One day after we returned to Arequipa from furlough I went to the airport to pick up David Fann. David works for Vanderbilt, is an adjunct teacher at Lipscomb, and is one of CUDA’s board members. We were really excited to have David visit and see what CUDA is up to, meet Alfredo and Paty personally, visit our worksites and basically just get a feel for Arequipa, its people and its needs. He visited 3/4 of our church groups, met a few of the borrowers in our loan program and was able to visit a few of our libraries.
The timing of David’s visit was perfect as he was also able to help us with some of the prep-work for the solar panel project that will take place in June. Over the years David has been a part of numerous mission trips with an engineering focus. He has helped design, build and install solar panel setups in Central America, so has the experience to help us get prepared for the team coming next month. We were able to show him the community where we will be installing the panels so that he could give input on the design and installation ideas being thrown around. We also took him to a few stores so he could see what kind of tools and materials were available. His input on all levels has been extremely helpful.
The CUDA board has been a big blessing already but having one make the trip down sure made everything feel more official. These men and women have years of experience and knowledge gained but don’t know Arequipa nor the people we interact with on a daily basis. Personal knowledge of the city, workers, projects and people being reached will help them as they make decisions for the organization. A number of other members have begun to think and pray about a time they can visit. We look forward to having them here!
Let me give you a short list of things/people that we would ask you to be actively praying about as we head into the summer:
- CUDA Board (David, Ileene, Monty, Mark, Sheila, Budd, Greg, Alfredo, Kyle)
- Summer Interns (Rebecca, Ann, Sean, Emily, Taylor, Jordan, Katie)
- Library Program - the kids and teachers that Megan works with on a weekly basis
- Solar Project - team from TN coming in June to build and install 10 solar power units
- Loan Program - growth in borrowers’ businesses
- Cafe - that we utilize the space for more than just selling coffee, and that we would sell more coffee!
- Alfredo - wisdom as he leads CUDA in Peru
- Paty - funding for us to be able to bring her on board full time