Woes

Church in Mactzul VI

The saying when it rains, it pours has been proving to be true lately so I will start the blog with our woes but it end with what is good.

We have had a few unfortunate events happen lately that make life tough, but manageable. First we had some problems with the battery with our Suzuki which all in all is not that bad, but you must consider the 3 times rule for Guatemala. I thought I could just go buy a battery and be good to go in an hour or so. Not so, about 5 hours later I was ready to go. I went to about 4 places before I could find a place to charge the battery and then ended up getting a new one as well.

Next the Pathfinder that we purchased had been overheating some and then when I went to Montellano it started to really overheat. I had to stop about 6 times on the way back to Guatemala City to let the engine cool down. So we took the vehicle into the shop thinking the thermostat is plugged up and it needs to be changed - no big deal and not much cost. Well......, it had no thermostat because the previous owner took it out because the radiator the vehicle has is too small for the engine and was probably overheating on him as well. I guess he never went to the hot weather! So my small thermostat changed resulted in a new radiator, fan clutch and thermostat. Let's just say ouch! Although we paid much less than we would have stateside and is still less than buying a new vehicle. The risk we run purchasing a used vehicle here in Guatemala.

Then we have our water cistern saga. We have the cistern but have not been able to get the pump to work as it is not holding pressure. Probably nothing big, but since we are not in Chichi for more than a day and a half makes it difficult to nail down the problem. The latest is now the pump motor does not even turn, so we are not sure what has happened. We will get a new motor and try it out. Luckily they are relatively inexpensive - less than $40.

Then today, I was in Chichi showering when I heard a pop and the some of the lights went out. the water got cold so the shower ended quickly. I then checked to see what happened and one of the lights had burned out. So I thought no big deal, turned on another light. 2 seconds passed and POP! another light burned out, then thought weird, tried another one, POP! So then I figured something is not right and turned off the electricity to the house. So now I am in the dark (this was all happening about 5:00am before it is light outside). Then I smelled some electrical burning and really thought something is not right. I left the lights out, read by flashlight for awhile waiting for the sun to come up and went outside to check the incoming lines thinking maybe something happened outside. The wires that connect the house to the electrical reader had exploded. Me not being much of a repairman thought, this is still bad, but what do I do. So I left the electricity off and went to find some breakfast in Chichi since we have nothing in the house. Not much open but found a bean sandwich - for those who have not tried you are thinking man, that does not sound good, but let me tell you, they are pretty good but must be refried black beans. :)

Back on point... I was expecting Tomas (local construction guy) early in the morning to see about the pump. He arrived and I told him about what happened and then showed him the wiring. His surprised response was "we are going to have to find someone who knows about that as it does not look good!" And he also pointed out the reader was spinning when the electricity was turned off - also not good. So we were not able to review the pump as no electricity. So I waited for a little more to make sure another friend was up and going and asked him to come over. He is an US electrician by trade and has lived in Guatemala for many years. He looked at it and confirmed it was bad and then I pointed out that the reader was still spinning while the electricity in the house was off. This meant that we also had a short circuit somewhere, so we needed to find it. Luckily we did find it in the breaker box and got it turned off. He indicated it was spinning like we had about 30 1500 watt bulbs on which would really make the electrical bill look scary. So to end the woe, we have to re-wire from the reader to the house as the original cables were not sufficient for the energy usage of the house. Bummer! But since we do not have to stay there for a couple of weeks, hopefully we will get it fixed soon.

So after this I went to check what we lost due to the short circuit and it appears we lost our Internet routers. Possibly also the fridge but it may have survived. We will try it again once we have the new wiring. It smelled bad, but was still operational at the time.

OK, so that is all of the woes. Of course these are the same woes anyone can experience but it makes us feel better to write and complain about them...

So the good.

Yesterday we went to Mactzul VI to start up the ABC children's program. We took the names of 40 children to enroll in the program which focuses on keeping children in school and in church by creating a partnership between HTI, the sponsor, the churches, the parents and the children. HTI has about 500-600 children in the program and most are young children less than 13 years old. This last year we did have 13 graduate from high school or vocation school as teachers, computer technicians and secretaries. 2 are continuing in Central American Bible institutes and others have a desire to continue to college. To put this in perspective - None of the parents we met with in Mactzul VI continued past 6th grade. Of the 5 families I met with, most did not make it past 3rd grade. So now for the children to finish high school provides the parents and the kids more hope for the future.

Violeta and Pedro discussing program with congregation.

This church has around 40 families total and 23 or so with families in the ages to qualify for the ABC program.


Here are some of the local camera hams...

Took 3 photos to finally get them to smile. Use the word "wiskil" and it works everytime.

Tomasa Chicoj Salvador - this is the young girl that had the retinoblastoma and started chemotherapy and radiation therapy this last year. Her progress is still good and the other night her and her brother decided to just call us to say hi. That was a treat.

Today in Clinica Caris we had our 4th education class for all of the promoters we work with and had a great turn out - 17 promoters, 6 paid and 11 volunteer. They had their first tests and did well and helped us discuss potential new areas for clinics. We continue to be extremely blessed with participation in the churches and great leadership with Josefina, Marcos and Sheri.

Last week HTI hosted a surgical team in Clinica Ezell providing surgical care for patients with hernias, cysts, tumors and other ailments. They had a great week with one difficult case where the patient is recuperating well. One young lady from the Chichi area had a fibroid tumor removed that weighed 12 pounds. She is doing great.

Many of the clinics, including Caris, continue to develop and we continue to see positive outcomes both physically and spiritually. Of course there are always the tough patients so we ask you to pray for Pedro who has been confined to the bed and we are not sure what the problems are, Marta who as a blood disorder that we are waiting for the outcome on, Tomasa our retinoblastoma patient and Julisa our lukemia patient. The churches continue to report continued growth through connections with patients. See Sheri's blog for more updates - http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/.

On the Lisa front, she continues to work in OB this month. Her calls are not as bad and she is getting a little rest each night. Please pray for May, this is when she starts surgery and will be on call every 3rd night. The word is no sleep and no time for much else so this will be a hard month on her. She has also been a little ill, so please pray that her energy will remain strong. As always, she has a great attitude. Many of her fellow students are interested in what we are doing which gives her opportunity to explain why we are here.

For another prayer request, please pray for a friend whose father is talking about going to the US to work and the family is really struggling with this decision. Please pray he will decide to stay with his family and find other means to provide for his econimic situation.

God is always GOOD! He just never said life would be easy.

God bless and please keep checking in!

Check-up

Today after Lisa got off her shift we went to a scheduled doctor's appointment for a checkup on her thyroid. The physician here is extremely nice and does not charge for his consult which of course is a great blessing for us. She also had to get some lab tests and a chest xray. Afterwards, we were walking out of the building thinking, man, we spent alot on those lab tests and chest xrays today - around Q1000. So then we started thinking, man that was cheap! We got out with a specialist Dr. visit, 5 lab tests and a chest xray for less than $140. Helps us realize how much we acclimate to the environment we live in!



On a patient note, Sheri had a little girl the other day in Choacaman whom we suspect to have some kind of blood disorder. She was admitted to the hospital on Friday and we still do not know much about what is wrong with her. Her name is Marta and her granddad's name is Diego. Please pray for Marta and her family so that they can get some more information and we can determine if there is a plan for treatment. Pray for healing and pray for patience and peace with the results of the diagnosis.



For anyone wondering what you can do to help us in this ministry, we can always uses many prayers. Prayers that we will continue to keep our faith strong, that we will have high spiritual and physical energy and that God will continue to mold us and guide us. Of course, it is a 2 way street and we must seek guidance through prayer and study as well.



We can also use your help with donations of some of the items listed on the bottom right of this blog. We use a bunch of ibuprofen 200mg, acetaminophen 500mg and ranitidine all of which are pretty inexpensive at locations such as Sam's club, Walmart, etc. So if you ever get a chance send us some bottles. They can be sent to Rick Harper, email us for his address.



Also please check the http://www.healthtalents.org/ website for additional needs we have.



God bless and please keep checking back!

Orchards - Paxot 2 and Chuchipaca

Inside of new church building in Chuchipaca.

On Wednesday we continued with the UT group to a village called Chuchipaca which is also a location of one of the mobile clinics. This a location that many who have traveled with Health Talents on mobile clinics have visited for clinics. However, most probably do not know that this village and the surrounding villages is the largest apple growing area of all of Guatemala and possibly Central America. In this area they also grow peaches, plums and avocados.

The purpose of this visit and the visit on Tuesday to Paxot 2 was to visit with members of the community to discuss issues they have with their orchards so that we can see if there is a need for some classes in the future to assist them in improving their product. In both Paxot 2 and Chuchipaca we had a real good turn out from each of the churches and everyone is extremely interested in this type of education. We learned quite a bit about their process and the different varieties grown and now the UT group will take this information back to develop a program that students will be able to do with these communities. Once the program is started with the church, the church will in turn open the program to the community and then eventually try to take to other communities. See one, do one, teach one concept so that we can propagate this type of development.

Checking out some of the trees.

The tricky part will be working with each of the growers as most people here operate on their own. There are no coops, etc. so everyone competes with one another. However, from what we have learned of the men we work with, they will be very willing to share the information with others.

On other news, here is the before and after pictures of the church in Chuchipaca. They tore down the old church and have now built the new church. They still have more work with stuccoing the church, completing the floor, etc, but they at least have walls and a roof now. The exciting news on this new building is that it has been done with 100% of local resources (meaning Guatemalan resources) with no influx of US or other foreign dollars. They have probably received some funding from other churches in the area but most likely no more than 10% - 15%. I was speaking to one of the young men of the church, Cesar Daniel, and he was telling about how the church has become united in this endeavor and how some of the members decided to give their money they were saving for some other thanksgiving services which gave the church enough funds to purchase the remaining material to finish the roof. This is exciting news for this church and they will have a sense a pride about the building that they have put their hearts into.

Before

After - much larger.

These members have found the joy in giving in this situation and I pray they will continue to do so in hopes to increase the kingdom of God in their community.

God bless and have a great remainder of the week and weekend.

Live Chickens!! with pictures

Tuesday was a great day. I, Kemmel, traveled to Chichicastenango to meet with a group of agriculture professors from the University of Tennessee Knoxville whom we have been working with over the last 2-3 years to identify needs in communities to in turn assist the communities with either education or appropriate technology to meet their needs. This is a picture of the group from UT, Danny (an HTI employee), me and the ladies from Xepocol.

These professors consist of dirt (more appropriately soil) scientists, an animal scientist, a meteorologist and a tree (for not knowing the correct terminology) scientist. In the past they have come to review a few needs including the need for water in a small community called La Fortuna in the area around Montellano where the Clinica Ezell is and the issue of loosing chickens to disease in Xepocol.

For La Fortuna, the solution was to build some above ground cisterns to house rain water collected from the families roofing. The community was not sold on the idea so we started with some test homes and last year some students and the professors came from UT Knoxville to build 3 of these cisterns to see how they would work. Earlier this week, they visited the community to see how the cisterns have worked and if the families have taken care of this precious water source. The results were outstanding. Of the 3 cisterns, 2 provided water to the families during the entire rainy season and a 2-3 months into the rainy season. Then, the 3rd provided water for the entire rainy season and now near the end of the dry season they still 1/3 of the water left (apparently they have been more careful with the use of the water). What you also need to understand is that in this community there is no running water, so the ladies of the community must make multiple trips to either the town well, which is not very clean and not always full or to the river which lets just say is dirty! So now 2 of these families have only had to make the trip for 2-3 months of the year and the other has not had to make any. To put the icing on the cake, they also tested the water and after 24 hours of incubation, the water from the cisterns reported no bacteria. So not only have they had water, but clean, potable water. They also tested the well and of course it was full of bacteria and the river, lets just say the 4 students who went swimming ended up paying for it later. :) The cost for making these cisterns is right around Q600 or less than $100. So now our task is to continue to encourage the community that this is a viable option for a clean water source and that they can do these on their own with their own resources and materials for much less expense than piping in water from a spring that can be up to 3 miles away.

For Xepocol and the chicken mortality rate, the solution was to provide some classes on the proper care of chickens and on the importance in the use of vaccinations against diseases such as new castle disease, bronchitis and influenza (the most death threatening being new castles disease). Some students came last year in August and provided some of these classes to the ladies in Xepocol including providing the first round of vaccinations for the chickens. The trick is you must keep vaccinating every 3 months which no one was doing even if they had vaccinated once. So at the first vaccination they marked each of the chickens so we could monitor their status in the following months. During the education we also reviewed the cost of the vaccinations against how much each chicken could be sold for and that if they worked as a group to vaccinate many chickens they would save on the vaccination as one vial would cover 150 chickens (the common practice was for 1 family to purchase a vial and only use for 20-30 chickens). After the group left, the ladies created a committee to monitor and continue the process of vaccinating the chickens. Today they reported they have had 3 rounds of vaccinations, including upwards of 800 chickens and between 40-50 families involved. The results, again outstanding. The months of March and April are the months that most chickens die in this area due to the drastic climate changes. For the chickens that have been vaccinated, not one has died due to illness. Now they have died to be eaten, but not to the disease. How is that for positive results. Now instead of a family loosing 10-20 chickens per year, they now are able to sell these 10-20 chickens for about Q50 ($6) each hen or Q120 ($16) each rooster while paying less than Q.50 ($.06) per vaccination. Today we also made the first step in encouraging these women to now go to another community, Paxot 2, and teach the women their how to manage their chicken population. This community recently had a mass epidemic of new castle disease and lost many chickens as well so they are very interested. The ladies response was "sure as long as they cook us a good chicken while we are there". This brought a good laugh.

This is a pictire of the ladies in Xepocol who manage the Chicken vaccinations - Juana, Candelaria, Maria and Rosalia. Candelaria and Rosalia are the 2 who have started the project in the neighboring town of Saquilla which is where they live.

Here is a picture of the ladies with Kelly, who is the Animal Science Professor from UT. The original program was developed by him and his class and then he came with some students last August and the students presented the program to these ladies and about 15 others.

Today we also met with some members of the community of Paxot 2 regarding some possible classes on orchards and did some investigative work to prepare something for the future. Tomorrow we head to Chuchipaca to do some of the same. I will report more on that tomorrow.

And I cannot end a good day without giving you a follow-up on Tomas Sut Gonzales I. This is the man that in December was on deaths door with pneumonia and his family would not take him to the hospital. The first day we went to visit him people from different communities were visiting to express their last greetings and to pray over him. Some of what we heard was he is old (only 63 or so) and his time has come. Well, thanks to our gracious Lord, the family did take him to the hospital and he got better. Tomas is one of the miracles God continues to bless us with. This is a picture of Tomas (on the left) during a wedding on Monday where he was to be the witness for the bride, Juan Quino's sister Tomasa. He also joined us today walking all around Paxot 2 looking at trees and enjoying some great laughs. God continues to have a plan from Tomas!

God is good, all the time!