small things or big things? who cares?

This past Saturday might have been my proudest day so far as a Peace Corps volunteer. There are many things that I have been proud of and am proud of. First and foremost the relationships I have formed here. My host family, friends, and students. I'm proud of the work I've done at school; however this is sometimes hard to keep in mind on a day to day basis. There are many volunteer who do huge events and workshops that reach a large number of people. These are usually the stories we hear about. However my work has mainly been small things, day or day interaction or helping out or giving a teacher a suggestion. I have started 2 reading programs and believe that kids are reading much more than they were, but I was still comparing myself to other and the big events they were doing. It’s so easy to compare, the whole time I was working hard and doing something that I truly felt would be sustainable, and I still think it will be. No, I know it.
I first starting to realize that maybe, just maybe the day to day interaction and those "small things" as I call them really are the most meaningful this summer. I had a few people from Peace Corps come down and spend the day with me. They talked to my counterparts, friends, and host family. We had the conversation how I feel like I'm not doing these big things. After hours of talk I realized that those "small things" together make a big difference.
After months of "small things", Saturday was a big thing! Our community had a library, when I came to Hopkins it was being opened only by the last Peace Corps volunteer that was here. She left and there it sat. The library had originally been named after the Peace Corps volunteer before her who had started it. This building full of books sat there for a year. No one to open it and no one to take care of it. I started searching for someone in the community who might want to be a library, last May I finally found her! I also began to work with an agency in Belize called the Nation Library Service. Together we also developed a board, which consists of 6 indivuals as of now. These board member, and mainly the librarian have been working hard for months and it was all worth it on Saturday when as had a re-opening of the new and improved Hopkins Library and Educational Center!!!
We opened the library for 5 hours and had 31 new members! There were adults and kids that came and hung out and read. It was amazing! I loved every minute of it. However the hard work is nowhere near over. Starting this Saturday we are going to start making new bylaws for the board. We are also working on getting some land donated so we can build a new building (our roof is leaking and isn't hurricane ready). We want to get computers and more books but can't until we have a place to keep them safe. There is hard work still ahead but I now know that Hopkins will have a library! The hard work was defiantly worth it!
ps. I posted new pictures!!