He states “I really love this village and know we are working our way to a grand fiesta. We will be completing three projects there this spring as well as performing a medical clinic. The size and location of this village has kept it from ever receiving help like this before and the gratitude of these friends is precious. I would like to let everyone 'walk' through some of my experiences there as they view these photos.”
Last May, Michael attended the Mother’s Day celebration at their new school. This is the first time ever that this village has had a school. The village provided all the labor and TRE bought $1200 worth of building materials
In October, TRE started funding the building of a clinic. When completed, it will have three rooms, a cement floor, and be about the same size as the school. This building qualifies the village to receive monthly medical supplies from the Ministry of Health. One of the villagers has recently completed his exams after two years of studying for a certificate of medical service. This combination will be of great service to the community.
Here is the cleared site in November. It now has the foundation walls and roof up. In February, we will paint the exterior and pour the floor. Michael's wife, Carol, is a registered nurse and will assist with physical exams, immunizations and care for all the village in addition to providing dental floss and teaching dental hygiene. We also hope to provide Multivitamins and Vitamin C tablets, especially to the children.
We also plan to bring more clothing into the village. Only $2-$2.50 will buy a nice fleece pullover for the kids.
In May, we started work on a gravity fed water system. Pictured here is the finished holding tank above the village. The task of forming the concrete holding tank was a new skill for the men in this village and so the finished product is even more impressive.
They have dug, laid and buried 1500’ of piping and completed digging another 1500’ of ditch.
Here is one of the surface wells in the village. By the end of next spring there should be five new community faucets bringing clean safe water to these people. This will be the first time in the history of this village that they have running water. Thanks to your support this project is fully funded.
In May, five of the village elders told Michael the history of Nueve Puntos. One common phrase he heard from the Ixil translator was “Este es un parte de la historia largo y se llena con tristeza" — "This is a part of our history, It is long and full of sadness." The following is a condensed version...
"In the 1920’s the Guatemalan government passed a law that all indigenous people would have to work on building the national road system without receiving any pay. These elder’s fathers were forced to work for 15 days at a time and were whipped if they didn’t work fast enough. At the same time the plantation owners could force anyone to work for them for up to three months. Legally they were supposed to pay for this work but even when they did the wages were very low. To escape this system of economic slavery the founders of five villages in this area fled into the mountains from Nebaj. For two weeks these families traveled further into the mountains making their own way as there was no road. In this remote area they began to build their communities. The childhood memory of these men was one of hunger, being cold and having bleeding feet as there were no shoes. For 60 years the people work acquiring animals and clearing fields but in the 1980’s the army entered Nueve Puntos burning the village and scattering the population. For 20 years these people were displaced only officially rebuilding in 2003."
A few of the elders.
Pedro Remundo, 74 years old, with his wife.
Nicolas Jacinto, 77 years old, with his granddaughter
Remundo, 55 years old. At age two he became sick probably with polio and became crippled in one leg. He told me how grateful he was for the care his mother gave him carrying him into the mountains when they were fleeing the soldiers.
Michael has visited caves, hidden springs and hidden plateaus in the mountains where the villagers took refuge. They were joined by other villagers as the whole countryside was in a state of exile, fleeing the oppression. In November, Michael was invited to visit one of these special sites and witnessed the exhumation of a clandestine cemetery where 30 bodies had been buried during the war.
Manuel, the man in the orange shirt is looking for his brother and father’s bodies. Nicolas Hacinto is looking for his mother. They uncovered 5 bodies, some only children, that morning. A forensic team worked on identification of the buried and recorded the personal stories of the survivors for three days. The people were buried by the community while in exile and represented inhabitants from five different villages. Those who died in the first few years were buried in coffins lashed together because they did not have any nails. Those who died later were buried only in their clothes. Because of a national law that forbade taking photos without prior written permission, Michael was unable to take any more photographs.But those things he witnessed and those images still remain in his mind.
On Michael’s first visit he found garden plots ready but not planted due to lack of seed.In May, he ate from vegetable plants grown from starts that TRE provided for each family. In December, we provided the village with 8 different kinds of vegetable seeds for the next spring.
Two villagers have shown a real knack for gardening and this next visit we will offer them an interest-free loan to build a green house. We want to offer a couple of the women of Chel the same opportunity and TRE can contract with them to buy vegetable starts for our garden project. A win-win situation.
This sewing machine that Pedro owns, was bought with help from TRE. Sadly, Pedro (pictured here) has had some rough times and lost two mules this last year. One died from a snake bite.
Preparing for lunch.
This squash is really delicious.
Cleaning up after lunch.
Here are some needs for Nueve Puntos.
$150 to buy a Solar Panel for the school and clinic
$125 to buy clothing
$250 for loan for the green house
Well that is all the news for now. We wish everyone a Happy New Year
