Michael made a quick trip in October to Guatemala to prepare for our February/March trip. We needed to meet with the municipal government to plan for the completion of the water Project in Nueve Puntos and the beginning of our water project in Las Flores. In response to a request he received in May he visited the village of Soltzil and expanded our work with widows and single mothers. Soltzil is one of the villages we travel through when we buy pigs in Illom. It is located 45 minute by road from Chel on the side of a mountain. With most of the surrounding land owned by the neighboring plantation and the absence of any flat ground the plight of these villagers is especially difficult. The following is a brief story of his experience there.
Although the road connects Chel to Soltzil there is no public transportation between the two villages. Both are located after a fork in the main road to Chajul. One branch travels up the mountain to Soltzil and the other over a small ridge towards Chel. This made it necessary for a delegation from Chel to walk there and meet with the women that represent this community. Five of us left one morning passing through the community of Jua and in front of the national dam project that brought the roads to this area.

This project is almost completed and has opened this area, for better or worse, to the world outside. Before the road was established it took all day to walk to Chajul. It is interesting to hear people in their 40’s or older tell about their first experience hiking to Chajul to visit or carrying hundred pound loads of coffee all that distance to be sold for six or seven dollars. That price had to cover the work to grow, harvest and dry it as well as transportation. I listen to elders tell me how easy it is now but let’s continue on our journey we still have a pretty big hill to climb.

After the dam we chose to travel up the right side of this ravine to make a more direct route. With all the little paths that take the farmers to their fields the hill are a criss cross of trails. We just keep choosing what was heading in our general direction.

It doesn’t take long for the dam project to fall far below

The creek in the ravine drops away sharply too.

Juana and Hacinta, two women from Chel went with us to share their experience working with the widows. I ask Hacinta why she wanted to come and she answered me in a way that made me feel that the answer should have been obvious. "Because they are just like me, without a husband and in need. We want to help them too." She also told me the next week that she could hardly walk the day after our hike!

Andres and Manuel were my male escorts and the trail wasn’t any easier for them.

After climbing a ridge we begin to descend into the village and a soon as we ducked under a fence we met Maria. Times like this affirm why I travel thousands of miles, why we hike through these mountains. To alleviate suffering! Maria has been suffering from a mental condition for two years, her husband has left her and she lives next to her elderly father. She was seating in the dirt chewing on some old cane stock as dry as hay stubble. She had no skirt no shoes no belt.

Her father Mateo is 75 years old and showed us her house

This is the view inside her home. The dark spot is her bed. She has no blanket, no grass mat, only a huipile (shirt) to keep her warm. This is one of those times my heart cries NO MORE! There is a danger in entering into the world of poverty. Without the separation of distance you have no more excusses and are left only with the responsibility to care. But that is actually a good thing. How many times do we really get to cloth the naked? We will visit Maria latter.

I don’t know whose children these were but the boy was showing me his kite while we visited with Mateo, Maria's father

The women’s committees of Soltzil meet us at Maria and then took us on a brief tour of some of the special needs in the village. This widow is caring for three orphans that are not related to her. This one has serious handicaps. Other children had club feet , another with a a cleft pallet that prevented him from talking.

Passing through the draw we visited with the women washing clothes.

With pigs running free in all the villages we are teaching the women in our program the importance of acting responsible by corralling their animals.

After a lunch, our first meal of the day, the committee of Soltzil gathered the women. We have offered to bring our pig program here to start helping this community.

Pictured here are around 70 women. In total this village had 67 widows and 30 single mothers. We had funding to buy pigs for the widows but have to wait to help the single moms.

Gaspar explained the importance of protecting the environment by penning their pigs.

With a show of hands and latter a thumb print on our registry book all women agreed to the rules of the program. For those of you not familiar with the program we give one wiener pig free to widows or single women but teach them that after raising their animal they must either breed it or save part of the profit to reinvest. Our goal is to develop ways for these women to earn an income.


After the meeting we headed back to Chel and planned to return the following Friday to buy the pigs in the neighboring village of Illom.
For our returned trip we rented a pick-up truck and driver for the day Seven representatives from Chel gathered at 4a.m. to begin our days work. It is exciting to see the committee of Chel volunteering their time to help in Soltzil. We dropped off part of the group in Soltzil to fill out all the paper work and five of us continued on to Illom. For half a day we slipped and slide up and down the dirt paths there looking for pigs. We were not having much look and by noon we started back with only 20 pigs. As we came into Soltzil we watched as women dropped their work and almost run to the gathering spot. There is so much excitement for these women to get an opportunity as simple as this.

We explained that we had to keep looking for pigs and distributed what we had to the first twenty women in the our registry



They also give me a new hat and shoulder bag. Note the look of satisfaction Maria has to be giving something back in thanks.
After a nice lunch we gathered four more helpers and 11 of us traveled to a neighboring plantation to look for more pigs. We had much more success there finding some really nice looking animals (that is good looking for pigs). I stayed close to truck this time so I could pay for the pigs and the group spread out into the village.

I admit it is a little exciting buying the pigs but it is also hard and dirty work. Yet here we had 11 Guatemalans helping without any pay. We were tired and thirsty but full of laughter and contentment. It seems clear part of what TRE can offer is the ability for people with a good heart to have the opportunity to serve others. At six it was time to head back to Soltzil. We still needed to gather the widows again and distribute our cargo.

We had enough pigs for all but 10 and which we bought two weeks later.

It was becoming a long day as we unloded the last of the pigs but there was one more important job to do. Return to visit Maria Pecheco

With a smaller group following we went to visit Maria

Entering into her home we brought a new blanket, skirt, belt and huipile. I did not know how she would respond since she had remained silent on our first visit. Her face took on a childlike smile as the women dressed her and in Ixil she thanked me saying “thank-you, you have cared for me like a Father.” I knew we had done well and there were a lot of happy ladies in the village that night.
Please keep these people in mind during the holiday season. We have made some nice gift certificates. You can donate a pig for $25, start a garden plot for $32, or a coffee nursery for $35. All these projects are for widows or single mothers. Another choice is to donate to our water projects in Nueve Puntos or Las Flores. We will send a nice gift certificate and a blank card with a photo of our work with these people. Each of these gifts changes the world just a little and is tax deductable.

Small animals for the Widow's Collective in Chel

A small project we started in Chel was building a chicken coup for the eight members of the collective’s committee to start working as a egg and meat business. We will be working to grow into this endeavor over the next year.

These ladies have a willing heart even if I was lacking some extra hammers.

This was a lot like a Habitat for Humanity project. It was built by the women of the commitee with help from Michael and one other man Andres. At times Michael had to chase away helpful men because he wanted the women to build and manage this program themselves.


This woman traveled an hour and a half one way to help in this project and receive her personal 10 chickens. She made that journey three times.

Another use for the chicken coup is to raise chicks to give to the members of the collective. We bought over 650 chickens and distributed 10 each to 65 women. In the future we could buy day old chicks and raise them for three week before distributing to others in the collective. This would give us better control of their health as well as provide some income for these women.

Here is a photo of the committee members who will manage this work.

The Arrival of Our Chickens!

The rest of the women were divided fairly equally into two groups 67 received wiener pigs and 65 received 10 chicks and 27’ of chicken wire. Here is the group signing up to receive their chicks.

A truck arrived with 12 crates of chickens. We had ordered these from Nebaj


As each woman comes forward to receive their animal they place a thumb print on our record book.


We placed all the chickens in the shade and then brought two crates at a time into the coup. As the women entered threw one door the committee members filled each basket, with 10 chicks and the recipient carried them out the other side door.





Throughout this process widows would come up to me with gifts of thanks. Normally these would be bananas or cans of juice and at the end of the day we had quite a pile.

Another good day for all involved
SHEEP

To see the joy and excitement that helping these people brings makes this work feel like it is the best job in the world. .
In an effort to diversify the widow’s animal husbandry we bought 13 sheep. These will be raised and breed for meat. We would like to teach the art of felting so they could felt blankets and clothing if they have the interest.


By tying a number to each sheep and letting the women pick a number out of a hat we avoided favoritism.



Raising sheep is a family a fair. Often a child’s job is to take and tether the animal in a pasture on the way to school and then bring it back home when they return. We are starting with a small group of women and will expand based on their success rate. Here are a few more new owners.



Another day Andres and Michael traveled to Illom and, after spending the night, bought 67 wiener pigs. This is the same village we bought from last year so Michael is getting to be known there as "the pig man." Because the villagers there are surrounded by a plantation, they have resorted to raising pigs in the small spaces that are available to them.


We try everthing to find pigs for sale but door to door inquires are the most productive.

This mother pig had 11 piglets which we bought for $16 each. It was a great buy for us because the genetic stock is very good, and it provided a great income for this family. The finca only pays a little over $3 a day for labor.



Once again we pull into Chel with a truck full of wiener pigs.

Before the distribution of pigs, the women wanted to offer an official thank-you from the group. Some of the women are learning to use Michael’s camera. To keep from towering above the widows, Michael lowered his “tall" 5’8” frame to his knees for this photo-op.


Michael receiving a sombreo and mural. The Ixil people are such a generous culture they can not stop themselves from giving gifts.

This widow is trying to get a peek at the pig being caught for her.


Although we try to buy around the same size of piglets, we end up with a large variety of sizes and colors




Sometimes a little help is needed to get everything ready for the trip home.

Michael said ”One widow that has always touched my heart because of the extreme poverty that she lives in is Maria. She was in our monthly food program but gave up her place to a neighbor who she felt needed it more. I saved the biggest pig for her and announced why it was reserved for her. She had one of the biggest grins I have ever seen on her face when she received her prize”.

We added a new feature to our small animal programs by providing vacines and medicines for each animal. Gaspar Lynez, who has vetinary training, administered the treatment to help ensure a heathy start to all the animals.



While this boy is waiting in the drizzling rain, Gaspar treated each animal for worms with a cream in the mouth, a vaccine in the rump, and a belly spray for parasites.


Friends of The Ripple Effect we would like to share with you that this small animal program is extremely helpful in the lives of these women. On our next trip we want to start the same program with 65 widows in the community of Soltzil. We would also like to provide metal roofing for animal shelters, seed, and gardening instructions for this collective in Chel. We need your support. $25 opens the door to help another widow or single mother receive one of these gifts. Her labor turns that gift into an small business opportunity that truly makes a difference. Please consider supporting us in this work. All donations are tax deductible and our mailing address is The Ripple Effect 9712 Kopachick Dr Gig Harbor WA. 98335 e-mail therippleeffectinc@gmail.com