First guests!

The ecolodge had its first guests!!! I can't describe what a great moment it was. After a year of working on the project we finally saw some results!

It is still not finished, at the time they stayed there the windows and doors were not up, but the four American students were able to accommodate that in exchange for having the honor of being the first guests. While I had been involved with the project for a year, it was a much more exciting moment for my counterparts who have been trying to realize this dream for many years. I told them, "Jooni, menen acii fudugol golle keso e jooni ha yesso golle amen ko gaynugol ko menen fudike hari." "Now we are done starting new work and now the rest of our work is just finishing off what we have started."

The other really exciting aspect of having our first guests was I could see how the benefits of the ecolodge are going to spread throughout the community. Even though they were the first guests and we were unprepared to host them, as I was walking around town I counted over a dozen different people who were involved in preparing food, finding things to sell, or trying to find their old ceremonial dance equipment. The whole time I have been working on this project I have been dreaming of all of the auxiliary projects that will be possible for the community: selling shea butter or baobab power, selling rope made from local trees, teaching Pula Futa lessons, telling traditional stories, creating a community development fund, and much more. These are the side projects that will extend the benefits of the ecolodge out into the village and will be much more fun to execute than supervising construction. They will also be much more mentally challenging. I can't wait to start taking them on.

It's rare that PCVs get to see the fruits of their work so clearly. Now I see not only the physical buildings we have created but a vision into the future of how the ecolodge, and my work, will function to the benefit of the entire community. This is the moment that I joined the Peace Corps for.