POTABLE WATER IN CABA AND LAGUNA CABA

FAMILIES SERVED 85 PROJECT COST $9390

Meet Phillipe and his son. Let see what has happened in their village.

Last November I was guided on a trip to visit to the villages of Caba and Laguna Caba. The trip’s purpose was to take a look at the water needs in these villages.  These villages are sister villages and share virtually the same site. In all there are 85 families in this locality. This place has a special history because during the 80’s it was a refuge center for the people fleeing from the surrounding villages. I was often told that every spot on the hillside was full of people during that time.

REBUILDING THE SPRING BOX

    When I was shown the village spring and water system that they were using I was immediately drawn into the idea of helping develop and purify the water supply.  Here was a village of 85 families, over half of whom did not have water to their home. The present water system did not have a holding tank and was left exposed to parasites and bacteria. Much of the existing piping had even become clogged by a type of worm. Yet on the positive side the spring was excellent yielding over 30 gallons a minute. It was also closer to the village than any other site I had yet visited so the cost would be lower and finally the leadership was willing to work hard in service for their village.

Martin  the alcalde in 2012 and his family with Nicolas another village leader.

           Let me explain my impression of the leadership. The second time we visited the Caba I visited Nueve Puntos on my way in. We had enough blankets and vegetable seed for every family in Caba and Laguna Caba but we needed porters to carry the aid from Nueve Puntos to Caba. The Porters that were supposed to arrive from Caba to help us did not show up so we hiked to the village and left the aid in Nueve Puntos.  This trail is rough and we were in the middle of the muddy season.It is a secondary trail that snakes through some pretty broken territory. Arriving late in the evening we were exhausted. We explained to the alcalde (the village leader) that we needed the aid in the village by the end of the next day. This meeting took place at 9:00 at night yet he gathered 4 volunteers and one mule for the journey. They all got up at 3 am to make the two way trip to Nueve Puntos to bring back the aid.



Imagine going up or down these in the dark.

 Around 5 pm I got worried because they still had not arrived back so I hiked up to the top of the first pass. My feet were so sore from the previous day’s journey I knew it was not smart for me to go any further. I waited and waited for them to arrive. As twilight began to descend I keep inching my way back to the village. With each small retreat I prolonged the daylight as I was exiting the thicker forest. Finally before I made the last descent and the light totally faded they arrived in the trail. As we descended together we were meet with whistles and calls that were sent up the hill from others who had been waiting. The hikers sent back their answers signaling all was well. Instead of frustration at such a taxing journey there was pride and joy at the mission accomplished. They had hiked from 3 in the morning to after 7 at night to bring this aid to their people. I know the comparison I mentally made was not totally equal but I wondered how many town mayors in the states would make a journey like this to help their community. This was not only an extremely hard physical trip. One that I personally could not have done but it was risky. The trail was intense proven by the fact that the mule that left with them that morning had fallen. It was ok but they left it back up the trail with a family to heal up for a few days.  Making this trip was a sign of extreme dedication that would make building a new water system possible. That night I personally made a commitment to the alcalde to come back in March to begin the water project. We would find the money somehow.

a look at the water flow from the spring

   Meanwhile back in the states without any knowledge of these events two families decided to make a strong contribution to TRE. The amount was equal to the need and in a space of three weeks we had the finances and a plan. It felt almost divinely orchestrated that the time for clean water had arrived for Caba.

            So after that long introduction let’s take a look at the ripple that was created.

           

                                                              MARCH 2013

 THE SIGNING

  When I arrived back in the village almost 500 bags of sand and gravel had already been carried into the village. El family was responsible to carry river sand and gravel back from the river below. It was a steep one hour climb . This was a little scary for me to see work begun before we had made all of our final agreemnts. The purpose of this visit was to establish the plans for the system, do a final material list and cost analysis, and sign a final agreement. The village was so eager that they had already begun gathering materials.

TRE Office in Caba, Laguna Caba

    I personally don’t like a lot of office work but my office in Caba was pretty sweet. We needed to make a map of the village and layout the system. This lets everyone see a “picture” representation of the project. It also is the easiest way for me to start a material list, final cost analyses and a written agreement with the village. I can not remember when I was happier to be working at a desk

But with a penthouse view like this who wouldn’t enjoy it. The valley that is in the right side of the photo drops off so steep it is a 45 minute journey down to the river below. That is where the sand and gravel were gathered.

After a couple of days we had finished the map and other paper work and it was time to call a village meeting. Remeber Phillipe he is behind the bull horn. This is the small ridge between the two communities and it serves as a great town hall.

Here Andres is describing the project and who will be responsible for each part of the project. We had divided the project into three parts like we normally do and the responsibility for unskilled labor again fell upon the villagers. In this case a added struggle was that the closest road we could truck materials in on was still 5 hours away. There would be around 300 trips needed just to bring the materials to the site.

Martin the alcalde in 2012 is nominating another community member to be part of the water committee. They needed 4 members. It was funny to watch this process. Different men who have been dedicating time in community service throughout the past year would nominate another friend who they felt would be good for the job. They had done their service and now it was someones elses time. The problem was that the job meant extra unpaid work that no one really wanted. Some men who knew their name was coming up would kind of hide behind someone else and then kick the ground when they were nominated. Everyone would laugh and give a personal sigh of relief it was not them. I understand and respect these nominees. Their lives are hard and more work is not what they need. Service is not free.

The Signing

There are two common highlights in a water project. One is when the finances and agreements are  finally finished and in place and we are ready to work. The second is when the taps are opened for the first time. Both feel like moments of great accomplishments. When the agreement was verbally finalized the men gave TRE a round of applause for coming and offering help. I too was clapping and some men laughed becuase the applause was for me. They thought I had not understood  but I told them no I am applauding in joy that we, all of us, have arrived in this place of aggreement. What a good day!

                                                   

Shoes, Hats and Stoves

Well, I am glad to get time to write another short report. This story actually begins over a year ago in a check-out stand in Gig Harbor Washington. I was buying discounted shoes at a local Big Five Store. They were moving to a new location and had good quality shoes for $5 a pair! I was buying enough kid’s shoe store fill a suitcase for my next trip down south and struck up a conversation with the teller and lady in line behind me about what I was going to do with so many shoes. I must have given them our business card and headed on my merry way not thinking anything more about it. Fast-forward to a year and half latter when I receive a call asking if I still wanted shoes. The lady in the line behind me had been following our blogs and had saved up a pile of shoes!

Of Course we will take the shoes! And one month later here stands Manuel Lopez in front of an open door in the village of Las Flores with a whole gunny sack of shoe. This is truly something special. This is like winning the lottery or having Christmas in July!

You see these families never imagined that one day someone would walk into their home and pour out a sack of shoes. Busa lo son de calidad excelente! Look for a pair! They are from a lady in the states and are of excellent quality. A true jackpot of blessing has come to their home.

 Ah, what a find. This boy will be the envy of the friends at the next soccer game.

Another home we visited was Juana Mateo. When we arrived she was sick in bed with a fever.   Juana’s needs are great as she is a single mother with five children to care for. 

We actually had brought two gunny sacks with us. The second one had stocking hats from Miracles in Actions. They collect them from women’s church groups in Florida who have been knitting up a storm.

Shoes and stocking caps for every one! What is extra special is that the children get to pick colors and styles. What a treat!

We next crossed the river to visit the home of Hacinta.

Hacinta is married so she has a spouse to help her but she has had some type of disability that makes movement slow and challenging. You can see how her arm is miss shaped. Her legs are also affected. Her husband and she have three great kids who could not have been happier.

Here her son is sporting new shoes and hat. What a radiant smile!

Hacinta daughter is as happy as can be with her new look. She is standing by a stove called the eco-stove. This stove brings us to the third ripple in this tale. The first came from a lady with a heart to save shoes, the second from a women’s church group in Florida knitting 100’s of hats and now a friend in Tacoma has started a stove ripple.

last year I worked for Habitat for Humanity and met a man that quickly became a friend. He wanted to donate to our projects and he wanted to donate something more than a sheep or pig. He decided to give $500 and we decided to use these funds to bring in some stoves from the Antigua area to see how they worked. Here is a picture of one of the models. The factory making these stoves was started by a Rotarian from Oregon.

I have made two trips back to the villages to bring stoves. I load up all the aid I can carry in Antiqua and make my way using the public transportation back to Chel. Here we are transferring cargo in Santa Cruz Quiche. All the white bags are mine and inside the van we had 18 people. Needless to say we were styling real cool in a low rider the whole way. A word of caution to everyone out there. Don't buy a used vehicle from Guatemala. 

After two days of travel here we are in the village of Xesalli demonstrating two stove models.

A good crowd  from this small village came to view the stoves. The building to the right is my home here. The village built it for me last year. It is a sort of duplex with the painted side belonging to Jose and his family while I stay in the unpainted side. The main and only road to Xesalli passes right in front of the house but there is not much traffic. Maybe one pick-up truck a week.

Here Anna is admiring the stove. I think she is imagining how good it would fit in her home.

She was not alone in this dream.  We brought in two stove types and here Manuel (only his hands show) is explaining the special features of each.  The most popular feature is how little firewood is required.

This smaller model is the more promising one of the two. It can cook a meal using three small sticks. It does not have a chimney but re-circulates the smoke to burn off 80 percent of the pollutants. 17% of the deaths in the Ixil region are attributed to respiratory failure. Often I cannot see clearly across a smoked fill kitchen while the women with babies on their backs work over the fire all day long.

On this day we drew names out of a hat to see who would get to test the stoves. We have put three different stoves design in homes in three villages to test how well they were received before we start a real stove project.

The small one is great for smaller homes or small families. It can be carried outside when it is real hot or set upon a wood shelf inside to make it a better height to work at. The sides of the concrete are insulated enough not to but fingers or wood. Notice here how little wood is being used to boil this pot and where is all the smoke?  Another stove design we like is made of adobe and has a warming oven below the firebox that can be used to dry cloths.  I love to use this feature when I come in wet from the trail and don’t have a dry shirt or sock to my name. The adobe stove allows us to cut cost down by using local free material for the body and only having to transport and buy the stove top and chimney.

Here we come to the end of the tale but not the ripple. It does what ripples are suppose to do – constantly reach farther out and touch more lives. Our stove study is complete we would like to raise $3,000 to put a program in place. Our cost for a stove is $65 each and we will sell them for $32.50. This helps us in family selection because almost anyone will say yes to what is free. It also means for the donation of $130 for two stoves we can purchase and deliver three. 

We want to send a special thanks to the ladies in Florida who have made thousands of children happy with their colorful hats. And to our shoe saving sponsor – Well done- You have given some children the best pair of shoes they have ever had. Thanks to all and remember to daily practice “random acts of love and kindness” they always bear good fruit. 

                                                 

Special Request for Anna Maria

         Anna Maria hanging flowers on their door for the celebration of Dia Santos (our Halloween). All but one of these photos are from that day.

I have a special request that I would like to post. This request will only be presented once so I hope someone can respond to this need. For the past 8 years Carol and I have been helping a family close to Antigua. We began this relationship by sponsoring their daughter Anna Maria through Christian Children’s Fund. Besides providing tuition and clothes for Anna Maria we have help the family start a small store, connect to the municipal water system and bought them a cooking stove and bedding. Their life has improved year by year and it is great to see this growth. In comparison to the families we work with in the Ixil region this family has a much higher standard of living. They have running water, a three room concrete home with a fence around it. Yet they have encountered a financial difficulty that jeopardizes their security. Last February Oscar, the father, became ill and needed an emergency operation. This was a potentially life threatening illness involving stones from his liver.and the family made a quick decision to take out a loan of $1330 for the operation to remove these stones. This loan has a “grace” period of two months with only 10% interest. In May it increased to 20% per month.  This kind of high interest rate is not uncommon in Guatemala but is a horrible burden to the poor. What I am looking for is someone to give Oscar a new loan. He has returned to work now and has the ability to make payments of $60 per month which would be personally managed and guaranteed by myself, not TRE. The mission statement of TRE directs us to use our funds to work in the Chajul region so this is outside of the scope of TRE and personally I do not have the finances to do this loan at this time. If this touches your heart please consider helping protect the gains this family has made and contact me.

Here is an earlier photo of Anna and one of her sisters and mother weaving while she studies. The building made with small poles in the background is now a concrete block bedroom with cement floor.

Their family lives in San Antonio Agua Caliente which is only 30 minutes from Antigua. This area is famous for its weavings. Look closely at the design of Sandra's weaving. It is an intricate picture of birds in the forest and will take her 60 days to complete. After she finishes she will sell this to a co-op for $175. Two years ago they sold for $200. 

But the day most of these photos were taken were for the celebration of Dia de Santos. Here we get to eat tamales. Maria's brother Marvin is pictured here reading a manual from the company where he works. It is a national company which encourages it's employees to be active in their communities and has vacation pay on this holiday. He might only be making gunny sacks but is very fortunate to have a good employer. Most of the improvements on their home are due to his help.

Maria in front of their kitchen ready to go to the cemetery and place decorations.

Her grandmother is tending the grave of her husband. Her passed away last year. For Guatemalans Dia de Santos is like our Memorial Day in which we remember our loved ones and decorate their graves.

Finally here is Oscar getting water to fill the flower vases. You can see by the care put into this wealthier part of the cemetery how important caring for these sites is to the families. 

Oscar looking over Maria at a well tended family grave.

There are many traditions in this celebration. All during the day favorite foods and bread are set out for the fiesta. Early in the day a candle and incense are lit to symbolize their prayers. 

Today I called Beatrice and told her I was posting the request and this would be another good day to light them again. 

UPDATED NOTE: We have a sponsor for this loan. When I called Beatrice the next day with the good news you could immediately hear the gratitude and relief in her voice. We even had multiple offers which demonstrates the good caring hearts of our readers. Mucho Gracias.

GARDENS REVISITED

I have just returned from six weeks in Guatemala and what a fantastic trip it was. As I start to go through photos and project reports I realize I just don't have enough time to share all the intense experiences that come on these visits. We are working at such a rapid pace that by the time I would get halfway through my blog reports it would be time to head back again. I am going to have to simplify the reporting so that I can share some of the amazing progress that is being made. Although these reports will be simpler and a little "raw" I hope the depth of what is taking place comes through. I am amazed at the changes I see. I started this work with the vision to "Change the World". A grand and lofty thought that did not really seem possible. Now I have become a believer. Yes it is possible to change this small part of the world and to a much greater extent than I ever dreamed. 

During my first week in Chajul I took a walk to visit our different villages and projects to get a feel how things were going. This is some of the progress I saw in our garden project.

 

Here is a photo of Francisco the village leader of Xesalli's garden in late November. It has a lattice work of wisquil growing above Francisco and the plant with the arrow shaped leaves is Malaga, a starchy root crop. (Wisquil is a vine that produces a large avocado shape fruit with the texture and taste similar to eggplant. It is highly productive and a great annual plant.)Both of these crops can be grow outside of a fenced garden site.

Wow! Look at the difference! This photo was taken in March just three and half months latter. He has opened the site up to receive better sunlight and has seven different vegetables growing. Fransico and 23 other families in Xesalli are now in what we call the Phase II. Phase I is the distribution of seeds and a little bit of instructions. For Phase II we select those who have done a good job in the first phase and give them enough wire for an eleven meter by eleven meter garden spot. By the time  I left Xesalli to return to the states Francisco and 23 other families had finished fencing their new garden sites with the wire we have provided. I can hardly wait to see them again in November.

When I entered the village of Nueve Puntos this was my first sight and I thought wow what have we done. Every home has a large garden site. These fenced sites were started in December 2012 but we have been providing seeds here for two years.

Pedro's bush beans are feeding both his family and his soil through their nitrogen fixing abilities

Here Mat is picking some greens for our lunch. Every meal I ate in this village had a healthy amount of fresh vegetables. They are so happy and proud to share a meal with what they call the vegetables of Pa Mik    

( Senor Michael)

 

We ate swiss chard, turnips, sweet peas, onions, kohlrabi, broccoli and summer squash.

Meals that once were just beans and tortillas now had more flavor and twice the volume. They are full of nutrients. I was so excited to see this progress. We are just getting started but what a good foundation.

 Word of this program's successful beginning has traveled fast. Here is Ann from a different village, she is excited to get started on her garden. She is a single mother that I have noticed is well respected when she speaks in different village meetings.

 She is not afraid of work. Here she is carrying a small log to use as a border for one of her garden beds. We are teaching the value of raised bed gardening because it protects the soil from compaction, allows us to dig and place all the available topsoil where the plants are growing, and plant the maximum number of plants in a given space.

 Her oldest son Pedro lays another border with rocks.

 While another sibling brings in a load of topsoil.

Seeds, amaze me. They are so small but have the power to produce so much. Each of the packets beside Pedro hold a new variety of heirloom seeds. Many gardeners have adopted my method of planting  small seeds by pushing seeds out of a spoon with a stick. This method allows us to place each seed in it's designated spot. Even though I might have over one hundred pounds of seeds with me when we distribute seeds if we drop a few on the ground they are always picked up and saved. This high value that the villagers and I share for seeds is something I do not want to loose.

We are instructing each gardener to have one area for a nursery. This bed will start around 100 plants which can be transplanted in three weeks. They can then replant the nursery to start another cycle. This will give us continual harvest throughout the year. This bed  holds 10 new varieties of seeds from Territorial Seed Company in Oregon.

Here I am giving an gardening class in Las Flores. I a sharing the special characteristics of a new variety of seed and offering to buy back seed from healthy robust plants in the fall. The villagers  understand the value of and how to  save seed as they have been passing down seeds for many generations.

TRE is also teaching how to organize a garden site, the value of  composting, mulching, having a nursery in the garden and much more. It is really exciting to me when a good idea is presented to hear the discussion that follows in Ixil. It gets louder and faster as each person shares their opinion. 

  How can a spoonful of seed produce so much joy? I really love being a part of this work. What could be better than loving and helping people in need?

We have printed what type of seed and basic planting instructions on return address labels and then stuck them on resealable bags. This is a big improvement and time saver compared to our original method of hand written notes and seeds wrapped in newspapers.

Passing threw the line of seeds this man picks up a packet of each variety and a roll of string to tie up poles for pole beans and peas.

A hat full of seed represents a lot of food.

 Well there is no end to the photos or stories but this blog is getting a little long so let's make a quick pass through some garden and visit some friends. Here is Kat a widow in Caba. This is what she did with our first phase of seed giving.  Not a bad return for the investment of $5 worth of seeds.When I left in April you could not see the back fence the peas were so high.

 Andres in Nueve Puntos. He had some great looking kohlrabi ready to harvest yet did not what is was or how to eat it. Now he love kohlrabi and has two different varieties. We also provided rainbird sprinklers for this village. When I ask how they liked them they said they didn't know how to work them and ask f I would show them how. I thought this was strange because I felt surely everyone understands how to use a sprinkler. We then hooked one of the sprinklers up and I told everyone to stand back as we were going to turn it on. Well they didn't. It was hilarious watching them laugh as click,click,click the sprinkler advanced and then sprayed their neighbor. It was even funnier to watch the shock on their faces when it just keep coming and then sprayed them. By the second round everyone had caught on and ran back but not far enough so a second spraying finished our bath and lesson. Now they know how to use a rainbird sprinkler!

Maria Lopez and some of her gardeners in Chel using baskets for seed beds.

This garden is full and ready to be expanded.

Antonio with his first phase garden.

 These three photos are of Pa Lu and his wife's garden in Xeq'ano. Xeq'ano is a new mountain community carved in the midst of the forest.

 Here are sweet Oregon sugar snap peas. He grew them all so he could save seed for next year.

Look closely for the people in the bottom of the photo and you can begin to sense the size and wildness of his garden. This is what he did with that first phase of seeds.

 This young mother is one of our new gardeners in our third and newest group in Chel. She had two plots ready for seed.

 Here she has made a fence out of rocks to try an protect a few plants.

This is her home and two other gardeners in this group. When I see such a strong desire to have a garden and so much need I am grateful that we are able to help. Through your support we provided wire and seed for this group of 10 women. This brought our total number of gardens to 98. 

 98 gardens, 98 partners,98 friends and we are only just getting started. I can't express how happy I feel. How hopeful I am. A vision has been seeded and we get to watch it grow. Please join us in this venture. We are planing a four year program to establish good garden practices and build up the basic tools and infrastructural to make this a success. 1000 fruit trees and bushes are coming by this fall and we already have a waiting list of people wanting to garden. Just under $50 allows us to fence a site and provide them with seeds. This is the most expensive part of the program but puts the garden in a central and permanent position in their lives. Only time will tell how great of a gift one garden can be.