By Astrid Delleman | coordinator
Since Ana Julia, our swimming volunteer, sold her car we’ve had quite a lot of work to find someone who could drive us to the swimming pool, our weekly outing on Wednesday morning to do our therapy in the water with all the commmunity members. Before that time Ana Julia had been driving us for months.
It’s not straightforward. The driver should be free on the Wednesday morning and would need a vehicle that can carry 10- 11 people in one trip. We’ve learned that we can approach people to help with this about once a month, but not more often, to ensure that the driver continues to do it with pleasure. So we have a list of 4 posible drivers, but it takes time and quite a lot of luck to find the match!
Fortunately Ana Julia helped me in the search for a weekly vehicle and driver, and we were lucky 9 out of 10 times, sometimes juggling with plans A and B and, if need be, plan C. Then Ana Julia got in touch with a mini-van company that provides transport between Juigalpa and Managua, but also can arrange trips on request, of course for a fee. But our approach was to persuade the owner of the company to provide us the service free of charge.
So we wrote him a nice letter. As we did not get a quick reply, I followed it up with several phone calls thinking that we had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. See the result in the photograph. Three weeks ago we travelled to and from the swimming pool in some style and luxury.
However, that did not mean the end of the transport saga. Last week the company had to call off the arrangement for that day, so I had to continue my search. And after this week, it workes out: one week he helped us with the transport, another week it was not available...So I continue our search and wrote, with the help of Ana Julia, to another transport owner. We became in contact with lady Anielka, owner of several buses, who was touched by our work. And when I phone her on Tuesday afternoon, asking the posibilities of the transport of the swimmingpool for the next day, she always said: Of course! Great to be in touch with this kind of peolpe! Weekly, without problems she send us a van and we enjoy our stay in the swimmingpool!
It is nice that we have a different driver every time. The owner employs 4 drivers. During the trip we of course tell about our work, thereby expanding our circle of acquaintances. At the end of the trip we always show our appreciation with a little applause. Together we can make the world a better place for anybody!
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