Day 25, March 13

After a couple of slow days in Ongole we had some progress today. Ram our India - Rotary liaison made it down to Ongole today from Hyderabad and we went back out to the village to meet with the builder Mr. Karuna and the villagers. We discussed what needed to be done to complete the project and Mr. Karuna agreed to start tomorrow on the roof slab which should be complete before I leave Ongole with any luck. The villagers seem excited about the project and were very happy to have someone there who could tell them what was going on in their own language! I presented them with a gift from EWB a volleyball and net and received a bag of peanuts which they were busy harvesting when we were own site. Ram, Mr. Karuna , and myself headed back to the larger village where Mr. Karuna works from and sat down and had tea and Ram negotiated the payment for the cost of the project. Everything went well and Ram and I said goodbye and had my driver take us back to Ongole. We were moving along quickly on the 4 lane toll road and things were really starting to look up right until we hit the motorized rickshaw! Being in a car we got the better end of the deal, the rickshaw ended up on it's side in the ditch, but luckily no one was hurt in either vehicle. Our driver however must have feared for his life as he hopped out of the car and hightailed it out of there leaving Ram and myself to deal with the locals. Things got straightened out and we caught a ride to the bus stop and rode the bus to Ongole. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!