Southern winds

Its been quite fun the last couple of weeks. What can i say, i came back from my holiday with a fresh attitude, and quite a few new opportunities waiting for me. After a while of not recieving anyone here in the southermost tip of south america, sharon arrived to support the process of organizational development. This has been great, after months of not really progressing i can firmly say that some important steps have been taken. Thanks sharon!

After a few weeks of making modifications and chasing the lawyer, our legal papers were finally sent to Santiago last friday, the 25th of april. This is an important step. Since then i have been calling the Ministry of Justice to see whether they have actually been handed in....which would be the next step, but alas, up to now they have not been. Looks like another round of chasing the lawyer.

On a conceptual level, sharon has been working hard to get a strategy on paper. We have worked on this together, and at the moment we have decided that it may be a good point to start taking to people and get further local input. As such, we presented Sustento to it members so as to give them an idea of what the main idea is. The recpection was positive and the presentation fruitful!

First step would be to make a website! We bought the domain name, but couldnt get sustento.org, because a pesky domian buying company has already registered it and wants a load of money for it! Maybe we can convince them its for a good cuase........But well, that hasnt stopped us asking a graphic designer to have a look at our logo. I like it as it is, but a lot of people have said that maybe some small modification could make it jump out a little more!

With all of this, that we hope ot have finished in about a months time, we well also have a content management system for free and obviously new email addresses! Ill keep you informed.

Sharon has been busy meeting people, and scouring the internet!

On the personal front, i have continued working for SERCOTEC and with my group of micro entrepreneurs which are now 6 months into their proyects. Some have advanced really well, and are already comercializing their new products and services. Others less so, but i am pleased, and so are they! There have been some administrative issues to solve, but i feel that that is well on its way now to getting solved. The same goes for the Sendero de Chile project. Mainly, it has been limited to concepual development and making example business plans for hypothetical activities which could be taken forward on the trail! This project should be ending soon, as the main activities have already been done. Whats left is not easy though, a validation workshop with all the stakeholders!

Just yesterday the president of chile, Michelle Bachelet, visited Magallanes for the 4th time this year. This time she came to sign the oil & gas exploration contracts with a variety of companies. This sets an intersting stage for future work. Their arrival to the region is being talked about more and more. Just last week i was part of a team that was going to facilitate a scouting visit for the company Total Energy of France. After all sorts of non starters, a last minute decision was taken by them not come to the region.

Last week i was also offered a new job. I havent signed anything yet, but it is quite a step up from what ive been doing. I mean, its still in the field of micro enterprise development but for CORFO. The consulting company that offered me the job has had loads of experience and does give some good opportunities for personal growth as they have done many projects in this field. Its a full time job and i get to work with Jose Luis Oyarzun, (for those people that remember him)!

I have also been in contact with Enviu, and in particular with Marieke. Hello! There are some interesting ideas coming and going!

Finally, i would like to update all of you lovely volunteers that stayed with us here in Chile with some general information! For a start i was in natales last week. Casa Anita, (for those that stayed there), has been completley gutted! Im not sure what their plans are but they have moved to the ex Enviu office in Blanco Encalada. Patty is always asking about all of you and in particular about "el italiano, Marie and Pepe". Randy has decided to leave Lakutaia, which is a bummer as i think he is full of positive energy and good ideas. I have seen christian morales quite a lot and he is closing up torres for the season. Hey! I heard Joanna might come back! Could it be true......