. Take care.