We made it back this afternoon from our trip home for the holidays. We had such a good time with our families in Arizona and Texas and even enjoyed a rare white Christmas in Texas (once everyone made it in off the roads safely). What a blessing to be with everyone!
Now we are crashed on the couch watching a little Law and Order, enjoying chocolate chip cookies and listening to firecrackers that couldn't wait for midnight. We probably won't make it til midnight either!
So Happy New Year, Everyone!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Leavin' on a Jet Plane
We are hanging out at the Aurora Airport in Guatemala City waiting for our flight home for Christmas. Sheri and Neva and Glenn headed out Sunday and Monday and we tied up some loose ends yesterday at the Health Talents office and around town and of course enjoyed some eating out!
It's a good thing we came early to the city, rather than driving in this morning. The teacher's association is going on strike today and blocking 14 major intersections/highways in Guatemala to demand more teaching contracts and positions.
Our flight plan takes us to Phoenix, AZ first (via Miami, thanks to good rates on TACA), to enjoy some time with the Dunham family and then to Nocona, TX with the Paschalls. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone.
We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
It's a good thing we came early to the city, rather than driving in this morning. The teacher's association is going on strike today and blocking 14 major intersections/highways in Guatemala to demand more teaching contracts and positions.
Our flight plan takes us to Phoenix, AZ first (via Miami, thanks to good rates on TACA), to enjoy some time with the Dunham family and then to Nocona, TX with the Paschalls. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone.
We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Law and Order Segment
We were sitting around talking over lunch today at clinic, and Gaspar, our health promoter told us of some trouble brewing in his town.
Background info:
The town of Xepocol gets its water source from a spring in the town of Tzanixnam in the Department of Totonicopan about 22 Km away.
We live in a rural area, so country taxi's (old Toyota pickups driven by teenagers/young adults) service the surrounding towns, bringing people to market in Chichi. They have special parking sections in market according to the town they service (eg., Xepocol or Tzanixnam or Paxot II), and no one is supposed to park there but the taxis.
Here's the scoop:
Supposedly, a few days ago, the taxi drivers from Xepocol arrived at their parking spot in Chichi to find a truck parked there already. They got mad and jimmied the door, started the truck and pulled it into a nearby parking lot so they could fit their trucks in. The owner came back and couldn't find his (new) truck for quite sometime. Finally after some investigation he found it, and found out who moved it. This man lives in Tzanixnam and owns the land where the tubing for the Xepocol water project passes. He was so mad that yesterday he cut the tubing and demanded that the town of Xepocol pay him Q45, 000 (roughly $5500) in damages and stated that they would not be allowed onto his land to fix it for 6 months as punishment for the deed.
The town elders went to talk with him and didn't get anywhere other than if they didn't pay the fine by the end of today, he would double it. Well, the town of Xepocol rounded up the 4 taxi drivers and meted out corporal punishment consisting of kneeling on gravel with 100-pound grain sacks on their backs for one hour, followed by a sound flogging, and they are responsible for paying the fine themselves. Everyone is hot under the collar today trying to figure out how they are going to get water to their homes for the next 6 months. One man in town has a spring on his property and is not going to charge for the water, but it is down in a ravine and will probably need a 5 HP pump to get it up to town.
I'm sure this story will only get worse. We'll keep you informed. Can you imagine how mad all the women are in Xepocol?
Background info:
The town of Xepocol gets its water source from a spring in the town of Tzanixnam in the Department of Totonicopan about 22 Km away.
We live in a rural area, so country taxi's (old Toyota pickups driven by teenagers/young adults) service the surrounding towns, bringing people to market in Chichi. They have special parking sections in market according to the town they service (eg., Xepocol or Tzanixnam or Paxot II), and no one is supposed to park there but the taxis.
Here's the scoop:
Supposedly, a few days ago, the taxi drivers from Xepocol arrived at their parking spot in Chichi to find a truck parked there already. They got mad and jimmied the door, started the truck and pulled it into a nearby parking lot so they could fit their trucks in. The owner came back and couldn't find his (new) truck for quite sometime. Finally after some investigation he found it, and found out who moved it. This man lives in Tzanixnam and owns the land where the tubing for the Xepocol water project passes. He was so mad that yesterday he cut the tubing and demanded that the town of Xepocol pay him Q45, 000 (roughly $5500) in damages and stated that they would not be allowed onto his land to fix it for 6 months as punishment for the deed.
The town elders went to talk with him and didn't get anywhere other than if they didn't pay the fine by the end of today, he would double it. Well, the town of Xepocol rounded up the 4 taxi drivers and meted out corporal punishment consisting of kneeling on gravel with 100-pound grain sacks on their backs for one hour, followed by a sound flogging, and they are responsible for paying the fine themselves. Everyone is hot under the collar today trying to figure out how they are going to get water to their homes for the next 6 months. One man in town has a spring on his property and is not going to charge for the water, but it is down in a ravine and will probably need a 5 HP pump to get it up to town.
I'm sure this story will only get worse. We'll keep you informed. Can you imagine how mad all the women are in Xepocol?
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Celebrate Good Times
Yesterday was the big end-of-the-year event for the ABC program here in Quiche. It was a real Kool and the Gang moment. Since our program country-wide has grown so much, we all decided to divide up into regions. There is now a big fiesta for the kids from the coastal to capital regions, one for the kids from Pacayalito, Zacapa out east and now for the highlands region.
Sheri has a great post with pictures you should see. http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/
Our team up here has never put on a production quite this big so we were all a little nervous. Thankfully we had experienced friends from the churches helping to plan and organize. Neva and I were in clinic helping Josefina crank out patients so we could all get to the event. When I called Kemmel to see how things were going, he said, "Pretty good so far. Man, there are kids all over the place!." There are 274 children in the program here and they all had their families with them, so it was impressive. The day started with worship in song with Voces Acapella leading singing, and then sending the children to age-specific classes while the parents enjoyed a sermon without distractions. The childrens classes were all taught by volunteers from the churches--men and women and teenagers who put together excellent activities, lessons and interactive learning.
After the lesson time everyone gathered back together to see who won top points. The points are given according to grades, school attendance, church attendance, home behavior (yes, mom and dad assigned the grade), and medical/dental checkup attendance. It is possible for everyone to make "1st place" according to points, but of course the kids are always shocked that so few win. As the bikes, clothes and other goodies were awarded I'm sure many New Year's resolutions were secretly being made!
The day was completed with lunch being served for over 800 people and free-play time in the park. Moms and dads enjoyed just sitting in the park chatting or playing basketball or soccer with the kids and watching to see who would dare to take a wade in the thriving ecosystem of a swimming pool. Luckily, the water wasn't deep there was minimal horseplay. I'm sure we'll have plenty of impetigo cases to get us started in January!
As the churches packed up and headed out in their rented buses and minivans they would stop and tell us all thanks. Even a few individual kids came by to thank us and tell us goodbye. We were worn out at the end of the day but finally got all the equipment back, people back and padlock back on the park gate. It was a good day and we thank God for his blessings on the families here through those of you who support children in ABC!
Sheri has a great post with pictures you should see. http://www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com/
Our team up here has never put on a production quite this big so we were all a little nervous. Thankfully we had experienced friends from the churches helping to plan and organize. Neva and I were in clinic helping Josefina crank out patients so we could all get to the event. When I called Kemmel to see how things were going, he said, "Pretty good so far. Man, there are kids all over the place!." There are 274 children in the program here and they all had their families with them, so it was impressive. The day started with worship in song with Voces Acapella leading singing, and then sending the children to age-specific classes while the parents enjoyed a sermon without distractions. The childrens classes were all taught by volunteers from the churches--men and women and teenagers who put together excellent activities, lessons and interactive learning.
After the lesson time everyone gathered back together to see who won top points. The points are given according to grades, school attendance, church attendance, home behavior (yes, mom and dad assigned the grade), and medical/dental checkup attendance. It is possible for everyone to make "1st place" according to points, but of course the kids are always shocked that so few win. As the bikes, clothes and other goodies were awarded I'm sure many New Year's resolutions were secretly being made!
The day was completed with lunch being served for over 800 people and free-play time in the park. Moms and dads enjoyed just sitting in the park chatting or playing basketball or soccer with the kids and watching to see who would dare to take a wade in the thriving ecosystem of a swimming pool. Luckily, the water wasn't deep there was minimal horseplay. I'm sure we'll have plenty of impetigo cases to get us started in January!
As the churches packed up and headed out in their rented buses and minivans they would stop and tell us all thanks. Even a few individual kids came by to thank us and tell us goodbye. We were worn out at the end of the day but finally got all the equipment back, people back and padlock back on the park gate. It was a good day and we thank God for his blessings on the families here through those of you who support children in ABC!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
It's December
We are having a hard time remembering that it's December and almost Christmas. I played some Christmas music today to try to zap us into reality. Around here December means parties all over town, carnivals for Santo Tomas Day and endless marimba music into the wee hours. We are getting excited about our trip back to Arizona and Texas on the 15th, and it feels like the weeks are both dragging on and racing by.
Today we had clinic in Mactzul I, Sheri and Glenn and Neva and I, while Kemmel made some last minute buys for the ABC celebration on Monday. After clinic we all headed over to Martina's house (one of our teammates) for a great lunch. Her family goes to church with us in Chichi and are having a big fellowship/thanksgiving get together for the whole church on the 16th. She felt sorry for us, that we would be missing it, so they fixed us a special lunch. We drove out to her house riding along the top of a cliff until the road just ended in a corn field and next to their house. We were warmly greeted by her dad Miguel and escorted into the house where Martina, her mom Manuela and all her siblings were waiting for us. They must have been hungry because they quickly led us to a room set up with a table and 5 chairs. Martina's dad took a seat at a sewing table behind us and everyone else started serving the meal. We stuffed ourselves with delicious chicken soup (a rooster, we were informed) and tortillas. After lunch we sat and visited a while and took some group fotos. (Sheri will post some pictures! www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com ) They told us that they considered us family and that we were welcome anytime. They are such a blessing to us and thanked them for their hospitality.
Tomorrow Kemmel and Glenn and all the ABC coordinators head out early to the park to set up for Monday's extravaganza. Pray for everything to go well. We are expecting around 750 people!
Today we had clinic in Mactzul I, Sheri and Glenn and Neva and I, while Kemmel made some last minute buys for the ABC celebration on Monday. After clinic we all headed over to Martina's house (one of our teammates) for a great lunch. Her family goes to church with us in Chichi and are having a big fellowship/thanksgiving get together for the whole church on the 16th. She felt sorry for us, that we would be missing it, so they fixed us a special lunch. We drove out to her house riding along the top of a cliff until the road just ended in a corn field and next to their house. We were warmly greeted by her dad Miguel and escorted into the house where Martina, her mom Manuela and all her siblings were waiting for us. They must have been hungry because they quickly led us to a room set up with a table and 5 chairs. Martina's dad took a seat at a sewing table behind us and everyone else started serving the meal. We stuffed ourselves with delicious chicken soup (a rooster, we were informed) and tortillas. After lunch we sat and visited a while and took some group fotos. (Sheri will post some pictures! www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com ) They told us that they considered us family and that we were welcome anytime. They are such a blessing to us and thanked them for their hospitality.
Tomorrow Kemmel and Glenn and all the ABC coordinators head out early to the park to set up for Monday's extravaganza. Pray for everything to go well. We are expecting around 750 people!
Friday, December 4, 2009
ABC's
Many of you are familiar with the ABC program through Health Talents. This is a sponsorship program in our partner churches to help families keep their kids in school. In this country, school attendance is not obligatory and many families can't afford to educate their children, preferring to let them start working once they get to be 10-12 years old.
This program offers basic food supplies like beans, rice, milk, etc. and school supplies and clothing, in addition to their medical and dental check-ups each year. There is also an incentive program built in so that the kids receive points for church attendance, good grades/attendance at school, good behavior at home, and coming for their medical and dental check ups. At the end of the year we have a party for all the kids from the region and give prizes according to points gained. This year there will bikes and bedroom furniture for the top points winners.
Kids from the Mactzul V church.
In the first few years it is hard to see changes that you can put your finger on, but now we are beginning to see some differences. Today we did a medical check up on the kids from Mactzul V, and for the first time everyone gained weight and height, and only a few were sick. In addition, in talking with one of the coordinators from this church, all 65 kids in their program were promoted to the next grade! (Last year several failed, which puts the child on probation for a year. If he failed two years he is out of the program). What a pleasure to see kids outgrowing their parents and surpassing their level of education too. It is tempting to say let's try to get everyone through high school and on to college. But in reality children who finish 6th grade are a success in towns where nobody went past 2nd or 3rd grade the generation before (people our age!). Even more exciting is when a few more go on to junior high in a town where there wasn't even a junior high near by 15 years ago. 
Young ladies from the Paxot II church.
If you have kids in this program, we thank you for your faithful support. Keep praying for them and their families. If you would like more information on how you can support a child let us know.
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