Changing of the Guard (water guard)- Tiva Water Filters

On Wednesday of this week Manuel, Tomas, Enrique (Quique), Cesar and I (Kemmel) travelled to Xejox and Chuchuca about 2.5 hours from Chichi to change out some water filters for families in the ABC program.  About half of the families needed a replacement filter cartridge so we took advantage to switch the families to a new water filter.  In the past we have been using the HELPS water filter systems which is a ceramic, activated charcoal filter which works great.  We asked the families how they liked the current HELPS filter and the response was an overwhelming "Utz!" which means good or awesome.  We also asked if they have seen a decrease in gastrointestinal problems in the children and the response was the same - "Utz!"

So we are not changing filters due to not working well, but rather for longevity and convenience.  The TIVA water filter has been donated to TSI by some generous donors and has a lifespan of at least 5 years, so we have no revolving cost of changing out the water filter cartridges.  The TIVA water filter is a super-fine sand based water filter system.  Before placing anything in the field we try it ourselves first, so Enrique and the Dunham's have been trying and the results have been positive (or you could say negative as no new GI issues).  The TIVA Filter was Enrique's first filter and his family is more than happy with the outcome.  It is exciting to see him explain how well it works and he is no pushover.  He is a an army veteran who likes things in order and working well!

Manuel giving the first explanation of the filter

During the demonstation



Atentive crowd - 53 families! 53 water filters

Showing people the superfine sand - seeing is believing

More seeing is believing

Tomas answering questions

And the sand is added to the first filter!

Prepping 53 filters

The common stoic look...

Each family turned in the old so we can save for future use.  Many had changed from white to a light tan which is a result of the smoke from the kitchens impregnating the plastic.  Many still use open fires for cooking in this area, so unfortunately it gives us a reality check to understand what their lungs look like and why women have Chronic Pulmonary Disease as the get older and also why pneumonia continues to be the #1 reason for death in the area.

Checking the list to ensure we do not miss anyone..

We had each of the fathers or mothers (if they were able) put their own filters together in groups of 5 families to each of us.  Then many of the men stepped up and helped the rest.  Community in action!

Cesar in action

Local men taking over the job.


We also met with the parents and the ABC children regarding oral hygiene and talked about the importance of following the techniques given by the dentists to ensure long lasting teeth.  Even many of the parents asked when we would come back for dental cleanings as they wanted their name on the list. 

As talking is not enough, we also took action and had each child brush their teeth and then we gave them a couple drops of dye to see how they did.  Many had to go back and brush some more to get rid of food still remaining on the teeth, but overall they did well and some did very well the first time.  Most everyone cam back the second time with clean teeth with no dye, so we used the example to show the parents that it may be a good idea to send the children back to brush a second time at least one time per day.

Unfortunately, no photos of the dental practice - we get involved and forget about it.

All in a all a good day.

New Territory

We had clinic out in the town of Chicua II today.  Our new brother in Christ, Manuel is on the town counsel and has wanted us to come out and use the clinic/hospital facility that they have in their town, which has been sitting empty for several years.  After several dry runs due to competing activities we finally had a decent showing of patients.  We suspect there will be more in the future as there was a school meeting today and continued murmurings of unrest regarding the sacking of the mayor in Chichi.  Apparently people are leery of walking around town when manifestations are forming for fear of being forced into joining the crowd of protesters.  But we did have a nice group of patients including one of my regulars from Clinica Caris who lives out there.

 

We are praying for this clinic to grow and for our presence to be well accepted so that we will have more opportunities to visit and share the gospel with folks in the area. 

Lisa and Kemmel with long time Caris patient, Maria.  We are now in her town - nice..

Sandra and Maria setting up dental extraction area

Marcos and Martina ready for cleanings and dental restoration

Sheri in one of the equipped clinic rooms

Manuel, Ceci and Cesar prepping for vitals, lab and pharmacy.  Cesar was our radio announcement writer today..

Manuel, new brother in Christ and community leader.  We were also hosted by 2 ladies from the women's committee.  Very helpful and great hosts and extremely interested in what can happen in the future.

 

We are down at Clinica Ezell in the Montellano. Normally is is hot and humid, but it's been just humid thanks to a storm system. We are excited to be here to see old friends and meet some new ones like Cary and Rita Sills. They recently sold everything and moved to Guatemala and are busy learning language in Antigua.  This week we are taking advantage of Cary's programing skills to work on building a database system for the ABC program. Now that we have over 700 kids in the program, we are feeling the urgent need to manage data better and be able to update files both here at the different work sites and for the ABC staff in the States. Technology does have it's blessings!

Cary and Rita Sills--wild adventurers.  Just ask them where all they have visited on their motor scooter!

Cary looks skeptical as Kemmel describes what we would like to do with the data.

 

Meeting of the ABC minds.  Cary, Luis, Julie, Carolina, Violeta, Alex and Kemmel

Newsletter July/August 2013

Greetings from Guatemala! Take a peek into the latest news.


VISITING TEAMS
We were blessing in the last couple of months with visits from two special church families.  Hennessey Church of Christ from Oklahoma came down bringing Lisa's sister Dr. Anna and her husband Dr. Charlie Ferrell.  They joined us in ABC well-child checkups for two communities as well as other regularly scheduled mobile clinics.  This team also brought Dr. Ed (veterinarian) and Sandy Ferrell who went out and offered home visits for families with livestock health questions.  It was a week of good interactions outreach with local families, Christian and non-Christian alike.  We are grateful to partner with this group in the work and thank them for their generous support for our nurse Sheri Kretzschmar. 

Eastside Church of Christ from Colorado Springs is our own supporting church family.  It was so good to get to catch up with everyone and get to share in the ministry together.  This group's specialty is VBS productions and technical labor expertise!  The VBS team took a program to three different area elementary schools and taught about the Sovereignty of Jesus and how we should listen to Him.  Very straightforward and well put-together material and activities.  We utilized the help of local Sunday school teachers during the week, and based on the positive comments from parents, teachers and church volunteers it was a success.  We were even invited back by each school director for future educational activities, which opens up more opportunities for outreach.
Another part of the team brought down Sawyer water filters to install in ABC family homes and also in our Clinica Caris.  The church helped raise funds for the filters by several sales events over the last year.  Thanks so much for this work!  We see first hand the difference that water filtering makes in these families' health.
To round it off, we enjoyed the help of Ted and Jackie Mogey and Craig Thomas and Caitlyn Mogey and Sara Von Thun in our mobile clinics.  They went out each day doing nursing care and offering interventional prayer for our patients.  It is a privilege to spend time with these dear friends again!

CHURCH NEWS
Our outreach efforts through the clinics have gained us two new Christians, both in areas where there is not currently a church of Christ family.  One of the brothers is Manuel who despite his lack of Bible knowledge, is an avid evangelist, always telling others of his conversion and what Christ has done in his life.  He then calls Gaspar to help talk to the new people about the Gospel.  Be praying for this new brother and the possibilities of a church plant in the future.

ABC NEWS
Guatemalan children commonly have very poor oral hygiene and subsequent cavities and permanent tooth loss before adulthood.  Our dental hygiene program for the ABC kids is an attempt to reverse this pattern and teach lifelong oral hygiene skills that will protect from further loss.  This July we started seeing some results.  After two disastrous initial checkups (averages of 80-100% of surfaces with dental plaque) and multiple tooth brushing classes, we finally began seeing scores below 50% which qualifies the kids for further dental work such as fillings and sealants.  How exciting is it to see children develop good habits that will impact not only their health but also that of their children one day.  Be praying for our team as we focus on not only on curative care but also health education and prevention.

Favorites

I always wonder if God has favorite people.  Although the Bible says the God is no respecter of persons, I can't help think that he must like some more than others.  One of our favorite people and surely a gem in God's eyes is an elder in the church in Paxot II named Tomas.  He is one of the first Christians in this area and began early on to share the gospel with so many people--family, neighbors, neighboring communities and faraway areas.  He is a loving and personable man who has always been so kind to us.  Today after clinic I (Lisa) went with one of the other elders to visit this brother who has been pretty much bedridden for almost a year.  We visited with him and listened to his frustrations with illness and pain and wondering why God has let him linger on in this state not "useful" in the kingdom work.  I certainly didn't have any good answers for him but we left him with some medications for various aches and pains and prayed together for God to remember him and bring him relief.  He was sweet to ask about Kemmel and how we have been doing and every so often we would see a spark of his old self before discomfort and sadness crept back into his voice.  So, please remember Tomas in your prayers and thank God for the years of work that he has given to Christ.

ABC Baptisms in Xepocol

Baptism of 2 young people in Xepocol back in April of 2013.

 

This is Erik

 

This is Jose Estuardo

 

Dirty Business

One of our clinics canceled today so we decided to use the day to go pick up our passports/visas from the capital. We were planning on spending the night in the City and heading straight for Lake Atitlan for a little weekend getaway tomorrow.  But...we ran into a demonstration held by several local communities protesting the situation with trash disposal for the municipality.  Our local dump was shut down about two months ago when neighbors got fed up with trash ending up on their land.  So the muni has had to look for other options (other deep ravines) that apparently haven't been formally approved.  On several days the trash truck has just set up an overflowing trailer as a makeshift dump at the local soccer field--NICE!  Hence the protests today.  They blocked all the roads heading out of Chichicastenango to the main highway, including all of the back roads the we know of, trying to get the attention of the mayor's office.  One of the firemen said their might be one road open, but not something well maintained in the rainy season.  People were walking along the highway and fighting to get on minivans that would take them to other destinations as no buses were getting through. We thought about offer folks a lift and making some extra cash but decided against that! We certainly understand the anger over this situation, but selfishly are pretty bummed that it interfered with our plans for the day.

So, we turned around and waited at the house until 1:30 when all of a sudden the buses started plowing through town. When things quieted down we headed out and decided to just go to the lake and try for the visas on Monday or Tuesday.  Everything looked pretty back to normal on the highway except for the residue of burned tires at the road block sites.  As we drove it was getting darker and darker from the rain clouds building--not a good sign for us as we still had to get to Panajachel and take a boat to place we rented.  But, we made it, whew!

Now we are hanging at our favorite casita in Santa Cruz La Laguna and watching one heck of a rain storm.  The creek next to the house is flooding from all the rain up in the highlands.  But we are safe and sound and got here without getting soaked--unlike our Eastside venture on the lake!

This is the view we are hoping for tomorrow morning.