Merry Christmas (Day late) and Water Woes

Merry Christmas to everyone! Sorry we posted 1 day late; however, we have been traveling around lately and could not post yesterday. No pictures this time as we did not have our camera but we did take some with Roberta's, just cannot download them. :(

On Sunday we finished cleaning up the house and headed to Guatemala City to be there to pick up Kemmel's mom, Roberta, and step-dad, Duane, on Monday. We were able to go see a movie on Sunday and enjoy some Sushi. One of our cravings we get every now and then. We have actually found supplies to make sushi, so that is one of our next ventures. We can get fresh sea bass here in Chichi so we may try it or some tuna that we can get in the capital. Lisa enjoys the California roles so they may be easier since we do not have to do the raw fish thing - just crab or shrimp.

On Monday we did some running around and then started to have a problem with the truck. It was due for its checkup and oil change and it appears that the oil is pretty watery so may be mixing with the diesel. As a result, it started to make some not so good sounds. So we ended up parking it at the office in Guatemala City and got a cab back to the hotel. Hopefully it is nothing serious and can be repaired quickly once everyone is back from vacation. It is still under warranty so the dealership should cover provided they do not blame us for doing something which it does not appear we have.

On Monday afternoon we went to airport and picked up Roberta and Duane and then we went to the Christmas Eve service at the Union Church in Guatemala City. The Union Church is where my family and I, Kemmel, attended while we lived in Guatemala. It is a non-denominational church servicing the English speaking community in Guatemala including missionaries, Guatemalans, embassy employees from various countries and American / European business people. The service brought back many memories and we were to reacquaint with some old friends we had 20 years ago. After the service, we did a trek trying to find something open for dinner and all was closed! Christmas Eve is the big celebration in Guatemala where families and friends all come together so most things are closed. We ended up eating at the Camino Real Hotel and had an enjoyable meal. The Camino Real also brings back many memories as we stayed there for 2 weeks when we first moved to Guatemala back in 1975 and then on multiple other occasions as well. Between 11pm and 12am, the fireworks started and lasted for about 1-2 hours.

On Christmas day we enjoyed a relaxing morning, check out all of the goodies sent to us from the US and then went to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in Guatemala City, the Inca Grill which is a restaurant with food from Peru. Very good, so check it out when you are in the city. It is on the street behind the Camino Real. Since our pickup was parked, we had to find a shuttle to transport us to Chichi on Christmas Day. We were not sure how possible that would be and were not to hopeful, but we did end up finding one although he did charge us a pretty penny. Overall it was still cheaper that having to stay in Guatemala City another night and buy meals, etc.

We arrived Monday to no water - still! We think they turned down the water pressure for the fair so that people would not use all of the water. What that does to us is turn off our water as we are at the end of the line. So we have been without water for about 1-2 weeks and were hoping for better luck. We have started to build the water cistern where we can house water and pump it out so this will be very helpful for us. Even in times when there is not enough pressure it will still drop into the cistern because of gravity so it will be a nice luxury to have. This morning we did have some water for awhile, so hopefully we are back to normal of at least having water each day until about 9am. Here is a picture of the guys working on the water cistern. The longest we have gone without running water is 2 months so hopefully we will never have to go through that experience again.

A water cistern is basically a big hole in the ground with concrete walls on all sides in which you drive your water source to to keep it filled up. It will have a on/off system much like a toilet to allow the water level to rise and to stop when it is full. Then we use a water pump to pump the water through the house. So not only will we have more water we will have better water pressure as well.

Happy Sto. Tomas Day

Chichicastenango is in the throes of the annual fair--celebrating Santo Tomas, the patron saint of of the town. People here are very proud of this guy and almost every family has a relative or three named Tomas! Anyway, we live about a mile away from downtown and can hear the live music and festivities here in the house. Each day this week, there has been something big, like a parade or dance of characters or a band playing. One of the popular bands in this area is the International Rabbits--they area mix of marimba and what we call pop ranchero (Guatemala's country music). They are actually pretty good if you like that sort of thing.

Also, because of the fair and Christmas, all of the streets have been full of vendors just like on regular market day, but, the city also decided to repave one of the major streets in town, so now the traffic is even more fun than ever. It's kind of a free for all, for this one (narrow and curved) street that goes through town. Until the police start work (about 8:30 am) everything jams up at the midway point on this one street and everyone sits there resolute not to back up and let anyone pass--good stuff! Your only hope is to get behind a bus, whose assistant works his way up and starts directing traffic with the other bus assistants until there is a break. THE FAIR IS OVER TOMORROW!

We headed to Mexico yesterday to get our visas renewed and do a little shopping at Sam's Club. Now we are back home safe and sound. This method visa renewal is common among American who live here, because the residency process is a long one. But, we are thinking about doing that next year when we can get back to the States and get our letter of clearance from the local police department and banks. The upside is, you are considered "legal" while in process of getting your residency visa. Until then, we will keep making our run to the border, taking advantage of good mexican food and discount warehouse shopping! We are here for Christmas this year, but are enjoying a visit from Kemmel's mom Roberta and her husband Duane who get here Monday! It will be a good week.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone,
God bless.

End of Year Party

Remember we said that we broke down and splurged on a lawn mower - well here is our yard after the first mow. This is a section of the back yard, still about 25% more that you cannot see plus a small side and front yard.

On Saturday we invited all of the staff and their families over for an end of the year social event and lunch. Unfortunately, we were missing 2 staff members who were greatly missed - Gaspar and Sheri. Gaspar had a commitment with a church he is conducting some Bible studies with and Sheri flew back home on Saturday to send a couple of weeks with family.

When inviting staff and "families" here you have to be careful to define family as most of them live in the same compound as their parents, and other married or single brothers and sisters. For example, if not defined Manuel could have brought 17-20 people easy as they all live together. So we compromised and invited all of their children plus 2-3 extra family members. It turned out great as we had around 35 people and enough food for everyone. We did a mixed menu of Guatemalan food and American food - we had Guatemalan enchiladas for starters and then hamburgers and hot dogs and chips for the meal. Then, Josefina's family brought the makings for shrimp ceviche which was excellent as well. The Guatemalan enchilada is a tostada with some taco like seasoned meat and some picked vegetables of beats and cabbage. Does not sound appetizing but it is very good. We finished up with Sarita ice cream.

At first people were shy in getting their food so we had to prod them along some, but once everyone was comfortable they started to enjoy more. The kids really like the hot dogs so it is the same everywhere. Some kids ate up to 4 hot dogs without the buns! Then of course they went to town on the ice cream as well. Hopefully everyone was not sick by the end of the day!

We had some great discussions and time together and everyone headed home before sundown. We have a great team with some extremely supporting families and churches, so we could not ask for many more blessings than that.

Had to end with a picture of one of our favorite little guys. This is Edgar, youngest son of Manuel Sut, but not the youngest. He now has 2 younger sisters. He ate 3 hot dogs and a mess of chips.

Happiness is a Tennis Ball / Address!

Today we had clinic in Lemoa with about 12 medical patients and about 8-10 dental patients. Most of the dental patients were ABC children from Mactzul V and then we had some others from the local community, so the word of this service is starting to spread. One of the families from Mactzul V is the daughter of the lady that we bought the land from so for them it was kind of reunion. This brought some extra kids to the clinic today. With the extra kids, Sheri handed one of the boys a tennis ball and then started to play catch with him. This was a hit! It is pretty amazing how much joy something small can bring to a number of little boys.

Other recent happenings is that the bridge that connects all of the northern part of the Department of Quiche to the rest of the world was closed yesterday for repair and will be closed for 1-2 weeks. This is a time which is considered the busiest commercial and travel time of the year for the Department of Quiche and most of Guatemala. The good news is the bridge will be fixed as it has been shifting. The bad news is they have picked the worst time of the year to do it. We have pretty much the same woes in Chichi where the few weeks of fair are starting so streets are being closed to allow for fair vendors while at the same time the open streets are also under construction. What would take 5-10 minutes to drive through town can now take up to 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on how many trucks and buses are passing through town.

The minibuses here which provide local transportation from Chichi to Santa Cruz are providing transportation from Chichi to the broken down bridge and then people can cross over to another minibus on the other side. This involves trudging down to river and the climbing up the other side. Does not sound too bad until you see ladies doing this in high heels. Today Sheri, Manuel and Marcos had the experience of doing this. Thankfully, this has happened during our last 3 days of clinic so although pretty inconvenient, it could have been much worse if they did it 2 weeks ago which is what we had thought. So tomorrow we have to take the long way around which will add about another 30 minutes to the drive.

If you are reading this and wondering what we could use here in Guatemala, please see the list on the right side of the blog site. If you are wondering what we would like personally, just some mail. Lisa has a mail box and she needs someone to send her some mail. Although snail mail is slow it does put a smile on her face. So, shoot us a postcard some time. Our address is:

Kemmel and Lisa Dunham
APDO #11
Chichicastenango, Departamento El Quiche,
Guatemala, C.A.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Internet Woes, reptiles, Plus more

We now have Internet access again! We have been without since Thursday night. Our Internet guy, Sebastian, had the misfortune for himself and us to have a access point burn up. Unlucky for us, it was the access point that allows us access to the Internet. Although we continue to have ups and downs with the Internet service it is still hard to complain much as we do have some kind of Internet service. And Sebastian does try to provide a good, attentive service with the resources that he has. His service is still much better than the service we had before. At least he lets us know when he is having problems and he continues to find ways to improve the service as well.

On other news Lisa continues her clinics in Chuabaj. Today she had a man present with a snake bite. This after hearing from multiple sources "oh there are no snakes here!". He presented with the snake bite and the snake, a live snake and a pit viper at that! Lucky for him we do not think it was a barba amarilla (ferdelance), one of the most dangerous snakes in Guatemala. Instead we think it was another pitviper called cantil, still quite a bummer for him.

After the snake bit him, he picked it up to bring to Lisa so they would see the type of snake it was. Upon arrival his hand was already swollen and then they had to discuss what they were going to do with the snake while Lisa keeps telling them they need to go to the hospital, like now! Kill it!, do not ask questions.

This makes me a bit nervous as I have this pile of construction stuff in the backyard that I need to clean out and move what is still good to another area. Now I am thinking this would be a good time for trickle down economics and providing someone a job for the day.

This reminds me of another friend we encountered in the yard the other day - we think it as a salamander - never seen one before. These are pretty non-aggressive and as I would hit it with a stick barely moves as well.

Of course we still have all of our pet insects we live with, mostly spiders. When we first moved here they would freak us out, now they are just "hey look that's a big one" - stomp! Our other common bugs are rolly pollies, furry caterpillars and earwigs put they are seasonal. We are entering the earwig season now.

Almost forgot, Lisa encountered a lizard sticking his head through the ceiling today, so maybe he will help by eating more bugs. Lisa says he is welcome as long as he does not approach the bedroom. So far no cockroaches or mice! We do find the occasional slug around the trash areas - they are probably the grossest.

We are approaching our last day of clinic which will be Friday and then all of the staff goes on vacation until January 4th. Our first clinic in 2008 will be on January 7th. Today we made a quick trip to Guatemala City to pickup some gift packages for the families of ABC and our employees. See Sheri's blog for more info - http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/.

God was watching out for us as we heard on the radio that the highway was going to close at 1pm and not open until 6pm, so our plans changed to make it a quick trip to get the gift packages and race back. If we had not known we would have hit the road closure about 3pm and sat around for 3-4 hours. The highway was being closed to allow for dynamiting of some of the mountains they are carving to allow for a wider highway.

The employees also received their year end bonuses which is part of the Guatemala payroll law. In Guatemala, each employee is paid 15 months in a 12 month period, not sure why but it seems to work for them and allows people to have money during the different holidays. I would not complain!

Do not forget to check Sheri's blog for other news about our clinics and other activities she is involved in. http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/.

On personal news, we broke down and purchased a lawnmower. Yes we do have a yard, but we have been cutting the grass with a weedeater (weed whacker for those of you further north), which does the trick but the process is about 2-3 hours and you tend to not be very straight. So, we got a lawnmower and wow, it is much faster now and leaves a nice looking yard. Forgot how much we missed that. Yard work is much more enjoyable now. The simple things in life....

Wednesday

It's been a productive day today for both of us. Kemmel spent the day getting a schedule ready for the new year. It's a daunting task that he has been spinnning in his head for a few weeks, and today he got it all organized and put in calendar format. The new year will be packed with mobile medical clinics, mobile and central dental clinics and also some visiting interns, groups and surgery weeks down at the coast. I thank God every day that he blessed Kemmel with the gift of administration and organization, because without it, our work here would not be the same! He is still plugging along as I write, making the schedule user friendly.

I had a good day in the community as well. It started off with a district meeting at the health department and a training session for new materials we have for sex education classes in the schools. It is good material and will be useful for our team as well, as the churches have begun to ask for help in this arena.

Next, I went out to Chuabaj to present a talk at on of the local churhes on signs of medical emergency and forming a family plan of emergency. They were very hospitable and appreciated the information, and invited me to come back to talk about first aid.

In this country, it is difficult to get patients and their families to go to the hospital when there is an emergency. Mostly due to fear of dying there, or fear of poor treatment. But the goal today, was to encourage families to recognize signs of illnesses that have definite and effective treatments available, like obstetrical emergencies, neumonia, neonatal sepsis, and dehydration from diarrea.

The other issue we run into here is the lack of, or perceived lack of authority to make decisions when the head of the family is not present. We often see patients or familiy members reluctant to go the hospital because they don't know what the husband or older brother would want to do and he can't be contacted at that moment. So our goal is to encourage families to develop a plan of action that is approved in the case of emergency, so that everyone can make the decisions necessary to access care in a timely manner.

Be in prayer for families here to begin to think of each other's well being and that the care they receive in the local hospitals will be a blessing for them.

Well, that's all for now folks. Have a quiet and restful evening.
God bless.

ABC Celebration

This weekend Lisa, Sheri and I and another 1500-1800 or so people made our way to Montellano, Clinica Ezell, to participate in the ABC Celebration. ABC stands for the ABC Program which is a child sponsorship program managed by HTI. Being able to live locally and be involved on the sidelines of a new community start-up and hearing the parents after 1-2 years of the children being in the program is extremely encouraging. The parents talk of how the children our changing physically, spiritually and educationally and how, which is very important, the children seem to have more concern for how they conduct themselves, remain clean, study in school etc. This program focus on spiritual growth by maintaining children in church and education by maintaining them in school. This is accomplished through a set of goals and responsibilities each child has and of course, some do better than others. The ABC Celebration is a day for everyone to come together, first to worship and thank God for his generous blessings and then to also celebrate the accomplishments of the children in the program.

This year we heard from a number of older ABC children who are now finishing high school and continuing to university or other careers. One is finishing studies in bookkeeping/accounting, another finished school as a dental hygienist and is looking to start dental school in 2008 and another is a teacher. We also know of another who is in medical school and another who is in a administrative role in the HTI organization.

Part of the celebration included entertainment by a clown team from one of the churches in Guatemala City and the other larger event was the presentation of awards to students who met their goals. The goals are driven by points and prizes are awarded to the children who reach 2 levels. The higher level received prizes such as beds or dressers while the lower level received clothing items. Here are some pictures below....

The clown picking on Juan Ordonez from Paxot II. Juan is one of the Guatemalan Board Members.

Parents enjoying the time as well. The man in the white shirt is Miguel, who came to us in clinic in Mactzul 5 over a year ago barely able to walk due to CHF; but now due to the wonderful donations of medicines, he is able to walk and come down to Montellano to enjoy the day!

For those who have been to Montellano, you know it is hot! Well, we could easily pick out those from the Quiche and Chichicastenango area as all of the children's hair was soaked with sweat - even when they were sitting in the shade!

These are the children from Paxot II who won prizes for meeting their goals. We are especially proud of Santos (in the blue shirt) who ended up with a 96 average in his grades at school! This is excellent in a culture who does not place much emphasis on the importance of grades. Our health promoter, Manuel's daughters won first prize and received a bed and a dresser.

These are the children from Xepocol who won prizes for having high points. All of the ones kneeling won first prize and the little boy in the yellow, Esteban, and the girl in the purple blouse, Sandra, also won medals for grade averages above 85%. For those who have lived in Xepocol or have visited, Esteban is the son of Juan Chan, Gaspar's uncle. Gaspar's sons also won second prizes.

These are the children who made 95% of above on their grades. 2 had 100% averages. The little girl in front with the light blouse and skirt is from Las Cuevas which is one of the poorest communities we work with and she had a 94% average.

These are the children with 85% to 95%. One of these is Sandra from Xepocol who in this past year lost her mother and her brother in 2 different car accidents.

These are the children with 80% to 85%.

These are some of the buses - Sheri counted more than 15 buses present!

The church from Mactzul V loading up the bus for the ride home. The brought 2 buses as they have the largest number of kids in the program - 65.

This was a great day and we are glad we had the opportunity to go and enjoy with everyone.

Have a great week and God bless!

New Internet Equipment

Sorry we have not written this week. Our Internet service has not been very cooperative for the last 2 weeks so it has made it difficult to get online and blog. The good news is on Friday we readjusted our antenna to a better location and improved the signal some and then this weekend, the Internet guy, Sebastian, received some new antennas for the service. So now we are praying that we will have better service. He installed the antennas yesterday and today and so far we can see improvement.

We can actually download all of our emails on the first try, even one that was 4mb. That is a real chore here!

We had a great week this week and had the opportunity to participate in a Youth Conference in Paxot II, continue the ABC children's program dental clinics, continue medical clinics and participate in the ABC Program award ceremony and end of year party. We will write more on these tomorrow. Right now it is pretty much past our bed-time! Yeah we know, pretty lame, but we need our beauty sleep! Going to bed at 9pm and getting up at 5am is great!

Chwek Chic wechalal! Until tomorrow, brother (or sister)!