FPC Oak Ridge

Pictures:Views from Armenia school and Jaguar creek

2011-03-20T17:55:00.005-04:00

Mounting a window shutter

Interacting with Armenia students at recess

Measuring lumber for cutting

Soccer game before supper

Jaguar creek swimming hole

Pictures: Xunantunich Mayan ruin I

2011-03-20T16:24:00.005-04:00

Howler monkey in the trees near Xuanitunich

Pictures: Xunantunich Mayan ruin II

2011-03-20T16:20:00.007-04:00

Operating crank system to move ferry across the river

Car ferry to Xuanatunich ruins

Pictures: Cahal Pech Mayan ruin

2011-03-20T16:17:00.002-04:00

Pictures: Celebration of our work at Armenia school

2011-03-20T16:10:00.008-04:00

Empanadas and salbutes prepared for us at the school on our last day

Armenia school teachers

Preparation of empanadas and salbutes

Empanada/salbutes press

Frying the empanadas

Pictures: Armenia school and community center

2011-03-20T16:06:00.007-04:00

Veterinarian visit - free rabies clinic at Armenia center

One of the handrails we built

Armenia school classrooom

Cutting a new window through a concrete block wall

Pictures: Armenia school assembly to thank us

2011-03-20T16:00:00.007-04:00

Student presentations

Start of the assembly

Peace Corp volunteer, Elsa, from the Armenia daycare center

Pictures: Water purification system installation at Octavia Waight nursing home

2011-03-20T15:53:00.005-04:00

Completed system: 10 micron filter -> 1 micron filter -> UV lamp

Tom, Dan, Chuck and Don after system was installed

Cutting PVC pipe

Mounting the parts

Entrance to Octavia Waight Centre

Pictures: Our work at Armenia school

2011-03-20T15:49:00.003-04:00

Mounting window shutters

Mounting a door

Cutting wood for doors and window shutters

Principal of Armenia school describing water needs

Our Monday morning meeting to organize the work

Pictures: Jaguar Creek

2011-03-20T15:45:00.005-04:00

Arrival at Jaguar Creek

Eating dinner together Saturday evening

Deck outside dining hall

Dining hall: Sunday morning breakfast

Jaguar creek cabin

Mosquito netting in cabins

Making Water

2011-03-19T19:09:00.000-04:00

After successfully accomplishing our assigned tasks on Thursday, yesterday became a play day. Half the crew headed to the zoo, and half to the Mayan ruins. I was part of the ruins. So to speak.
We drove again to San Ignacio, where we wandered around checking out ATMs and the local market. Then we headed up to Octavia Waight on the hill south of town. I showed everybody the water system and a little of the home, after which they headed for Cahal Pech, a small ruin at the highest point on the hill. While they checked out the ruins, I checked out the water system, shocking it with bleach and flushing it before installing the filters while the maintenance man watched. Once everything was buttoned up, I took a couple water samples. The "before" water had chlorine in it, which is good for disinfection but bad for taste. The "after" water tested chlorine free, so there's hope it will be palatable to the clients of Octavia Waight.
As I finished up, the team returned to pick me up for the trip to Xunantunich, the "big" ruins on the Guatemala border. We had a fabulous picnic lunch courtesy of Jaguar Creek in a shady picnic area near the entrance while Bobby cut up star apples and made (some of) our lips numb. The tour took most of the afternoon, and after a little souvenir shopping (Peggy - we have another slate map of Belize) we made it home in time for Robin to get her soccer fix.

We're now ensconced again at Midas Resort, our home in San Ignacio for the last several trips. Everybody checked out of Jaguar Creek this morning. Kathy Huxco headed to Ambergris with her kids and Ashley. Anne, Hannah, Robin and Don headed back today thru Miami and the Fulchers headed back with an overnight in Dallas. The Culversons, Haddens and me headed for San Ignacio.
We, along with the Fukais and a couple Octavia Waight board members, dedicated the water treatment system with a toast of treated water. The board and staff were deeply appreciative of having this extra security for the health of the residents.
After lunch at Hodies we decided to chill for the afternoon. I'm sitting on the patio right now enjoying the breeze while Chuck and Dale head into town for some pharmaceuticals. The sun is down foar enough that I think I'm ready to try the pool -- yes, Dave, a new addition since last year. We've got dinner at Serendib, a Sri Lankan restaurant, with Sheree and Aki tonight. We'll try Pop's for an early fry bread and beans Belizean breakfast tomorrow morning and then off to Yalbac for an 8:00 AM meeting followed by a meeting with the council chair in La Gracia. We may stop in at Los Tambos on the way back to town, or come home through the Ducks (I, II, and III). Depending on how long that all takes, we may even have time to swim tomorrow afternoon, before heading for the airport on Monday morning.
We're not quite done yet, but I'm smelling the barn...
- dan

Friday

2011-03-18T19:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I spent some time helping (actually doing physical labor, for a change) to install a window shutter in a classroom. This was a new design, by which a single shutter covered the entire opening and was pivoted at the center of each side. So these are rotating flaps rather than swinging shutters. Class was interrupted by our work, they just ignored the noise. I was interested to hear the teacher giving an assignment: “You have seen about the tsunami on TV. You will look up the word tsunami. What will you use?.....Yes, a dictionary. You will write the meaning of the word. Then you will write a short story about a tsunami.” There was buzz and chatter, but the students set right to work. I have been impressed that the classroom content may be different from ours, but it is often at a surprising level of sophistication.

After lunch we had an assembly in which each grade (Infants 1 and 2 and Standards 1 through 5) sang a song or presented a poem. Standard 5 acted out the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal was a natural actor, He pleaded for his inheritance, he dealt with the banker to get his father’s check cashed, he swaggered away, met his friends, got falling-down drunk and had his money stolen. He cried, and finally he realized that he could go home, where his father welcomed him. The end. The brother was never part of the story. I vaguely remember seeing a different version of this story, and it also left out the brother. It must be a Belizean thing.

I asked Elsa, the Peace Corps worker, if they had a presentation like that for every group, and she said she had never seen one. She was impressed that they had done it for us. So I see it as a great honor, and another encouragement to remain committed to our relationship with Armenia.

We are all leaving Jaguar Creek tomorrow and going various directions. Work in Armenia is over, except dropping off some medicines. There is still work to do at Octavia Waight and at Yalbac and nearby villages. Keep us in your prayers for a few more days.

Peace and love to all,
Chuck

Laundry Day

2011-03-17T20:32:00.003-04:00

Mondays are laundry days in New Orleans. At least that's what Peggy has always told me. That's the day, too, for Red Beans & Rice. You put the beans on in the morning and let them simmer all day while you wash the clothes. Judging by the ubiquity of various combinations of beans & rice or rice & beans in Belize, every or any day could be laundry day.
Today was a different kind of Laundry Day for me. Of course, there's a story behind it.
Last night we hosted the Peace Corps volunteer from Armenia at dinner and worship. Elsa is a delightful young Christian of Indian descent. Her parents immigrated from Kerala to Michigan before she was born and are puzzled why they worked so hard to leave one poor developing country only to have their daughter volunteer to return to another one decades later. She tells them it's because they raised her right. I tend to agree. But I'm biased. I offered to take Elsa home after worship last night. "Home" for Elsa happens to be the north end of the Laundry Building we built in 2005.
In 100+ degree heat we mixed and hauled concrete, sweated by the gallon, and nearly lost Tim to electrolyte imbalance when we ran out of Gatorade. That laundry never washed a load of clothes. In 2008, we decided that if rainwater was available clothes would be washed. We installed three 600 gallon tanks to collect water from the roof of the laundry building. No clothes were washed. We chalked it up to (expensive) lessons learned.
Last night, knowing my history with that building, Elsa invited me in to look around. It's now a comfortable wood walled 1 room 18x15 apartment with a bathroom (flush toilet!) and shower. She's got a great enclosed porch of the same size right outside her front door. Elsa told me that when she insisted on repairs to the Peace Corps latrine last fall, the new village council chair, went one better and turned the Laundry Building into a lovely apartment. I noticed a lone washtub in the corner of the porch and asked the obvious question: What happened to the other 5? She said the chairman had distributed them to creeks throughout the village.
I couldn't resist going outside and inspecting the water tanks, describing to Elsa how they'd been intended to work. The center line to the laundry had been hacked off, allowing the rainwater from the roof to simply drain right out of the tanks. The water spigot on the end had also been hacked of, insuring that nothing could be used. All this was disappointing, but easily reparable. I convinced Elsa to introduce me to the village chair this morning.
Dale and Elsa and I met with Oris first thing. We talked about medical clinics and fences and SIF funding ($100,000 Bz) to bring a water line from the river to the village water tank. We also talked about the water shortage. The village has been without reliable water for months, and has no place to store it. Oris also has no budget to repair the tanks. If they were functional, I asked, could you keep them full? Oh yes, was the answer with utter confidence. I committed to fixing the plumbing before we left if he would commit to keeping the tanks full and working with the school to keep their cisterns full too. He agreed. With fervor.
We really wanted to see what had become of the old laundry tubs. We prevailed on Oris to show us. He said it was a bit of a walk, so Chuck and Dale and I took Oris in the Expedition to a small spring at the end of a road where a woman was doing her laundry on a rock next to the laundry tub. When asked if we could take her picture, she said no. We then went to a second spring with two laundry tubs and a family using one for their laundry. The teenager shyly agreed to let us take her picture, but then refused to look at the camera. Satisfied, we returned to the school and dropped Oris off at his shop next door.
After a shopping trip to Belmopan for parts, a delightful presentation by all the kids at the school, and a feast of empanadas and something that starts with an "s" and FRESHLY squeezed orange juice all prepared by parents. we finally managed todo a little plumbing to fix the tanks and finish off the day.
For $130 Bz in parts and about an hour of work by me and Chuck and Kathy the water tanks are once again functional. Don't know how long that'll last, but I've got a bit more confidence this time around. The laundry building has found a viable use. The laundry tubs are providing value to the community on their terms. The people need the water. Maybe third time's a charm...
- dan

Thursday morning

2011-03-17T06:47:00.001-04:00

It’s raining. I was surprised at how much rain could come down on the cabin roof and not get me wet walking under the trees. I was awakened again at 4:15 this morning by the howler monkeys. They were some distance away, and the sound reminded me of the sounds in my youth of the baying of the hounds all night long during possum hunting season.

We put together the filtration system at the Octavia Waight nursing home yesterday, but we ran out of time before we got it functional. We are planning a dedication ceremony Saturday morning. It is exciting to be so close to fruition of this project that has been incubating for the last four years.

I finally got to my letters from home last night, and when I started reading I almost couldn’t stop. It was great to hear from home. I was touched and humbled by your expressions of support and love. I think how privileged I am to be here. You have great faith to be so supportive of work among people you have never met in a place you have never seen – I guess that’s what faith is about. I hope I am being a good representative of your love for God’s work among the people we interact with.

Peace and love to all,
Chuck

Wednesday's Blessings

2011-03-16T20:23:00.002-04:00

The day broke with light rain and our group made their way from the cabins to the main fellowship building for our morning devotions and worship. Today’s morning scripture was from John 12 verses 24 through 26. It left many in our group wondering what Jesus actually meant when John writes that Christ stated… “Those who love their life will loose it and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life,” (verse 25). Surely God wants for every one of us to live our lives each day as if it were our last, sharing Jesus’s love with every living thing we come in contact with; thus encountering Jesus living through us and no longer having a need to have a life on earth, even while we’re still breathing and answering to our names given at birth. We are truly living for Christ, thus knowing how to love this life while on earth. But for those who have chosen to open their hearts (perhaps unconsciously) towards hate and not Christ’s love, does it possibly mean they will never encounter the other-worldly love of God? I certainly hope not.

After another wonderful breakfast, this time of scrambled egg casserole with pancakes, fresh juices and papaya made by the Jaguar Creek staff, most of us made our way on to Armenia’s primary school and continued our work building new windows, doors and bookshelves for many classrooms. Dan, Chuck and Don traveled into San Ignacio (about 50 miles west of Armenia) to help install a UV water treatment system for the Octavia Waight nursing home. The weather for us in Armenia held looming dark clouds that threatened to open up and pour heavily on us all morning, but delivered only light, short periods of much appreciated droplets of water. We all worked hard and made sure we were also available during the children’s recess periods to share their fun activities. These children are so beautiful, each and every one of them. If I ever need to remind myself or any other person about why the First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge should be involved in Belize, just take a look at some of the wonderful pictures from this trip.

We traveled back to Jaguar Creek from Armenia (about 5 miles away) for lunch because the principal is concerned about water use and was not convinced there would be enough available for both his students and us. This provided us a chance to think about and plan for our afternoon’s work and possibly reevaluate what our group might be able to do on Friday, since it looks as though our Armenia projects will be wrapping up sooner than expected.

Instead of heading back to Armenia after lunch, Dale and myself were very blessed to have the opportunity to get a ride with Steve (a Jaguar Creek staff member) into St. Margaret and meet with the principal of their Roman Catholic school, Mr. Estevan Peck. If Steve had not offered to drive us, we would have taken the local bus as our transportation that is fairly predictable but definitely on Belize time, picking up passengers roughly every hour, give or take thirty minutes ☺. St. Margaret is about 30 miles southeast of Jaguar Creek and Armenia. Once we arrived, Mr. Peck was very open to talking and sharing his concerns about not being able to provide clean water for his students and teachers. Dale shared with him how the Living Waters treatment system worked and how we would be open to talking with him more in the coming months about potentially installing one for the school, particularly since we all plan on coming back to Belize in the future to work more with the village of Armenia. When we mentioned we were working in Armenia, Mr. Peck’s face lit up with a big smile and he stated that he not only was very interested in learning more about Living Waters, but that he was from Armenia and very happy that we were here. “When can you bring your team here to St. Margaret?” he asked us. Dale gently responded by assuring him that we would be in touch and in the meantime, he would need to gather a significant amount of information including how the school could access enough water, even in the dry season, to make an installation worthwhile. This could mean that they would potentially need another barrel to collect rainwater to save the current access to water from a drilled groundwater supply. Could this mean another mission trip to Belize for the FPCOR in 2012? Only God knows, but I sure hope so.
Continue to keep each of us and the people of Belize in your prayers.

Much Love through Christ,
Sherith Colverson

Wednesday morning

2011-03-16T10:06:00.001-04:00

Today begins overcast and a bit gloomy, but with hints of clear sky. This should be a big day for the water project: we expect to install the treatment system at the Octavia Waight nursing home in San Ignacio.

I have enjoyed the wildlife, as usual. Sunday night we were treated to a pretty intimidating vocal battle between two troops of howler monkeys. As I listened, I thought that even though I knew they were some safe distance away, if they wanted that territory, I wouldn’t go there. Monday night was quiet, but I was awakened at 5:30 Tuesday morning by their song. Last night we had rain, which was pleasant on our metal roof, but it kept the animals quiet.

Dan and Dale and Sherith and I went to San Ignacio yesterday. It is always a blessing to be with Sherree and Aki Fukai, who have been our water contacts and friends since 2007. It’s wonderful to feel like we’re coming home to a familiar place and familiar people.

I have really enjoyed being in a closer setting with our teenagers. I hadn’t know Russell well and have had a lot of fun with him and the others.

We are gathering for worship, so I’ll close. Blessings to you all and thanks for your prayers.

Chuck

Children, Beautiful Children

2011-03-15T19:41:00.003-04:00

Hi FPC-OR Family!!!

Here we are: day 4 in Belize (3 for some), 2 days hard work under our belt. The rain today has been sporadic and refreshing. It has not hindered our work in the slightest; in fact, it may have even made the day more fun. This morning we started the day with a delicious breakfast (and diet coke for me—we all know I need my DC to survive the morning) from our very amazing cooks before we packed up our backpacks and headed out. Once we arrived at the school, we were quickly put to work finishing tasks that we had not finished yesterday and then began new ones. Today, we finished the windows and doors from yesterday, built some new ones, and started building bookshelves; all the while, stopping for rain and stopping to play with students on their breaks (recess) at school. I was amazed at how children are the same every where: boys and girls are still afraid to interact with each other, “chase” (or tag) is the most popular recess game, and soccer is the unspoken language of masses. If you’re good at the game the children eagerly let you join them, if not they say no thanks and you have to prove yourself (ask our youth boys about this). Or if you’re a girl (like me), you might just be told you can’t play because you’re a girl and then decide to play anyway. Very quickly, they let me join in thankfully! Now our own youth are playing soccer with the Jaguar Creek staff and laughter and joy permeates the air. It has been a great day here in Belize!

Before I end this blog post, I wanted to spend a few moments bragging on your youth. They are amazing! They has stepped up to the challenge of hard work, two days in a row with absolutely no complaints. They stand in the sun for hour, hammering, building windows, whatever we happen to be doing, and they do it with such joy. While doing this, I have noticed they are taking the time to get to know each other and build relationships that I know will last them a lifetime. I have seen Ashley Hadden have countless Belizian little girls run up to her and throw them arms around her shouting “Ashley, Ashley.” And you can tell she makes each one feel special and none of them left out—a difficult task. I have seen Jon Markley building a window and then 10 minutes last running down a soccer field, after being told he wasn’t good enough by boys half his age, making them all laugh, as well as, become willing to let him join in. Robin Parker is one of the most determined hard workers I have ever met. She and I spent a long while trying to get nails out of a hinge in order to reuse the hinge, and never once did she give up. Coupled with that though, is a passion for the children at the school. She spent a very long time this afternoon pushing a young boy on the swing who didn’t (or couldn’t speak) and wanted nothing else but to be pushed. Sure, Robin had other things to do, but she knew her time was best spent just as she was. Then there is Russell Fulcher. Russell has a wicked sense of humor—he can kick out a good zinger—and just like all off the previously mentioned youth, a wicked work ethic too. Nicole Markley, though not as confident (or outwardly confident at least) in her window building skills, is always willing to give it a try and do her best at it. Similar to the rest of the youth too, Nicole is fabulous with the children at the school in Armenia. She is patient and loving. She plays their games, hold their hands and answers their questions. These are your youth FPC-OR. They are changing the world and making it a better place one window at a time, one child at a time, one beautiful faith-filled action at a time. I praise you FPC-OR for raising such wonderful, loving, kind, hard-working youth. They are who they are because of you. You should definitely be proud of the people they are and the people they are becoming. Thank you for giving me the privilege of getting to know another side of them in this beautiful country.

Many Blessings,
Hannah

March 14

2011-03-15T09:18:00.005-04:00

We began our day in the paradise of Jaguar Creek. It is quite beautiful and very relaxing to be here. Our work day at the school in Armenia was very rewarding and informative. I have posted several pictures of our day in a picasa web photo library, you can view them at https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/srediruname=116875434378867764011&target=ALBUM&id=5584091628935776353&authkey=Gv1sRgCLjEm5ek6ouSXA&feat=email

The students gathered in front of the school for an assembly with some missionaries from Texas, there are about 400 of them and the school is growing. We met with the new principal, Roquelino Mendez, behind the school building and had his relaxed and undivided attention during the assembly. He has a plan for the school and gave us a list of his concerns and plans. Water is clearly his main concern, they have been in drought since December and the school has had occasion to be without water either for drinking or flushing toilets.

Tono planned out a workday of activity based on the principals prioritized list of needs and we set to work building doors and windows for the school building. Everyone had a very rewarding and fulfilling day at the school, they children were especially delighted and joined us to play and learn what we were doing during there recess.

We ended they day celebrating Don's birthday, we had a lovely cake. You will be able to see photos of it once I finish uploading them, the internet connection is very slow for uploading the photo gallery.

We all feel blessed to be here and are thankful for your thoughts and prayers. On a personal note, my health continues to improve, I am taking it easy and only participated for half the day yesterday and spent the balance resting at Jaguar Creek, thank you for your prayers!

Love in Christ,

Kathy Huczko

Feels Like Home Again...

2011-03-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

We're here. Again. At least again for me. Everything feels so familiar -- like home. I asked the "newbies" what they thought so far, and saw the same wonder in their eyes that I had on my first visit 6 years ago. It's hard to project back to the novelty of that first experience. What remains is the peaceful comfort of a familiar place. It's different this time; I'm not in charge. That feels both good and slightly unbalancing. Anne's doing a great job for which I am immensely grateful, I just hope she continues to put up with my occasional intrusions.
It's also different because of the changes at Jaguar Creek. The hurricane last fall had a significant impact. Lots of trees are down and the jungle feels like it's at arms length instead of wrapping you in her arms. Buildings that melted into the trees in 2005 and 2008 are quite obvious now.
Mateo is still here at Jaguar Creek, as in 2005 and 2008. In fact his whole family is here now, living on site in a caretaker's house. Michael appears to be doing great. He's a brash and loving 4 year old who has already established a special friendship with Anne and an affinity for the games on my iPad.
The food, as always, is still prepared deliciously by Judy and enjoying time together as a group after dinner hasn't changed. Time will tell what God has in store for us this week. I wait with open anticipation...
- dan

Sunday evening at Jaguar creek

2011-03-13T21:38:00.004-04:00

We're all here now (15). Had a nice supper. Those of us that arrived on Saturday went to the Nazarene church in Belmopan this morning. It was a good experience, lots of singing. After lunch we then went cave-tubing, which was quite an adventure. Belize has some very large long caves. Tonight we had a worship service and are now playing games. Weather remains good. Internet access is sporadic,but will try to keep adding to the blog. Tomorrow morning the work begins. - Don S.

Ashley's posts

2010-03-25T06:13:00.000-04:00

Day 1
I got up very early Saturday morning and went to Belize. After we got to Belize, we went to Armenia, which is a small town in Belize. We worked there when we were there in 2008. We went to see Michael and Mateo Chiquin. Our church has been helping Michael’s family because Michael has been in the hospital. Michael has leukemia.

Day 2
Sunday, we went to church then we went to Arenal. Arenal is another village in Belize. It is on the western border of Belize. Part of the village is in Guatemala. We walked across the border to visit the people in Guatemala part of Arenal. I saw people swimming, washing yams and clothes in the same river with the pigs and cows. On our way back from Arenal we stopped at Black Rock, a resort and went swimming in the river and had supper.

Day3
We went to Yalbac They have a very small school with only 10 students. I helped with the kids. I missed lunch that day because we did not bring it with us and there are no restaurants or electricity in the village

Day 4
We went to another village in Belize today, San Antonio. We visited a pre-school. THE KIDS WRE CUTE. They sang “Twinkle Twinkle” for us. The roads in Belize are very rough and dusty. When you ride in the back seat you get very bounced.

Day 5
I spent the day hanging out with Dr. Bertrand. We sang songs and rested.

Day 6
We went to the Belize zoo and saw lots of animals: howler monkeys, jaguars, spider monkeys, tapirs, and jabirus. We rode a water taxi to Caye Caulker.

Day 7
We went snorkeling in a small boat. I got wet in the ocean, but I did not like it. It is too salty. We saw many sting rays. In the evening we went on a small boat and we saw a small crocodile and lots of stars. Then we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Day 8
We are on the plane flying to Charlotte and going to Knoxville today.

Dale's posts

2010-03-25T06:11:00.001-04:00

Today, Peggy and I tagged along with Ray and Nils to San Antonio, which is south of Cristo Ray. It is large, fairly prosperous village with a medical clinic, with a Cuban Doctor, a village counsel, a water board and a women’s group. The women’s group is the force behind the establishment of a preschool which prepares the children for learning English. From what we saw that day it was a high quality program with a teacher and aide. They teach 2 sessions, morning and afternoon, in both groups they have 47 children. The only oddity is that the village is 90% Mopan Maya, however only 2 of the children in the preschool program are Maya. The water situation in San Antonio is in flux. Like much of Belize during the dry season they have a shortage of water and their usual source of water has dried up.
The government is preparing to take water from the river pump it into a tank, treat it with chlorine and supply the pipe line which is already in place.
I visited Octavia Waight nursing home with Ray and Nils, that morning. They were very enthusiastic about the possibility of a point of service, like our Appalachian systems, Living Waters System. The engineering and planning need to be done by Dan and Chuck when they visit Thursday.
Wednesday
Today Peggy Chuck, Ashley, and I saw Armenia, St Margaret’s and King’s Children’s Home. We stopped in Armenia to leave a message for Odelia and Filberta and leave the scale with a new battery. We also visited the school in Armenia and talked with the principle Mr. Uck. We had hoped to take a water sample from a tap in Armenia, but this is the dry season and there was no water in the tap. We were impressed with the school. Peggy is blogging about that encounter.
In St. Margaret’s we had an interesting encounter at the school. We talked with both the principle and vice principle. The vice principle was on the water board in Armenia in 2008! The principle feels that the water is not good at the tap at the school. St. Margaret’s suffers from the same problem we encountered everywhere, the water supply is not reliable during the dry season. The principle says that they dismiss school for several weeks during the dry season because the school does not have water. We took water samples and promised to tell him the results. He says that the government tests the water and he never gets the results. The school has 350 students, who come from St Margaret’s (about 750) and the surrounding area.
Our next stop was King’s Children’s Home. It is still in the same place. They are trying to build a volunteer house for people to stay in while they are helping to build the new home. The plans are to have enough room for 44-45 children. They have added cistern tanks which they use to run the washing machines. It has effectively reduced their utility bill. The home looked much as it had when we saw it in 2008. Their need for support remains constant.
Thursday
Today was the day to visit Octavia Waight. The consensus was that Octavia Waight is a good candidate for a water system. Others will blog about the details. I am still impressed with the care given the patients. It is truly a place you could put your parents.
Our next visit was to Cornerstone, which has many programs, AIDS/HIV education and outreach program, a feeding program for children and disabled/elderly adults and others. We rode along as they delivered meals and observed the children come for lunch. The level of poverty is grim and some of the situations are discouraging. They delivered dry food supplies (beans, rice, powdered milk, and what ever else had been donated) to a woman who has HIV. She lives with her 5 children and her partner, who gave her HIV and also beats her. We visited a single mother who is caring for her 11 year old mentally retarded daughter who has stomach cancer. The mother goes to the market every week and takes some vegetables she has grown . She then buys 2 concrete blocks to build a room for her daughter. I hesitate to describe their current living circumstances. Unfortunately, I doubt the daughter will live long enough to live in the room. What appalled me above all else, was this child had no pain relief.

Back to Armenia

2010-03-18T16:28:00.004-04:00

On our last big mission trip to Belize, the youth of our congregation spent a lot of time and sweaty effort painting the Armenia primary school, a task we accomplished side by side with a couple of Farragut Presbyterian youth and several Belizean scholarship students. It's very evident that the school has grown since then. New buildings have sprouted up here and there. The school architectural motif seems to be more wildflower patch than landscaped garden. Adding to the controlled chaos were student desks (with students in them) spilling from many of the classrooms. It was a hot day, and education was proceeding noisily on the porches and breezeways.
Carlos Uck, principal of the Armenia school, is an articulate and personable individual with an obvious passion for educating the children of his growing school. Armenia teaches some very poor Belizean kids. About 80% are Mestizo and 20% are Mayan. Many can't afford basic school supplies. Carlos has a definite vision of how he would improve his school, given the resources. He'd create a library, and has a preference for Illustrated Classics (in English) for his students. He showed us an abridged elementary-level copy of Huckleberry Finn, and said he'd love a classroom set. He'd love ten computers, because then and only then would the phone company consider bringing in a DSL line for internet. He'd love math manipulatives and other hands-on learning tools for a planned preschool. And finally, he'd love supplies for the majority of his students, who cannot afford basic tools such as rulers and protractors. He's worried that as a result, some kids won't pass their standardized tests. This American-schoolteacher-mom can relate to that!

Peggy

Duck Run I, Duck Run II, Duck Run III

2010-03-18T00:03:00.002-04:00

No, it's not a children's game. It's another collection of intriguing village names in Belize. The three villages of Duck Run form a line heading north from the Belize River, just west of Spanish Lookout, the Mennonite settlement on the way to Yalbac.
Chuck and I and Sheree and Aki had an appointment with Orlando Jimenez, the Rural Development Director for west Cayo District this morning. We sat in the increasingly stuffy office, discussing a variety of communities in Cayo. The power had gone out about a half hour earlier while we were eating breakfast at Pop's. While we were in Orlando's office, a heavyset energetic man in his late 30's interrupted with an important query. At least I think it must have been important based on his demeanor. I couldn't tell for sure, since he spoke no English. As he was leaving, Orlando said he was the council chair of the village of Duck Run III, and began describing the water situation in all three Duck Runs. We immediately called the chair, Victor Ismael Paris, back into the room for a deeper conversation. When Orlando described who we were and what we did, Victor became eager to get us to visit his village.
Aki was headed to Spanish Lookout anyway to price 36 inch plastic culvert pipe for a drainage project at Sacred Heart College in San Ignacio, so he suggested that I tag along and we could visit the Ducks.
We drove through Spanish Lookout, headed for the Belize River ferryboat. Before the final left turn, we veered right on a driveway that turned into a road. From there it was due north first thru Duck Run I, then Duck Run II, and finally Duck Run III. Each village is about 200 to 400 people, many migrants from Guatemala, and mostly people working on the Mennonite farms. Each village has water piped to each house. They buy it from the Mennonites, who use it only for irrigation. It's pumped straight out of the Belize River.
The water tested beautifully. Soft with low dissolved solids, good pH, no iron; excellent water for a treatment system. I also have little doubt it'll test positive for e. coli. We'll know tomorrow.
A teacher at the school told us emphatically that although the school bureaucracy was difficult to work with, the community was very cooperative and usually got what they wanted. This is the opposite of what we've heard in many places, where the village is a festering source of bickering and gossip, while the school is a bastion of functionality.
Victor, the council chair, led us to the community center where we checked the water again and looked around for electrical and water connections, and an appropriate place to build a water treatment room. He explained in animated Spanish how we could enclose part of the porch as a water treatment room, and where the distribution window could be placed. When I handed him a brochure with a diagram of a LWW system, he explained the components and flows to me in Spanish, looking for confirmation. Best I could tell, he got it right.
And then there was the final question: "¿cuánto tiempo?" How long? I was chagrined as I responded: "uno años, dos años" One or two years...
The need is now. It won't go away by itself. Kids are getting sick. What are we called to do?
- dan

Odds & Ends

2010-03-17T00:33:00.003-04:00

Dave has asked a few questions, so I've decided to answer in a post.
First about my (and Dale's) cryptic comments about Arenal:

When we scheduled the visit to Arenal we were deeply skeptical. Not only had we been warned about the dangers of an unguarded border, but we didn't think we'd find anything or anyone we could work with. On the contrary, we found a destitute and needy community eager to cooperate in any way they could to address a real and deep need in their village. I didn't expect that. I don't know how to address that. But I know I have a need to try and figure it out. By the way, the water from the Mopan River that the Guatemalans drink turned black within 24 hours. The water from the well that the Belizeans use is only slightly cloudy and golden after the requisite 2 days. The Belizeans have good water. The Guatemalans don't. They share a village, but can't share water.
The raw water concerns Dale raised have to do with the fact that we were told Myrna was keeping the raw water tank empty because she didn't want to use the fuel to run the generator to run the pump to fill the tank. This prevented people in the village from having access to any water from the public pump, a situation we had anticipated and designed around, but didn't explicitly include in the covenant. When we arrived, we noticed that the raw water tank was not only full, but smelled slightly of chlorine.We tested it at 3 ppm, right where it should be for safe drinking water. Myrna and crew said they did that to make sure anyone drinking that water wouldn't get sick (but wouldn't like the taste). They may have done this specifically for our visit, but knowing the right answer is half the battle!

- dan

Yalbac Redux

2010-03-17T00:07:00.003-04:00

Since Yalbac was the driving reason for our return to Belize this time around, it doesn't seem inappropriate to post another entry on this topic.
After talking with Myrna yesterday afternoon in the carless carport area under her house where we negotiated our covenant a little more than a year ago, we decided a return trip was in order to watch her (them) actually run the system and make clean water. Chuck and I decided we'd go, while the rest of the team could pursue other objectives.
When we arrived at Midas, I struck up a conversation with Mike Preston, 27 year old son of the owner. He asked where we'd been, and then said he'd never seen Yalbac. On a whim, I invited him to join us in the morning. Sure enough, at 8 AM he was ready to go. Before we were.
We arrived at the water building a few minutes late, and Myrna was already there sweeping and tidying up. I greeted Myrna and looked around for one of her children to translate. I felt a little bit of panic when none were visible. Until Mike started chatting amiably in Spanish. God is good!
We asked Myrna to explain the system to Mike and walk through the paces of making clean water. She got a bit flustered when water started pouring down the drain because we had left some valves mispositioned the day before. When she recovered from this, she forgot to open the valve to let the water through the filters, so the pump was pushing against a closed system. Once we got this sorted out, she regained her composure and performed flawlessly from that point forward.
At her request we showed her how to check the functioning of the UV bulbs in the ozonator, but not without some fumbling around on our part. Dave, where are you when we need you?
We had replaced a gauge with a low pressure equivalent the day before to measure the depth of the finished water tank and showed Myrna how to use it. As a final step, we decided to insert a second low pressure gauge ahead of the filters to measure raw water depth, too. We cut into the pvc pipe just after the inlet valve and checked all the pieces for a good fit. The we decided to open the pvc cleaner to prepare to glue everything together. No luck. The can was frozen tight. Mike tried. Myrna tried. Chuck tried. I tried. Still no luck. I got out my Gerber knife. We were preparing to use the can opener feature when Mike used it as a hammer and pounded on the rim and finally broke it loose. Finally. The gluing took only a minute or two and everything was set.
We took a brief side trip to Victor Tut's Emerald Paradise while waiting for the glue to cure. When we returned and tested, everything worked as expected. We said our goodbyes and shared our hugs and promised to return next year.
- dan

School Daze

2010-03-16T07:58:00.001-04:00

One of the nicest things about this trip to Belize is that this time I am seeing and experiencing much more of this beautiful but impoverished country. I feel more at home than I expected to, probably because the tropical flora and thick, heavy atmosphere remind me of rural south Louisiana.
My teacher-self sees so much potential in the bright, smiling children, who go to school in simple buildings, sometimes without electricity. Teachers teach the old-fashioned way, with blackboard and chalk. Student work is proudly displayed on curling paper that hangs from clothes pins from lines strung across the rooms. In this humidity, you can’t stick things to the walls. The children, whether in RC (Roman Catholic) or government schools, wear crisp-looking uniforms. After school is out, some run to the playground; others bicycle home. My mother-self wonders how these kids manage to look so clean in a town with no electricity or running water.
The standard expectation in Belize is that students attend primary school, although some do not attend school at all. Very few children go on to secondary school, and only a very tiny percentage receives a two- or four-year college degree. Girls especially are not educated beyond the early primary years. Marriage for girls occurs at an early age. We talked to one twenty-one year old who already had three children. Her bright, articulate younger sister had just finished the equivalent of eighth grade, and would not be attending high school. Even if she wanted to, there was no high school nearby for her to attend.
How could more education benefit Belizeans? I’m trying to wrap my American brain around that. No industry, agrarian economy, budding tourist industry…what kind of education makes the most sense?
- Peggy

Who is a belizean?

2010-03-16T00:32:00.005-04:00

The myriad peoples of Belize, many citizens but others legal and illegal immigrants from the US, Quatemala, El Salvador and other near by countries, lead a visitor to wonder who is a Belizean and who is not.
Sunday we visited Arenal where a soccer pitch divides twin cities. But Quatelmalan residents were much disadvanted compared to their Belizean neighbors--in schools, housing and opportunties. One woman whose brother is a "mayor" of the Quatelmalan section of town married a Belizian and her children cross the border each day to clean and challenging school where instruction is in English. At age 9 she was fluently bilingual. No other child had such skills. Her father made her a Belizean citizen; while living in Quatemala she could be from both countries. Monday we stopped in Los Tambos, a village north of Spanish Lookout. The mayor was born in El Salvador, but is now a full Belizean after living here for 20 years.
Some villages such as Santa Marta has swung from a Creole to Mestizo dominated area with many tensions over public good provision. National government resources such as the Police and Schools are fine, but the local part [now closed] and many businesses are in conflict as milpa farmers invade orange groves with their crops. People who moved from Honduras and El Salvador have children who are Belizean citizens, but whose only language is Spanish and drop out of English instruction schools. Any project in the country, therefore, must consider the context of local residents and their attitudes toward one another--same or separate schools [as are all Mennonite schools]; inclusive or exclusive rules for social life and marriage. Most Creole and Mestizo readily accept each other as fellow national compatriots, but some are excluded as being Belizean irrespective of their citizenship. Sharon, the American who founded and runs the National Zoo is considered Belizean by many different groups, while most other Europeans are not. 20 years residence and contribution toward Belize well-being without evidence of prejudice on color or racial lines is a key.
In our visits to Yalbac today, and in conversations with people of many complexions we find that Belize is amazingly tolerant and welcoming. People of any historical nationality can become Belizean--from very black Garifuna to white Creoles and Americans.
What has this to do with living water? Two things at least. First no project will work in a community where trust is low across "ethnic" lines, and, second, shared benefits of common pool resources can benefit peoples broadly, and by the necessity for a sustainable social structure to manage pure water resources enhance creating the bridging social capital crucial to allowing democracy and peace to continue. Belize began in 1981 with much promise of ending tyranny or racism and exploitation. While this is far from realized, so far the feelings among the disparate groups of Chinese, Lebanese, Mestizo [Hispanic], Mennonite [German], American/European, Creole and others making up the official citizenship, has allowed for free elections of competitive parties and rotation of power among them. At each locale where Living Waters might improve the health and safety of beneficiaries of an installation, much extra benefits can be achieved if the work of sustaining the operation of the installation brings together communities of different legacies. Increasingly, however, potential for conflict across these divisions grows with economic growth and uneven distribution of wealth, as in the new oil fields revenues or government resources allocated to party faithful.
A strange blog? Blame Chuck. My role as a Rotarian financing partner with your church and LWW is mostly the 104 course not yet designed--macro political impacts of a project. Our Swarthmore Presbyterian church, where I have served as an elder for three terms [far apart], has mostly worked through proving a nearby home for retired mission partners and sponsoring pastors/doctors/social workers in Malawi, Philippines, Japan, Nicaragua and most recently C0ngo [droc]. Our Nicaragua teams last week included students from Swarthmore college. So while a Yale Divinity drop out and teacher of politics, I wear in Belize a Rotarian "hat". Tomorrow with members of the Oak Ridge team we will visit the Cornerstone Foundation, the Octavia Waight Centre for elderly in need, San Antonio town pre-school now being organized. All may have needs for clean, more reliable water, at least periodically. But are core focus will be on school and elder hot lunch programs, the care of the elderly, literacy for 3-4 year olds and women's associations who can advance the income and rights of women in male dominant societies [all 7-9 groups]. The issue of literacy and pre-school is a next major concern for Rotary, as we have supplied funding for the new resources for the school feeding program already this month. Returning to the question of who is a Belizean--it can be said it must be someone who speaks English [only some adult Mayan and Chinese and more remote Hispanic/Mestizo people do not. Our trip on Tuesday to San Antonio we hope our explorations will yield evidence of whether we can help this 2500 person town. In SA , all speak Mayan or Spanish at home and those with no English sent their children to schools where English is the only legal language of instruction. Such children if they learn enough English before starting school will not only to do better in school but also integrate better with the country as a whole. While Spanish is taught as a foreign or second language, we hope to help youngsters to be prepares when they enter school at age 4 to know the language of their county. English is both required for official business and is the common lingua franca. So safe, well run, food secure, and healthy schools [some thanks to clean water] from pre-school at age 2 to A level "college" work is vital to making Belize one nation.
Hope these stream of consciousness thoughts give some other views about what is going on among this group of hard working Presbyterian [6] and Catholic [1], and our two Anglican Rotary colleagues--Sheree and Aki.

e presto, Ray Hopkins, Swarthmore Rotary and Swarthmore Presbyterian Church.

PS: Like with improved safe water, my hope is that all these initiatives will strenghten Belizean unity.
was

Success in Yalbac

2010-03-15T21:23:00.001-04:00

Today was a very different day from yesterday. We arrived at Yalbac to see that the students at the school, were ready and eager to see us. There were only 9, but more than half of them had been there last year, when Chuck and Ann Hansen of Swarthmore Rotary had done the clean water education portion. Chuck, Dan, and Aki Fukai inspected the board and found that good records were kept and that all seemed to be in order with the board. Some concerns that we had about the availability of raw water were not justified.
We chose to start our session with the children with the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. We even got one question about the theology of the story! We then used the curriculum to have the children make construction paper representations of the jug being lowered into the well. We had put “glow in the UV” lotion on our hands and shook hands with each child as we passed the peace with the children. We then showed them with a UV light that they had gotten “germs” from our hands even though they could not see them. We talked about how you can wash the germs off with good hand washing technique. The children had been taught hand-washing hygeine in school and knew that you did not need drinking water to wash your hands in. They could also name all the circumstances in which they should use clean drinking water! Others will have other things to say about Yalbac and the 2 other sites visited today. BUT, I only want to say Alleluia, Alleluia. Thank you Lord, you have allowed us to help the people of Yalbac have clean drinking water.

Dale

Army Ants

2010-03-15T00:48:00.004-04:00

Today was unexpectedly productive and challenging. I'll leave it to others to describe our encounters in Arenal, Guatemala.
On the way home to San Ignacio from the Guatemala border we stopped, on Ray's insistence, at a place called Black Rock Lodge. It's gorgeous. Look it up on the web. It was only about a half dozen miles off Western Highway, the main road that runs from Belize City thru Belmopan and San Ignacio to the Guatemala border in Benque. That half dozen miles was actually about 30 minutes of washboard rock. Once we arrived, the beauty of the sheer cliffs on either side of the Macal River was spectacular. Ray led most of us down to a sandy spot on the bank of the river where he and I swam while the others got their feet wet and watched.
On the path back to the palapa where dinner was being prepared we noticed a stream of black ants about 2 inches wide moving its way up the hillside. As the sun set we sat too, at a string of picnic table made from mahogany. We had a delicious dinner of glazed chicken, carrots and okra, and fried plantain coquettes. Pineapple juice by the pitcher served as our liquid refreshment.
As we were finishing our chocolate cake dessert, Giovanni, the manager, came up to us with some urgency and asked to talk to Ray. The upshot was that the ants had made their way all the way to the palapa and we had to go. Now. We gathered our stuff and discovered that the ants had invaded our towels and swimsuits. We paid the bills and hopped over multiple streams off and on the path as we made our way back to our cars.
Belize never ceases to amaze...
- dan

The puzzle of Arenal

2010-03-14T22:14:00.001-04:00

Arenal is a village which sits on the western border of Belize, straddling Guatemala and Belize. The border runs down the center of the village soccer field. Chuck and I had visited Arenal in 2007 ( the Belize side). We tested the water and it was contaminated. But we did not feel that we had any clear operating partner and little community involvement. This year, we received a request from a young social worker, Ingrid, who was very concerned about the situation with water on the Guatemala side. Other contacts in Belize warned us about the safety of the Arenal area, saying that it was an area of drug activity, that people had died there, and it was unsafe. They strongly warned against involvement in Arenal. Dan found among his notes that Arenal had been listed in his conversations with the rural development minister for Belize. With these things in mind we arranged to meet Ingrid and in her company to visit Arenal.
Arenal is six miles of rocks and potholes outside of Benque, the westernmost town on the Belize’s Western Highway. Ingrid arranged with the Belize police for us to cross the unpatrolled border from Belize into the Guatemala side of Arenal. We found the Guatemala village of Arenal to be gracious and warm people with a village council, including the mayor of the village and a women’s council, ready and eager to meet us. They expressed serious concerns about the health of the village. They take their water from the river, which we and they know is contaminated. They want help, they are eager to participate, and they understand the need for sustaining a water system. But from the Living Waters point of view they really do not have a source of water because there is no source in the village that could be tapped to put a water purification system on. There is water on the Belize side of the village, but political cooperation is difficult to come by. The water board of Arenal Belize charges a very stiff price to share their water with the Guatemala side. In addition, Arenal is across the Mopan River from Guatemala proper and is connected only by a swinging footbridge. Border issues probably prevent construction on Guatemala by bringing materials through Belize, and transportation through Guatemala would also be prohibitive.
Prayer support is definitely needed to give us clarity about our role in this village.

Dale

First Class Missions

2010-03-13T21:55:00.002-05:00

I was about to comment last night about how we almost always have trouble with our flights to or from Belize. Decided not to jinx this flight. Then we got the call at 4:30. Luckily we were already up, because we were carpooling to the airport with Chuck and Dale and Ashley. The Delta voice bot politely informed us that our flight at 7:25 had been canceled and we had been automatically rescheduled for Sunday morning. We panicked. A quick call to Chuck eliminated the carpool rendezvous, and we headed off to the airport to see what could be done.
Showing up at the gate, I threw myself on the mercy of the of the gate agent. I said I wouldn't make such a fuss except I was going on a mission trip and was meeting half my team for a shared car ride in Belize. She said that since we were so early, she could probably get me on the 6:25 flight if they could get a couple volunteers to give up their seats. I felt only a little guilty for only a little while. When I thanked her she grinned and said "I think this will be the beginning of a very good day."
I puzzled over what she meant. All the way to Atlanta. When we checked in and realized we didn't have boarding passes. We went to the ticketing counter and explained our situation. The ticket agent punched in our information, glanced at the screen and looked up at us. He grinned too. He asked if this trip was a special occasion. I said it was a mission trip. He said I guess that's special enough -- you're booked First Class!
Our gate agent was right. It's been a very good day after a somewhat rocky start. We hooked up with everybody we needed to at the airport and were able to meet the Chiquins and Filberta and Odelia in Armenia. Dinner at Hode's in San Ignacio with a visit from Sheree and Aki capped a long but fruitful day.
Tomorrow it starts all over again.
For now, goodnight!
- dan terpstra

Saturday night in Belize

2010-03-13T21:44:00.002-05:00

We made it! Things were dicy for a bit for Dan and Peggy, and Ray was slow to appear at the plane out of Charlotte, but we made it to Belize City. Ray, from Swarthmore Rotary and Nils from a nearby Rotary went to the zoo and then on to San Ignacio (AKA Cayo). We took a side trip to Armenia on the way. Dale chatted for a while with Odelia and Filberta, the health care workers, while Dan and Peggy and Ashley and I visited Mateo and his family. Michael was initially pretty cheerful, but he tired soon. Tbhe older of his sisters and his cousins swarmed over us with hugs and smiles. Ashley had a wonderful time sitting on the couch surrounded by kids, taking pictures which she then had to show to the kids, amid gales of giggles.

From there, on to Cayo to the resort where we are staying. You might check Midas on the web, but don't believe the spaciousness and luxury it portrays. Sheree and Aki chaught up with us at dinner as they were going home from a barbecue, and after a joyful reunion, we talked for a few minutes about plans.

Tomorrow we will worhip at the Anglican church. Some of us had wanted to visit the Presbyterian church, but once again it won't fit into our schedule. Tomorrow we plan to visit Arenal, where we had gone in 2007. We need to discern whether there is a need for Living Waters there and if so, whether we might overcome the difficult political problems that arise from part of the town being in Belize and part in Guatemala. It looks unlikely, but we need to check it out.

It is nice to be back in Belize, back to familiar places that we associate with such good memories of the installation, teaching, and party. I'm really looking forward to getting back to Yalbac to renew those acquaintances.

My Bags are Packed...

2010-03-12T22:01:00.002-05:00

...I'm ready to go.
Remember the song by the Mamas & Papas back in the 70's? Maybe even late sixties...
Well, I'm leavin' on a jet plane tomorrow morning. For Belize.
My traveling companions include Peggy and the Haddens. Oh, and a couple Rotarians, from Pennsylvania, including the inimitable and irrepressible Ray Hopkins.
Every trip has a little different feel to it. This one looks like it's shaping up to be good and productive. I hope it'll be valuable not just on a personal level, but ultimately for the whole church.
We've got a lot to do.
Tomorrow we plan to spend some time with Mateo and Michael Chiquin, our little leukemia survivor and partner.
Sunday we're off to Guatemala. The town of Arenal straddles the border between Guatemala and Belize. Both sides have water problems of a very different character. It'll be a major challenge to find solutions for both. And after Arenal, Ray insists we visit an old student of his at Black Rock Lodge. Should be fun. Google it: "black rock lodge belize"
Monday is Yalbac and a checkup on the water system we helped install last year.
Tuesday includes visits to Los Tambos and La Gracia, two other villages near Yalbac without electricity and with potential water problems. Fountain City Pres. has a long-standing relationship with Los Tambos, and we might be able to partner with them in the future.
Wednesday is Belmopan and the Rural Development Minister and St Margaret, another potential water site. We also hope to visit King's Children's Home where many from our teams in 2005 and 2008 worked.
Thursday is a chance to spend time closer to San Ignacio. We hope to visit Nadine and Atiliano Jones, who cooked for us a couple years ago. Word has it she is *very* pregnant; we hope to give her a baby present. And Cristo Rey is also a potential partner for water and more.
Friday we split up. The Terpstras and Pennsylvanians head to the airport while Chuck and Dale clean up details in San Ignacio. We spend Saturday celebrating Peggy's mom's 80th birthday while Chuck and Dale and Ashley play on the beach.
God willing, we'll all be back in Oak Ridge by Sunday night with stories to tell
Pray for us!
- dan

Journey's End

2009-05-07T19:45:00.005-04:00

Dave didn't want to end this journey with a picture of the A-Team (see post below). Neither did I. I'd much rather end it with the picture above of Harrison and his daughter. There's something about the look of deep satisfaction on his face that captures for me the sense of fulfillment I felt on the successful completion of (our part of) this project.

Of course, since we're Oak Ridgers, we couldn't return from Belize without an incident of some sort. Let me recap:
- In 2005, we were almost routed to Honduras due to the lack of a fuel truck to refuel our plane;
- In 2007, Chuck and Dale...
- In 2008, there wasn't enough fuel in Belize, so each of our several flights had to stop somewhere (Cancun, Cozumel) to refuel;
- In February of this year our flight was canceled and we were rerouted from Atlanta to Charlotte where we rented a car and promptly ran into a snowstorm.

This time around we figured there was little chance of a snowstorm. Indeed, our flight from Belize to Miami proceeded without incident. Instead, the flight from Miami was delayed due to bad weather (including tornadoes) in Charlotte. When we finally boarded a half hour late, we were put on ground hold due to weather in Charlotte, then we needed an extra 800 lbs of fuel in case we had to divert to another airport, then we needed 4 volunteers to deplane to compensate for the extra fuel. Good thing there was only 3 of us! They trundled out the fuel truck, only to discover a broken fitting. They brought it back and swapped for another fuel truck and finally got us in the air only an hour and 45 minutes late.

We landed in Charlotte a little after 1 AM with a 5 hour drive ahead of us. Thankfully the shuttle was quick to pick us up and return us to the Best Western where we had left the van over a week earlier. Dave and I searched for classic rock stations to keep us awake as we drove through the fog and the drizzle and the mountains.

We rolled into Oak Ridge in time to greet a cloudy sunrise, tired and satisfied and wondering where the next step in this fascinating and unpredictable journey might lead.
- dan

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together!

2009-05-04T16:57:00.007-04:00

1983 had George Peppard, Mr. T and the "A-Team". Every show had a complicated task, careful planning, a million things that could go wrong, lots of improvisation and ultimately success. Of course nothing ever went according to plan. At the end of every show George Peppard lit up a big cigar and said "I love it when a plan comes together" as the rest of team shook their heads and rolled their eyes (Mr. T growled and grunted a lot). If you've followed the Yalbac saga for the past two years you get the connection.

Yesterday we drank clean water, prayers of thanks we're raised, children sang, speeches were made and a few tears were shed. For me the biggest "Hallelujah" moment is captured in the pictures below. After the ceremony / service I was prepared to play tour guide and explain the water treatment system to the villagers and guests. I got myself a glass of punch and to my joy and surprise, Mirna had gathered Victor Tut and a group of villagers to explain the system.

A few minutes later she was joined by Harrison inside the building. They were speaking in Spanish but it appeared that they were sharing the explanation tasks equally.

We leave tomorrow. The system is now theirs. Whether they have clean water in the future is now up to them. With God's help I have no doubt they'll do it.

Let Clean Water Flow!

Dave

More about celebrating

2009-05-04T09:03:00.004-04:00

Dan has described how the church had been prepared for the celebration, but I have a few additional comments. The first is in the line of a confession. I was surprised that so much had been done to clean up. I thought we were going to have to continue sweeping up our crafts trash, but the place was neat and ready for display. I was touched that Mirna thought so highly of the occasion that she had put a white altar cloth on the table that is their altar and changed the plain blue fabric backdrop to an embroidered white one.

I was gratified by the turnout of visitors. We weren't sure if any of the people who had said they would come would actually get there. Mr. Banner made the kind of warm and fuzzy remarks that you would expect from a politician, but he did seem engaged. Most of the San Ignacio Rotary folks had not been to Yalbac, so the project took on greater reality for them. I had thought we were rather peripheral to their attention, but we are going to dinner with them tonight; Sherree and Aki will be there only if their church board meeting finishes early.

It was a special privilege to serve the water to the folks. Victor was first in line, but I skipped over him to serve Mr. Banner first. Many people came back for seconds.

I will miss the Yalbac folks, especially Mirna, with whom I kidded around a lot, and Jerome, who for some reason attached himself to me after he finished the operator treatment. Mirna's pudding of bread was a treat, as was her cheese dip. And tamarind juice was a new one for us.

Relationships changed in several ways yesterday. San Ignacio Rotary had been skeptical that we could finish on schedule and are now much more on board. I was amused to see Ernest Banner, Dan, Dave, and Harrison clustered around the back of Aki's truck. I thought "Bubbas are Bubbas wherever you go." But it was in the spirit of co-Bubba-ness that they were doing fairly important political business, probably more effectively than if we had been in Banner's office trying to accomplish something before he had to go to another meeting.

In a few minutes we will be off touristing and maybe checking another well. I guess we aren't completely wasting our time if we get another data point on the same trip as climbing Mayan temples.

Peace,
Chuck

Celebrate!

2009-05-04T08:27:00.004-04:00

I've heard countless times at Clean Water U that a celebration at the end of a water installation is essential. I've even taught the concept in my CWU 101 classes. I bought into the idea intellectually. Yesterday I experienced it.
We convened in Yalbac around 2:00 Belize time, which means we really started around 2:15. The church had been swept and decorated; the trench with the water line from the well had been filled in, the grass had been mowed around the church. Somebody was ready to party! Ernest Banner, Director of Rural Development for Belize showed up, as did his Cayo district deputy Orlando Jimenez. A handful of Rotary folks from San Ignacio joined us, along with a good turnout from the community itsef.
The dedication ceremony itself was about as I expected, with invocation, introductions, thanks, etc. The kids singing water songs was endearing. Anne did a great job as "emcee" and got pretty choked up talking about the meaning and value of clean water. We ended with a communion-like sharing of the water with all takers. First in line was Victor Tut, owner and operator of the newly opened Emerald Resort Eco-Lodge where we spent one night on our last trip. He's very interested in 'copying' the design for a treatment system at the lodge.
The feeling of celebration really kicked in after the ceremony. Mirna Castillo, the one-woman whirlwind, was giving tours of the water building and explaining how the system worked in Spanish; then she was supervising her kids serving fruits and juices and 'pudding of bread'. Harrison McColloc, the council chair was expansive in his plans for the future: "When you come back we will have the building painted and flowers planted and the grounds graded; it will be beautiful!"
As the celebration wound down and people drifted away, there were heartfelt goodbyes, and hugs and pictures all around. We have definitely made new friends in Yalbac.
God is good!
- dan

Nearing the Big Day

2009-05-02T22:51:00.004-04:00

A varied day today. After breakfast at Pop's, where the locals go and the tourists don't, we roamed about the market to buy fruit for tomorrow's celebration. There were many fewer pineapples than I had expected. Other times we have seen them by the hundreds. We bought a few pineapples, at $1.25 US each, and a couple of watermelons. The local watermelons have
small golden-brown rather than large dark brown seeds.

Anne and I didn't start work at Yalbac until 1 PM, when the future operators arrived for training, accompanied by a gaggle of children. By then Dave, Aki, and Dan had the system assembled and ready to go.

When the kids came, we sang the "Use This Water" song a few times, made paper chains, and made paint handprints on a white cloth. To a large extent, we were doing child care for the operator class. I was getting used to the cadences of Spanish (which most of the kids speak in preference to English) when I was blindsided by a burst of Creole. It was a bit disorienting, although I didn't understand the Spanish either. It just sounded strange, whereas Spanish didn't.
Eventually we sent the kids home and cleaned up for tomorrow's celebration. It was a bitter-sweet moment when I realized that in 24 hours my task in Yalbac would be essentially finished. We have worked for two years to get to this point, and sometimes it seemed that we wouldn't get there. Thanks to all of you for your support along the way.

I don't have a clear picture of what will happen tomorrow. We may have a couple of government people, several San Ignacio Rotary folks, Victor Tut (a world-class character and resort operator), us, and an unknown number of Yalbacistas. Mirna said she would make "pudding of bread", and I told her that if there were too many people for me to get some, I would beat them up. She laughed and promised to save me some.

Tonight we had Italian food again, Ray's treat. He had left the restaurant owner some lira which were worthless to him but could be exchanged by an Italian who had had a bank account in Italy before Euros replaced lira. The food was delicious, apparently from some region of Italy other than the origin of other Italian food I have had.

Essentially it seems that the pressure is almost off. The job at Yalbac has almost been accomplished. But we have plenty of other opportunities in other villages, so the project will go on.

Peace,
Chuck

Good Morning

2009-05-02T08:33:00.003-04:00

It's a beautiful morning. Dave and I are sitting on the patio as the sun brightens a blue cloudless sky. I'm reading email & blogging, and Dave's listening to Morning Edition on his computer. In about a half hour Sheree and Aki will be picking us up for breakfast at Pop's. After that, Aki and Dave head back to Yalbac to finish up the water system. The rest of us will be participating in the San Ignacio Saturday morning market scene -- largest in Belize!
We'll meet up later in Yalbac to do a little more health education and the operator training.
Prayers requested for productive (and short?) day of final activities today.
- dan

Black Water

2009-05-02T08:27:00.001-04:00

We took the first left off Hummingbird Highway just past the river as the soldiers at the Police Station had told us. A few blocks into the village we turned right and found ourselves in the courtyard of the St. Margaret’s School. It was late in the day and we were going to try for one more sample. The school buildings were deserted, but we knew St. Margaret’s had a water distribution system, so we walked around the buildings looking for a spigot. A little boy, maybe 6 years old crossed our path, looking at us with curiosity. We asked where we could find some water. He pulled us between two buildings and pointed across the courtyard to a row of pit toilets with a Rotoplas tank mounted on stilts next door. As we started to tell him that wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, I noticed a spigot in the ground next to the tank. Closer examination showed that the tank wasn’t collecting rain water, but probably served as a backup supply for when the distribution system wasn’t distributing. Which must be pretty often to justify the cost of a tank.
We pulled out our test supplies and began sampling the water. Within minutes we were surrounded by about a half dozen beautiful Belizean kids and bombarded with questions: Are you looking for that flyin’ flu – no swine flu? Why are you testing our water? What are you looking for? We ran thru the battery of chemical tests and each time the kids wanted to know what they meant and whether their water was good. They read the TDS meter: it’s 620! No it isn’t. That’s upside down. It’s 029. Yes, and that’s very good. What color is this closest to? Yes, the light blue means hardness is less than 100; your water is very soft. The orange means the pH is around 7; right where it should be. Your water looks very good. Do you drink this water? Oh yes; either this or from the river.
What have we not tested for yet? Ummm…germs? That’s right, but the germ test will take two days for us to learn the answer. Will you come back? No, but we’ll try to let your village know what we learn.

I checked our samples this afternoon. They all looked fine. Except St. Margaret’s, which was as black as coal. Definitely germs in that water. And the kids were drinking it. Could be that the tank is dirty and needs to be cleaned. Or it could be open to airborne contamination. Or given the other measurements, this is probably surface water from the Pine Ridge Mountains and already contaminated in the pipes. We need to know more, but this is definitely a candidate for a water system. And given that it’s in the beautiful Pine Ridge area about a dozen miles south of Jaguar Creek, it would be hard duty to volunteer for this one…
- dan

Happy Labor Day

2009-05-01T23:08:00.003-04:00

Happy Labor Day from Belize (a government holiday) This has definitely been a day of labor for our team working as they build the puzzle that is the system, as well as working with the children and mother's here in Yalbac. The best news of the day is--we now have water in one tank and the water system is almost finished!

Chuck and I have been building a relationship with the community which has been fun and rewarding. The small village of Yalbac has 17 families, a church, a two room school house with 12 students 1 teacher and the principal. Family Grouping is at it's core. Everyone is a cousin or sibling most come from large families. The children care for each other and treat each other with warmth and affection. The older children have been quite helpful, not only with their siblings, but also helping me with projects. It is fun to once again be back in the classroom watching the younger children following directions and learning from the older children as they color, cut and paste. One of the older boys helped by reading one our new books (from the Del. Valley Reading Council) to the whole group in Spanish. The crafts and projects have varied from creating play dough germs, coloring a creation picture, learning new songs-even singing in rounds. Yesterday we spent two hours together and today four hours plus. We have been enjoying the time together.

All the individuals we have met have been very generous and welcoming. It has been an honor to work with the Mother's developing "the each one, teach one" concept as they learn about the system and the responsibilities they will have to keep it running. They have dreamed of the day that their village would have clean pure water.

All of God's children deserve clean water.
Anne Hansen

And the Water Flowed!

2009-05-01T22:36:00.007-04:00

Okay, technically not clean water yet, but we're really, really close! As Chuck noted, my impression of yesterday was that we made incremental progress. We got a lot done. We put the new pump in the well, got a lot of the board put together and had exciting interactions with the students. But we still had a few potential show-stoppers ahead of us. The biggest of which was that we still hadn't gotten a drop of water out of the hole in the ground. Many of the parts that we picked up for the well, eg. electrical connectors and big PVC pipe, turned out to be incorrect. Despite my earlier comment about the Belizean Home Depot, in practice when we discover that we need a different part out on the job site it's a two hour proposition to get a replacement.

Things seemed to come together much better on Friday morning. Dan and Aki began figuring out the electrical part and developed a good plan for the well. While they made a dash to the hardware and electric stores I spent the morning putting together lots of PVC. By lunchtime I had accomplished a lot but was beginning to stagger a bit from PVC cement fumes. The picture shows my handiwork on the board as Dan and Aki put the finishing touches to the electrical.

Outside the well connections were also coming together. As the final pipe was laid and glued, I scrambled back on the roof to make sure that all of the connections on the raw (dirty) water side were in place so that we wouldn't dump water all over the floor or ground when (if?) the pump worked.

At 4 pm we still weren't quite there. We were running out of necessary parts (a PVC elbow is cheap and simple but hard to work around if you don't have one). Complicating things is a country-wide shortage of the size pipe that we need. We're substituting the next larger size where possible but in some places we need a specific size. We're down to counting the inches we need to complete the job. At 5 pm we got today's payoff. Dan threw the switch, the pump started to churn and several minutes later raw water started to pour into the cistern!

We need to complete the final pieces before "operator training" at 1 pm tomorrow. By then, by God's grace, Let the Clean Water Flow!

Peace,

Dave

More Tomorrow…

2009-05-01T08:20:00.001-04:00

If you see the water tower for Cotton Tree, you’ve already passed the road to More Tomorrow. That’s what happened to us as we looked for this village with the quintessentially Belizean name. We took a chance on the next turn a few miles down, because Mr Jiminez, the Director of Rural Development for eastern Cayo District had assured us that the two roads looped together and formed a “U” at More Tomorrow. The road was a relatively new and un-potholed gravel road with a string of electric poles peeking out of the jungle on the left and newly cleared land on the right, probably soon to be planted in orange trees.
We reached a “Y” in the road and were concerned about which jungle path to take until we saw a small hand painted sign saying “More Tomorrow” with an arrow to the left. After another mile or so, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a weatherbeaten village of several dozen dilapidated houses and a bright blue school with chickens in the courtyard. We located the hand pump at one end of the school yard and set up to do our water testing.
Within minutes a large black man (dark dark, as they say in Belize) rode up on an old bicycle. He was probably in his mid 30’s and introduced himself as Mike Mynette, the council chairman. He was quite interested in what we were doing, and why. He helped Sheree fill out a Water Issues Survey form while I completed the water testing, and then led us down to the Belize River for another quick test.
The well water at the school at More Tomorrow is crystal clear. There’s no iron in it because, as we found out, the government had just recently replaced all the steel piping and the wellhead. There will also likely not be any biological contamination because it was also “shocked” with chlorine a week ago. This is because the council hounds the government to shock the well every few months. If they don’t, their kids start getting sick.
The well water is also very hard (> 500 ppm CaCo3) with high dissolved solids (>500 ppm). We asked if it tasted bad. Mike said it didn’t matter. It was the only choice they had, except cistern (rain) water, although some villagers still preferred river water.
We left More Tomorrow, a village of about 40 families (~165 people and growing!), mentally adding them to the list of candidates for a future LWW system. The hard water will be difficult to treat, but at least they now have electricity. The people, represented by Mike, are eager and aggressive to improve their lot. They’ll make good Living Waters partners.
One the other hand, their very real water problems are being addressed with regular chlorine treatments to the well. The government may not like doing that, but it's being controlled. Should we put a system here rather than somewhere else where the problems might otherwise remain unaddressed? There are no clear-cut choices, just a series of prayerful best guesses.
- dan

Different directions

2009-04-30T23:43:00.008-04:00

Dave says it’s my turn today, since I haven’t been keeping up. We had breakfast with the Rotary club this morning. They are involved in a huge number of projects. One of the hot ones coming up is a canoe race. I’m not sure how long, but first prize is $1000 BZ and there’s a big party at the finish. We met a young woman from Telluride CO who is studying sustainable development here at Galen University for credit at U of Vermont. That sounds like a good thing to do during a Vermont winter if you can arrange it.

Dan and Sheree took off on a site visit trip look for other potential sites. The Director of Rural Development, whom we had met last February, had suggested a few places to look at, and they went to check on them. It was a pretty long day; they didn’t get back until around 7:30. I’ll leave the findings to Dan.

Anne Hansen got a ride with the Rotary president to a village where Swarthmore Rotary is sponsoring a preschool. He owns a huge amount of land with timber and cattle and builds super-expensive houses and owns a couple of hotels. I think she got an eyeful of how the other small fraction lives. She caught up with us at Yalbac in time for lunch.

Dave and Aki and I went to Yalbac to work on the treatment system. On the way, we stopped in Spanish Lookout for some PVC for the well. I ran into Mike from In His Will Ministries, where Dale and I stayed on our survey trip in 2007. It’s interesting to run into people at different places from where they fit in your picture of the country.

Dave says progress on the treatment system was incremental. I thought it was very exciting. We got the new well pump into the well, with wire for power into the treatment building but no plumbing beyond the wellhead. Dave and Aki are much more patient than I am: I would have hot-wired the pump to the generator to see a geyser from the well.

Anne and I had a teaching session with the kids. We kind of commandeered them for the afternoon. The teacher went home and let us do our thing. We talked about germs and illness and handwashing and when to use the clean water they would get from their treatment system. They were pretty excited about the songs and games, and they didn’t want to go when we declared the session finished. We had to shoo them out with the promise that they could come back tomorrow afternoon.

My wildlife report isn’t very exciting because we haven’t been in the right places. Yesterday I saw clay-colored robins at the resort and great kiskadees and green parrots at Yalbac. A gecko almost fell on Anne at the resort. This morning at the hotel where Rotary meets we saw blue-gray tanagers, a female shrike-tanager, a hummingbird that the local record suggests was rufous-tailed, and a basilisk lizard, which has the interesting behaviors of running on its hind legs and running on water. The flowers are beautiful, especially several varieties of bouganvillea.

Tomorrow we will have teaching sessions with some of the women in the morning and the kids again in the afternoon. I’m really looking forward to that and to seeing water from the well.

Peace to all,
Chuck

Joe Petrof

2009-04-30T08:01:00.002-04:00

He was sitting on a barstool at the counter when we walked in; a large heavyset man with a silver flattop and an interesting carved cane. I didn’t pay him much attention as the Mennonite sales clerk asked how he could help us in heavily accented English. As Aki and I began asking questions about how to plumb a well with an electric pump, the clerk questioned another clerk in Low German. The second clerk looked at us and said “You should ask Joe about that. He does wells all the time.” Joe had gotten up to leave, but turned when he heard his name. We outlined what we were trying to do. He gave us a classic you-guys-really-don’t-know-what-you’re-doing look and said he would tell us how he would do it.
After a lengthy and detailed crash course in how to plumb a well, he finished by saying “You don’t have to listen to me, but that’s how I would do it.” We assured him that his plan sounded a lot better than ours, and he said “OK then. Let’s go shopping.” He helped us pick out everything we needed, becoming more jocular and engaged in the project the more we talked.
We discovered that he was an American ex-pat who came to Belize 12 years ago and never went back. He’d screwed up his knees and hips playing football for the University of North Carolina and found Belizean weather much more friendly to his joints. He had a degree in mechanical engineering from Penn State, and owned a well drilling business in Santa Elena, not far from Aki’s house.
As we were checking out, he asked again if we thought we could handle it. I asked him with a grin what he was doing the next couple days. He said “What time will you be in Yalbac tomorrow? I’ll meet you there after I get my crews started.”
People in Belize are like that.
- dan

We Accomplished What We Needed to Accomplish

2009-04-30T00:09:00.009-04:00

We made it out to the first day on the site with some trepidation. The potential show-stopper was removing the old hand pump from Yalbac's well. The government said they would come and do it last Friday, and then on Monday or Tuesday. Over dinner on Tuesday night our team started discussing what Plan B, C or D might be if the government didn't show. At around 10:30 on Wednesday morning a pickup with four guys arrived to dismantle the pump. As with repairing your car the job was essentially pretty simple but without a few key pieces of know-how and one or two critical tools it would have have been nearly impossible for us to tackle ourselves.

The picture shows the workers extracting steel pipe fifteen feet at a time, disconnecting a section and then extracting another fifteen feet. The pipe went down ninety feet. The top of the water in the well is at sixty five feet and the bottom of the well is at 102 feet. Tomorrow will will install a submersible electric pump at the end of ninety feet of PVC.

Dan and Aki made a mid afternoon trip to Home Depot (or the Belizean equivalent) to pick up parts for installing the new pump. While there they met a local who ran a well drilling business who gave them tips on everything they needed to know for installing the new pump. He even promised to drop by and inspect our handiwork to make sure we have it set up right.

While this was going on, I was laying out the components for the water treatment board. I then started installing the plumbing for the external water tanks as shown in the next picture. Anne and Chuck made their initial contacts with the nearby school and have setup a teaching session for Thursday afternoon. Friday is a national holiday (Labor Day / May Day) so this will be their only chance while school is in session.

Harrison, the Yalbac village council Chairman, dropped by several times during the day to review our progress and lend a hand. Several locals helped out during the day and thankfully dug the ditch from the well to the water building. At the end of the day Harrison treated us to fresh coconut sliced open with a machete under a coconut tree next to the water building.

We could have accomplished more but we certainly could have accomplished much less.

To God be the glory,

Dave

First Day on the Job

2009-04-29T08:32:00.009-04:00

My room at the Midas Resort.

A room like Dave's at the Midas Resort

We head back up to Yalbac village from our digs at the Midas Resort in San Ignacio this morning. At dinner last night with Sheree and Aki, our Rotary hosts, we formulated a fuzzy plan of attack. The two biggest unknowns at my end of the dinner table were whether and when the Department of Rural Development will show up to pull the hand pump from the well head so we can install the electric pump, and how many (if any) villagers will appear to pitch in with the installation.
Anne and Chuck were conspiring with Sheree at the other end of the table about the educational component and a variety of Rotary issues. There's an undercurrent in many of the conversations regarding "what next". Assuming this project completes as we pray it will, we're beginning to peek shyly toward the future to see what can be done in the next phase.
The weather conditions are shaping up to be more typically tropical this time around. Temperatures are 5- 10 degrees warmer than last February, but not much different from those in Oak Ridge when we left. The big difference is the humidity. We were greeted with a brief downpour at the airport shortly after we arrived, and rain announced itself on the tin roofs of the breakfast patio and in my room both last night and this morning. We're not in the rainy season yet, but it's definitely much wetter than two months ago.

Prayers today requested for flexibility and ingenuity as we evaluate the "lay of the land" and identify the challenges ahead and the directions we'll need to move in to address them.

- dan

We made it (again)!

2009-04-28T20:08:00.002-04:00

Not much to say. Dan filled you in up to this morning. Our flights and connections were pretty uneventful. Chuck got busted at Charlotte's security for the foil bag around his Fig Newtons. We cleared Belize customs without incident and we were met by a thunder storm and hot and humid weather (Not much different from Oak Ridge at the moment I guess). We were also met immediately by the hotel shuttle so that went smoothly as well. We'll meet Sheree and Aki for dinner soon and plan tomorrow's schedule.

Please write! (Think I've made that point enough?)

Peace,
Dave

Back To Yalbac

2009-04-28T05:59:00.004-04:00

We're on our way, once again. It's becoming routine -- maybe a bit too much so.
It's early here in the Best Western lobby in Charlotte. I slept pretty lightly last night, my mind racing with all the things I might have forgotten and all the things that could go wrong on this trip. That's probably because we spent a half hour last night looking for our hotel.
We left Oak Ridge on time, after spending 15 minutes redistributing the weight in our 6 large checked bags. They're all now within 10% of the allowed 50 lb limit.
We made it to Charlotte in under 5 hours, including a stop for dinner.
Then we realized that no one knew specifically where the motel was. After asking and driving and phoning, we finally found our home away from home for last night and settled in.
We leave at 7 this morning on a shuttle to the airport; our van stays here for the week. We meet up with Anne Hansen from Swarthmore in Dallas, and then on to Belize City mid afternoon and a shuttle to San Ignacio and Sheree and Aki Fukai, our local Rotary contacts.
The picture above shows Aki in front of our poured concrete water building. I think he's describing the fish that got away. He spent yesterday mounting water tanks on top of the building; We'll spend tomorrow beginning the job mounting water treatment hardware inside the building.
Prayers requested for traveling mercies today and for humility and flexibility the rest of the week. We're honored to be representing you in doing God's work in Belize.
- dan

Read it all

2009-03-03T23:33:00.000-05:00

The entries in this blog were not always made in the same sequence as the events they describe, partly because we were sharing computers and were not always able to connect to the blog, and partly because Chuck is slow.

To get the whole picture, read down the blog to find entries made since the last time you looked, or read up from the bottom to see how the trip developed.

Farewell and wrap-up

2009-03-03T11:52:00.004-05:00

About 7 AM Sunday we walked down to the Lamanai restaurant, expecting to go to Holy Eucharist at the Anglican church after breakfast. The restaurant was on the river, which was beautiful in the early morning light. We saw gallinules, great blue herons, great egrets, a little green heron, and several cormorants along the river, as well as grackles, kiskadees with their bright yellow colors, and several other species of open-space birds. Pat, who both is a fisherman and was facing the right direction, saw a few "honkin' big" tarpon jumping a bit upstream of us.

I had considered leaving my cell-phone at the hotel because I didn't expect to need it, but I hadn't been able to find my watch, so I had the phone for a timepiece. You can see from Dave's post that it was very fortunate that I had it.

Concerns about travel and slowness of the breakfast service combined to change our minds about church. We went back to the hotel to inquire online about our fate. Dan and I had been rescheduled for Monday, but Dan was to arrive in Knoxville a couple of hours earlier than I was. Dave and Pat couldn't find even a notice that the flight had been canceled. Pat couldn't get through to Delta by phone, so we decided to go to the airport and see what we could do. Delta was trying very hard to avoid having to put on extra equipment for Monday, so they managed to book us out on US Airways to Charlotte. As it turned out, we might have enjoyed staying in Belize the extra day more than driving in the snow, but as on several other occasions, what was less than optimal turned out OK.

So we are back, tired but happy with our accomplishments. During the Rotary meeting on Thursday I had a vision of our progress. We have worked toward a Yalbac installation for almost two years, during which there has been a sunrise glow of hope on the horizon. The sun has now begun to rise, but most of it is still below the horizon. Soon the dawn will be complete, and as the sun of Yalbac's success continues to rise, I will look forward to a time of multiple clean water suns brightening the day with God's love.

There is still much to be done. Continue to pray for Yalbac and Orange Walk, and pray for discernment of God's will as we continue to learn of people in need of clean water. Pray for Sherree and Aki and for the San Ignacio and Swarthmore Rotary clubs, that their efforts will continue to help the people of Belize. Pray for First Presbyterian of Cody as they deliberate whether God is leading them to an installation at the Presbyterian school in Orange Walk. And pray that our congregation will continue to experience the joy of Christ's living water flowing through us to others.

Peace,
Chuck

Homecoming

2009-03-02T16:56:00.002-05:00

The last few days of our journey didn't exactly work out as we expected. Friday was a somewhat discouraging day where I felt that we didn't accomplish very much. I was beginning to feel that maybe the trip was a day or two too long.

Saturday turned out much better than we anticipated. We had a very productive visit at the Orange Walk Presbyterian School and even met a group of students from Vanderbilt who were working there.

We spent Saturday afternoon visiting the spectacular Mayan ruins at Lamanai and even got a bit lost on the way back. Perhaps that was a foreshadowing of things to come. As we were relaxing over breakfast before church on Sunday, Chuck's phone rang and Dale informed him that our flights home had been canceled. Soon after Delta called to tell him the same thing. We scurried to the airport where Pat found an alternative set of connections back to Wyoming. We got a flight back to Charlotte where we planned to rent a car to drive home. You can see from the picture how that worked out. After a white-knuckle hour to drive twenty miles, we pulled off and spent another night on the road in a hotel north of Charlotte. The drive was a still a little slow going early Monday morning but roads eventually improved and we were rewarded with a gorgeous winter wonderland drive through the mountains on the way back to Knoxville.

As I said, things didn't always work out as we planned. At times when prospects looked the most pessimistic we achieved breakthroughs that gave us hope for the future. Then when we got feeling pretty good about ourselves, we made decisions that looked good at the time but may not have been any better than doing nothing at all.

The Lord surely does work in His own time and in mysterious ways.

Peace and farewell until we return to Belize in April,
Dave

The rest of Saturday

2009-02-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

At the end of our technical breakout upstairs where the defunct board is, we were called to lunch. The school cooks had come in to prepare lunch for the seminary class and the college visitors, and we were invited to join them. We had jerk chicken (what a surprise) and beans and rice, unless it was rice and beans (even more a surprise). I am writing this on Friday (or from the perspective of someone who sees the blog as being in the present on Saturday I will be writing it on Friday), and which meals were beans and rice and which were rice and beans has become blurred in my memory.

After wrapping up our business at the school, we hit the road for the Lamanai ruin. The ruin was 28 miles from the highway, but the first several miles were paved or smoothly graded gravel. Eventually we ran out of smooth and got back to our accustomed potholes. We went through Mennonite country again and saw many horses and buggies, some driven by children. Since they do have cars and trucks, I speculated that fodder is cheaper than gasoline when you have a farm. We were amused to see a buggy carrying several 10-foot pieces of PVC tubing. We just never associate modern technical activities with people who use horses as their major means of transportation.

Dave guessed correctly at every unmarked turn (when Ray was with us we were always urged to go to the left), and we reached the ruin shortly before it was scheduled to close. With what I am beginning to think is typical casualness about closing time among park rangers, we were told to take as much time as we wanted. I don't know what they could have done anyway other than close the visitor center and the gift shop, since the parking lot was outside the gate.

Lamanai means "Place of the crocodile". It is unusual among Mayan ruins in being spread out along the banks of a lagoon, the New River Lagoon on the New River, the longest river that is completely within Belize. This is the river that our hotel and Sunday's restaurant are on. Most of the Mayan temple sites are compact and built around a central plaza. Diet and economy were probably very different from those at temple sites in the jungle away from water like Caracol, the capital city of the Mayans in the Belize region, but there are in fact several ruins within an easy walk of a river.

We climbed the High Temple, which was indeed high. The steps are 16-18 inches high going up and higher going down. They had a rope hung along one of the sections so you could go hand-over-hand, which especially made the descent easier. It will be Thursday before the muscles in the front of my thighs stop hurting.

The view from the top was great. You could probably see into Mexico, although there was nothing to indicate the border. My globe has Belize in yellow and Mexico in blue, but the real thing was mostly green. To the south we could see the Mennonite farms, to the north the lagoon. We were joined on the summit by a group of Mennonites. Their speech sounded more Dutch than German to me, especially when one asked another to point out "dain huis". A couple of grandmothers had made most of the climb. They didn't go the final few steps to the summit, but sat and chatted just below the top. I certainly wouldn't put in all that effort to get to the almost top and not finish, even though the open space without a railing at that height makes me uncomfortable. Especially when I am staggering from the strain on my legs to get up there.

On the grounds we saw keel-billed toucans, white-fronted parrots, and several black howler monkeys. There was vegetation in profusion, with many kinds of flowers. I saw an aloe tree and a few varieties of spices. There were many bromeliads growing on the bark of trees.

We went home a different way. I think you could say we weren't lost since we ended up in Orange Walk Town just a few blocks from the restaurant where we had decided to have supper. We had been reassuring ourselves about our direction by looking at the sun, but suddenly it was gone, and very shortly thereafter it was dark. No long twilight here.

At the restaurant I spoke to a group of people who had been trying to help me see a parrot, which I eventually saw when it flew. They are ex-pat who run a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center a few miles south of Orange Walk. They said there used to be a lot of marijuana growing in the cane fields (did I mention that we had seen trucks lined up for maybe half a mile delivering cane to the mill?). I got the impression that alcoholism is pretty serious, but they are not so far from the modern world that they are not also into crack cocaine.

After supper I strolled around downtown again. I had to do some shopping for a few items that I always bring to Shirley Knight as a reminder of our first trip to Belize. I was also supposed to find the Anglican church and the restaurant for tomorrow's breakfast. I walked between 16 and 20 blocks and found the items for Shirley and the church. I was several blocks from the restaurant when I was accosted by a couple of women sitting on a streetlamp base with their little girls. They wanted to know if I was lost, and I told them I knew where I was going at the end of my search, but I didn't know where the restaurant was. I think they were concerned about my safety, because after they told me how to find the restaurant they told me not to go down there because it is a dangerous place at night. I enjoyed the interchange, especially flirting with the little girls (about 2 and 3 years old). After I got back to the hotel I wrote this blog entry, but it didn't go through and I didn't think to save it, so I am writing it again. Silly me.

Peace,
Chuck

Presbyterian Pre and Primary School of Orange Walk

2009-02-28T16:26:00.002-05:00

We pulled up to the fence outside the courtyard/playground right at 9 Saturday morning and were greeted by lots of activity and about a dozen college kids. A sharp contrast to the previous afternoon, when we stopped by to get a water sample only to find no one around and everything locked up. The kids were from Vanderbilt University on an Alternate Spring Break mission trip through an organization called the Belize Project doing micro-business projects in Corazol on the northern border of Belize. We explained we were with Living Waters for the World, associated with the PCUSA, and several kids volunteered that they were also PCUSA. Small world. We were ushered into a classroom with about a half dozen Presbyterian lay pastors who were being “treated” to a lecture on Medieval Church History by a retired professor from the US. Interesting to consider what was happening in Belize during the Medieval period… After making introductions and small talk, it became apparent that we were needed elsewhere, mainly because there wasn’t enough room for us and the kids from Vanderbilt. That suited us just fine!

We rounded up some chairs and clustered into Ruth Ku’s office, actually much more spacious than the Earnest Banner’s government office in Belmopan on Wednesday. The conversation was a bit awkward at first. I suspect neither side expected much to come of it, since our conversation with Raphael Ku, Ruth’s brother-in-law on Wednesday had led both sides to the conclusion that a water system might not be feasible or appropriate at this time. Our concerns were primarily whether there was a real and demonstrable health need, and theirs was whether they could afford the costs in terms of both dollars and administrative time.

We began with small talk; I asked Ruth to bring us up to date on the history and progress of the school, so we could all be on the same page. As the conversation developed, it was as if a dark cloud began to lift. I began to realize that although our objective evidence indicated that the municipal water in Orange Walk was safe, the people of Orange Walk believed that it was not, and went to great lengths and expense to drink bottled water if at all possible. Perception is reality, and the school simply could not afford the perception that it wasn’t doing everything possible to protect the health safety of its students. Thus, they would continue to provide purified water whether we decided it was safe or not. This was further reinforced for me later in the conversation when we mentioned that although the very high hardness and dissolved solids in the Orange Walk water was not a direct health issue, it did create a bad taste, and was counter-indicated for people with kidney or gallstones. A light went on in Ruth’s eyes. She said everyone she knew had kidney stones including herself and Mario, her husband. And yes, the doctors did recommend that anyone with kidney stones avoid the hard municipal water. We had, in my mind at least, our medical justification.

Ruth’s first concern was cost. She had gotten the impression from Raphael that the expense of electricity for softening and reverse osmosis would be prohibitive. Add to that the fact that roughly half the water in an RO system is thrown away, and all would need to be purchased from the town, and it looked cost prohibitive. We did some back-of-the envelope calculations and concluded that the discarded water would only add a penny or two per gallon to the delivered cost, and even the high electricity costs in Belize would only add another nickel or so. Estimating wildly, we proclaimed that the school should be easily able to produce water for less than 50 cents (Belize!) per 5 gallon, far less than the $3 they were presently paying for bottled 5 gallon jugs. Ruth convinced us that the administrative burden wouldn’t be much more than the current process for buying commercial bottled water, and that her teachers and parent would volunteer to run the water system.

We were trapped on a virtuous cycle. The complications and objections seemed to melt away. Each side seemed to find more reasons why this could work and would be a good idea. Ruth recounted how the floods last fall had forced them to purchase large quantities of bottled water to bring upriver to the families who had been flooded out and left with contaminated wells. They were left for weeks without stable water supplies. She spoke emotionally about how a water treatment system in that situation would have allowed them to serve those needs at much lower cost.

Concluding our conversation, we settled back to reality and due diligence. Pat intends to bring this prayerfully to his congregation in Cody. We assured him that we would offer support in any way that made sense for future collaboration. Chuck promised a more detailed cost analysis, knowing her costs for electricity and water. I promised to provide some contacts from Presbyterian churches in the Yucatan where similar Living Waters systems were up and running.

As we stood to leave there were warm smiles around the room. Ruth extended her hand for a departing handshake. I couldn’t help it; I gave her a big hug. She returned it in kind.

To God be the glory.
Dan

Pain in the...

2009-02-28T09:09:00.001-05:00

What a great congregation you must have. Dan, Chuck and Dave were driven nuts by me for a week while they focused on the Yalbac water project with diplomacy and efficiency. I cannot imagine how relieved they were to have the pain from their ass evaporate after kindly taking me to the ariport yesterday on the way to check out LWW's first Belize project in Orange Walk. Overall I focused more on food, so perhaps there emerged some awareness of food security in the midst of water parting while we traveled from Gales Point area to the poor South of Belize [Toledo district] to Cayo and project prospects there as well as the Yalbac covenant and details that are largely settled.

In case anyone is interested here is our church's website; we are far behind in blog and website development however.

http://www.swarthmorepres.org/home.html

Yours in Christ,
Ray Hopkins
Presbyterian elder and Rotarian from Swarthmore.

Friday travels

2009-02-27T23:15:00.001-05:00

Today we took Ray to the airport and ended up in Orange Walk. On the way out of San Ignacio Ray had to drop off a sweater at the Octavia Waight nursing home, and he had to deal with a half-million Italian lyra (worth maybe $300) that were useless to him but of potential value to the proprietor of the Italian restaurant. I'm not sure what deal he worked, but it was amusing that he had to come to Belize to get rid of Italian currency.

We got to Belize City early enough for lunch. After wandering around the city, which is crowded and has chaotic traffic, we found the Indian restaurant Ray was looking for.
Soup for lunch was tasty and agreeably light. Above the bar a cricket match was being shown on TV. the picture wasn't really clear, but I think it would have been incomprehensible anyway.

After dropping Ray at the airport, we came back into the city to try to meet with the operator of the government water laboratory. He didn't show up, but I did have a brief chat with the woman who does microscopic identification and diagnosis at the malaria lab. Because the other guys were eager to get on the road, I resisted the urge to stop in the Maternal Child Health office to see what they are doing.

Up the Northern Highway the houses along the road were in somewhat better condition than most in the little villages in Cayo District. We were passed by a fast-moving pickup truck that had a small sofa in the bed, up against the cab. In it were two elderly-ish plumpish ladies in long Mennonite dresses, holding their straw sunhats on their heads and chattering away. It was a photo-op that we regretted missing.

In Orange Walk Town we first found the school and then found our hotel. We teased Pat for driving the wrong direction on the one-way street in front of the hotel, as well as having run a stop light earlier, because he is a former police officer (Previously Pistol-Packing Police, Presently Presbyterian Pastor Pat). The hotel is on a river and is forested down to the water. It looked like something out of the Amazon or African Queen.

After supper I wandered around town for a while. There were shops of a variety of sizes, from a large appliance store to room-sized shops stocked with CDs, T-shirts, and jeans. I found a grocery store with five aisles and one-hundred-pound sacks of sugar stacked by the front window. These stores generally do not sell produce, which is mainly sold at the open-air market.

Orange Walk town, with its town square park and central boulevard, has a more open feel than San Ignacio and Belize City. The people seemed more inclined to gather and socialize in the park than I had seen before. I was definitely more comfortable there.

Peace,
Chuck

Cristo Rey

2009-02-26T21:17:00.001-05:00

Chuck and I drove out to Cristo Rey from San Ignacio just as it was getting dark on Thursday. It's not far; maybe 20 minutes. It felt much farther on a rough road in the dark. Especially since the news I knew we were about to deliver wasn't good.
Chuck, Peggy, Lynn Kszos and her daughter, and I visited Cristo Rey last spring. We learned that their well water was very hard, harder than Yalbac, with high dissolved solids. We also learned that both the well water and the river water are biologically contaminated. However, we had also learned that Cristo Rey had a government sponsored water delivery system with a tank and a chlorinator, but that they weren't using the chlorinator at present. I had decided in advance that we had to tell them we wouldn't treat the well water.
We met with Giovanni Montalvan the mayor, and Alfredo Guerra the chairman of the water board, and a few others. We told them what we had learned and that we wouldn't treat the well water. They confirmed that the pump had broken on the chlorinator but that they didn't like the taste anyway and were concerned about what the chlorine did to the concrete when it spilled, so they had never fixed it.
We then offered them a carrot and a stick. We suggested that we could put in a system to treat their river water to give them the same quality water as in San Ignacio or Santa Elena if they could locate or build an appropriate building. I handed them a blank Water Issues Survey and said we could meet again on our next trip and discuss things further. I also suggested that they could check out Yalbac to see if something like this would be appropriate for them.
As we were leaving Giovanni said that they were opening an internet cafe in the next couple weeks and he would have an email address. I smiled and said we'd keep in touch. On the way back through the hills to Santa Elena, Chuck's cell phone rang. Dale was calling. The contrast between our communication expectations and those in Belize was striking.
Dan

Golden Corral

2009-02-26T18:14:00.001-05:00

We retraced our steps from earlier in the week toward Yalbac. This time we stopped in Spanish Lookout, the Mennonite community south of Yalbac. Our destination was the Golden Corral, a restaurant, where Chuck and Mike Sale and I had eaten with Sheree and Aki last spring. This Golden Corral has nothing at all to do with any Golden Corral at which you may have eaten in the US. This one has Belizean rice and beans (not stewed beans and rice) on the menu, along with German pirogues. I ordered the regular sized beans and rice with beef, thinking that a $5Bz small portion wouldn’t be enough. My $8BZ ($4US) arrived stacked high on the plate and dripping off the edges. And on top of that, it was delicious.
We were meeting Harrison for lunch and further discussion of the Yalbac project. We showed up about 15 minutes early (US time) and he showed up about 15 minutes late (Belize time). Although we were eager for Harrison to sign our covenant agreement it became quickly obvious that he was not, setting it aside and changing the subject instead of saying no. Belizeans hate saying no. Harrison was much more interested in a conversation with Dave and Aki about having the company he works for, Belize Concrete, build the water building. Aki reviewed the proposal and decided it was about the same cost and much simpler than hauling concrete blocks up to Yalbac and building it with volunteer labor.
After lunch Harrison picked up the stack of covenant copies to bring back to Yalbac. They’re having a community wide meeting on Sunday afternoon to discuss and hopefully approve the covenant. Signed copies will be delivered to Sheree and passed along to us, completing the preliminary stages of this project.
Dan

Wildlife comment

2009-02-26T18:00:00.000-05:00

One other note about the trip back from Spanish Lookout. While we were waiting for the ferry, we were visited by a warbler-sized hummingbird, which flew around the car, peering through each of the windows as though it wanted to come in and join us. It was a female green-breasted mango, a beautiful bird, gray on the front with a black stripe down the center and burgundy-violet colors on the underside of the tail. The beak was about 1 1/2 inches long. I guess it decided it couldn't get into the car, so after a tour all the way around, it flew off.

Although there is much poverty, Belize is blessed with much beauty.

Peace,
Chuck

Encountering the Men on the Bridge

2009-02-26T10:54:00.005-05:00

As we were standing around “debriefing” one evening this week I was struck that we may be in a situation analogous to the “Man on the Bridge” story from Pastor Kerra’s sermon on February 15. We are clearly in a situation where may accept someone else’s burden and be trapped in a long term dependency where we can’t extricate ourselves. (Okay, so maybe I’m a little slow on the uptake but I wasn’t even in church that week so cut me some slack.)

The analogy isn’t perfect but I’ve never met a metaphor that I can’t extend and stretch to the breaking point. Rather than accepting a burden unbidden from a stranger, we are seeking people already dangling from the bridge who we want to help. As in the parable, some want us untie their ropes from the bridge and accept their burden with no expectation of helping themselves back up.

Some are simply out bungee jumping and don’t need any help, thank you very much. (One of my favorite sayings during this trip has been “When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”)

Finally there are those who are truly in peril, are seeking assistance and are certainly willing to help themselves back up if we can help them (if you want to keep extending the metaphor, sometimes we need to convince them that they are in peril).

The trick is to discern which is which because it certainly isn’t always obvious. That’s where God’s grace and the ability to wisely use our God-given gifts comes in I guess.

Peace to All,
Dave

Rotary

2009-02-26T09:13:00.002-05:00

The weekly San Ignacio Rotary meeting is held from 7 to 8 AM every Thursday in the elegant but slightly shabby (this is Belize) San Ignacio Hotel, owned and run by the wife of the current Rotary president.
I presented the standard Living Waters PowerPoint with embellishment to focus on our Rotary partnership and the Yalbac water project. The 20 or so attendees were interested and receptive, asking quite a few questions as I wrapped up.
Afterward, the president and I signed three copies of our three-way covenant agreement with Yalbac. Ray and Pat then headed off with John, the president, to San Antonio, a village south of Cristo Rey, while Dave and Chuck and I headed back to our rooms to prepare for a lunch meeting with Harrison Mocollock, the chair of the Yalbac village council.
Dan

Ash Wednesday

2009-02-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

The morning was pretty quiet. We had a leisurely breakfast and did paperwork until it was time to go to Sherree and Aki's to regroup. On the way we dropped Ray off at the Octavia Waight nursing home, which we have visited on previous trips, to take care of some business. He was on his own to walk back after that, so he got a bit of exercise.

Aki drove us to Belmopan, where we located the office where we were to meet. The office was not in the government compound, but according to Sherree was on a road a ways around the ring road in a building like the ones a block over but under the tall tree. It turned out the be the last building on the way out of the loop where the King's Children's Home is located. We had a very producutive meeting there, as I think Dan has described. I was pleased but somewhat boggled by being able to phone and set up a face-to-face meeting with the head of a government program in just a couple of days. Sherree made it a very relaxed meeting because she and the director were joking about various other projects and what a nuisance she had been. I'm convinced that if the director actually comes to watch the installation, he'll be hooked and really supportive. Maybe putting plumbing together is a guy thing.

We went immediately from that meeting to Raphael Ku in Santa Elena, the sister city of San Ignacio. Raphael is beginning to burn out from the load of school management, which he seems to do with no staff; church development, which worries him because church growth is not keeping up with school growth; and seminary concerns, which he didn't say much about but had talked about quite a bit when we saw him last year. Fortunately, a new general manager is coming and in a couple of weeks he will have three seminary graduates to share the load of pastoring. That will double the number of ordained Presbyterian pastors in Belize and increase the number of English-speaking pastors from one to four. He didn't specify, but I think the students are Belize-born, as he is, so he will no longer be the only one.

We went to Ash Wednesday service at St. Andrews Anglican Church, where Dale and I initially met Sherree and Aki. Dale and Ashley phoned me during the sermon, so I missed most of it, but it was given in Spanish and translated inaudibly by a teenager who had trouble with some of the words. I got the feeling she was also having a little trouble with the Spanish, which seemed really strange.

After the service, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant operated by an Italian. The food was excellent and certainly different from Italian food I have had in the States.

All in all, it was another very productive day. Thanks to Sherree and Aki for greasing so many skids for us.

Peace,
Chuck

Raphael Ku

2009-02-25T19:11:00.001-05:00

Arriving about 15 minutes late (we’re now on Belize time) we greeted Raphael Ku in the courtyard of his small church in Santa Elena, the sister city to San Ignacio. Raphael is one of 3 ordained ministers in the Belize Presbyterian Church, and the only ordained Belizean. He’s also the general manager of 10 Presbyterian Schools in Belize. Raphael invited us into the preschool and showed us around while answering questions. Then he ushered us into the sanctuary where he hosted a long and frank conversation about the future of the Presbyterian Church in Belize and the situation in Orange Walk specifically. This was a valuable preamble to our visit on Saturday with Ruth Ku, Raphael’s sister-in-law and principal of the Presbyterian Pre and Primary School where a defunct Living Waters system resides. The focus begins to shift from our work in Cayo to future possibilities on the broader Belize landscape.
Dan

Earnest Banner

2009-02-25T17:54:00.001-05:00

We all piled into Aki Fukai's Honda SUV for the trip from Santa Elena to Belmopan. All except Ray, that is, who spent much of the day at the Octavia Waight Retirement Home. We encountered a light rain on Western Highway, foreshadowing the deluge that poured down while we had lunch and conversation at Perkups in Belmopan. Pat and I had watermelon juice to drink - a firstfor me. I wonder how you squeeze a watermelon?
After lunch Aki and Dave dropped us (Sheree, Chuck, Pat and me) at the Government Rural Development Board where we met with Earnest Banner, Rural Development Coordinator for all of of Belize. He grilled us about our plans for Yalbac and showed a high level of interest in what we are doing there. He promised that if we called him in advance he would be there for the installation. He also wanted to send his people to learn about the workings of the system while we installed it.
When Sheree asked about other possible sites with water needs he quickly listed three locations in desperate need: St. Matthews, Biscayne, and Franks. All of these are desperate for clean water and located in the Belize City district to the east of Cayo. Sheree and I plan to explore these options during our next trip. It's amazing how one thing leads to another...
Dan

Pat's first post

2009-02-25T11:55:00.002-05:00

Hi, I am Pat Montgomery from First Presbyterian Church in Cody, WY. First I need to compliment FPC, Oak Ridge on a number of things. Your commitment to the Living Waters program is tremendous. What you are doing in Appalachia and working towards here in Belize speaks incredibly well of your congregation and the faith. I also must say (at the risk of creating impossible egos for the rest of the week) Dan, Dave and Chuck are wonderful ambassadors for your congregation and for the Living Waters program. Together they form a beautifully balanced team to further your Belize efforts. Both I and all of FPC Cody are blessed through being invited along on this trip.

Thus far we have been in the southern and middle parts of Belize. New friends have been made and future work has been explored. My previous LWW work has been in Guatemala and I am struck by how similar…and yet how different the two countries are. Obviously they are at about the same latitude and the climates are very similar. Yet the differences are many.

Belize has much more ethnic diversity Mestizo, Mayan, Garifuna, Anglo, etc. Belize has much more tourism; Belize is much less densely populated, has much more wildlife and in general is much cleaner. The Belizean government seems to be much more “hands off” than that of Guatemala. We see far less police and military presence here than we did in Guatemala. It is far easier to drive one’s self in Belize and simple tasks are just easier here. In Guatemala our water tests revealed biological contamination about 95% of the time while here in Belize tests so far indicate biological contamination only about 50% of the time. Here in Belize there appears to be less litter. Even the poorest homes and yards appear a bit tidier, the cars appear less road weary, and perhaps most helpful of all, the majority of folks speak English.

This last point makes a huge difference when doing the relationship building part of the LWW program. Much more can be accomplished in less time with all parties having a far greater understanding. Even in the Yalbac situation where FPC Oak Ridge is working, many of the young and several of the village council members speak English. A translator still needs to be present, but it is much easier to form a relationship and come to an understanding. It also allows the LWW team to split up and work on multiple points at a time. When the people from Cody went to Guatemala for their early visits, the translating was great, but the process was just so much more slow and cumbersome.

The Yalbac community members Oak Ridge is working with are good hard working people. They know the creek water makes them sick, they know the well water is not pure, but they also have little ability to make significant change without the contributions and technical help of LWW (FPC Oak Ridge) and the contributions of Rotary. As an outside observer to what you all are doing in Yalbac, your project seems to be coming together very well and I believe your efforts will be well worth while.

Despite all the differences between Guatemala and Belize one thing remains the same. The key to success is not found in the purification system itself (good as it is); instead what is most critical is the cultural change that takes place through the educational efforts and the empowerment that happens when people are equipped to change their lives for the better.

After my crash course introduction to Belize over the past few days, today (Ash Wednesday) I start doing things more directly related to FPC Cody. We still have some details to pin down for the Oak Ridge folks in relation to Yalbec, but later today we meet with Raphael Ku who is the director of Presbyterian Schools in Belize. This should prove useful for our visit to Orange Walk on Saturday, where FPC Cody may have an opportunity to work with the local Presbyterian School there. Not only is Raphael the Director of Presbyterian Schools in Belize, but his sister in law, Ruth Ku is also director or principal of the Orange Walk School. (In Wyoming we like to say that the state is just a small town with very long streets. In that regard Belize is very similar.) I may get put to work on this trip yet.

I am constantly grateful to Dan, Chuck, Dave and Ray for bringing me along on this excursion. Without their allowing me to be a fifth wheel on this trip I could never have had such a good experience in such a short period of time. Thanks FPC Oak Ridge.
(P.S. One of your team members snores tremendously.)

Pat Montgomery

Yalbac Resort

2009-02-25T10:11:00.002-05:00

We stayed Monday night at Victor Tut’s unfinished resort just outside Yalbac village. It’s on a hill within easy walking distance of the well site where our treatment system will be placed. The building is a pretty impressive poured concrete structure, with three stories embedded into the hilltop. The top floor is a big concrete slab bigger than a basketball court and covered with beautiful tile. There’s a kitchen at one end and a bar at the other end, and no walls with a railing all around. The hammocks suspended from the concrete beams were inviting and the views of the mist rising from the distant hills were spectacular. The thatched roof soared 30 feet overhead and created a wonderful jungle ambiance. All our rooms were on the floor below this community area, and none of this was finished and ready for “prime time”. We had the place to ourselves, except for Victor, his wife, and a handful of their staff. An interesting juxtaposition of wealth; the potential luxury of the resort, still in a raw and unfinished state; and a short walk away, the subsistence level living of Yalbac village. A country of contrasts.
Dan

Small Country

2009-02-25T09:53:00.000-05:00

Belize is a small country. I was reminded again of this Monday morning at Jesus Guerra’s house. Jesus is on the Water Board for Cristo Rey. Chuck and I had been introduced to him by Atiliano Jones last March. This time we had just come from Victor Tut’s Crystal Paradise Resort, where Ray had negotiated prices for a stay at Victor’s unfinished resort within walking distance of Yalbac village. The only thing separating Jesus’ property from Victor’s in Cristo Rey was a 16 acre parcel owned by a friend of Ray, and some old and deep-seated animosity.
Yalbac is nearly an hour’s drive away from Cristo Rey, even though it’s only 25 miles or so in distance. Even so, Victor himself hosted us at the lodge in Yalbac, with his wife doing the cooking. I negotiated to stay again at the lodge in two months when we come back to install the water system. I wish I knew what price we’d agreed on!
Tomorrow, Wednesday, we head to Belmopan, about an hour to the east. Sheree asked if we might be interested in meeting with someone on the Rural Development Board. When we said yes, she promptly got on the phone. When she got off the phone, she said we had a meeting scheduled for tomorrow at 2 with Ernest Banner, the Minister of the National Rural Development Board. So tomorrow while Dave and Aki go on a scavenger hunt for water parts, Sheree and Pat and I will be meeting with a National Minister.
Belize is a small country.
Dan

A few pictures

2009-02-25T07:21:00.010-05:00

Here are a few pictures to help you envision where we've been so far. I hope they'll be in roughly chronological order (since I haven't played with pictures before on the blog I don't know how they'll turn out).

This was our first stop in the village of Gale's Point. This village appeared to be possibly the most needy of the various stops we have made but they also appeared to have access to water resources that they weren't currently utilizing. This was also different from the other areas we've visited because it's located along the coast.

Heading back in the other direction, this picture was taken at Hope Creek. This is situated at the junction of two major roads so although they didn't currently have a good supply of water, they potentially could get bottled water delivered easily. The village was devastated by a major flood that swept through last October. Based on the water marks we saw, the water in this location looked like it rose to about the height of the trailer bed in the picture. In the picture you can see the homeowner who's water we were sampling along with Ray Hopkins, Pat Montgomery, Chuck Hadden (back to you) and Dan Terpstra.

We then headed further south into the Toledo district. Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures from the Hope Mission in Mafredi. This picture was taken in the village of Santa Cruz which is located further south (west?) This was another unique location nestled in rolling hills and consisting mostly of thatched building. Here Ray is explaining what we want to do (test water) and negotiating over crafts they were trying to sell. I don't think they saw too many cars come through and all along the road the locals tried to get us to stop and buy their crafts.

We then headed north to our current location near Yalbac. This picture was taken in Yalbac and we're re-testing the well that we plan to use for our installation in May. The hand pump will be replaced by an electric pump powered by the generator that we need to install for the water purification system. In addition to Dan and Pat, Aki and Sheree Fukai are shown providing the "people power" for the pump. They are our local partners from the San Ignacio Rotary Club.

This picture was taken looking back toward the Catholic church and school. This is the spot where we hope to see the water purification building standing two months from now.

As the first visible sign that we plan to return and make something happen, yesterday we pounded some stakes in the ground to mark the approximate location of the new building.
To God be the glory!
Dave

Tuesday, Yalbac to San Ignacio

2009-02-24T11:37:00.000-05:00

I spoke with the principal of the school this morning. His main question was when we were going to get started. He was very cooperative and agreed to use Living Waters arts and crafts in the classrooms. The children don't go to school on Friday afternoon, and he said he would ask them to come back after lunch on installation Friday, when we anticipate being ready to have the village adults teach the children. I noticed a poster on the classroom wall about hand-washing that could have come from Living Waters literature, so I was very encouraged about their receptivity to hygiene education.

On the way back, we saw many cattle egrets and some of what Dave insisted were horse egrets. I assumed the cattle egrets and horse egrets were willing to intermingle, but we didn't stick around long enough to see. (At the resort I saw a bird that looked very much like a wood thrush. When I Googled Belizean thrushes, I found that it was a wood thrush.) The trip back to San Ignacio included an essential stop in Spanish Lookout for Mennonite ice cream. Then to get back we had to cross a river on a hand-cranked cable ferry that held a maximum of three cars.

We made a fortuitous contact with a woman in the Agriculture Ministry pesticide control field office just outside of San Ignacio. We had been told in Yalbac that the villagers were concerned that pesticide runoff from rice farms upstream might be getting into their groundwater. The woman at the Ag office was gratified that the villagers were aware of and concerned about pesticides, and she promised to have one of her staff research what chemicals might be in use.

Dinner was at a Sri Lankan restaurant. My fish curry was really tasty, but what I thought would be Sri Lankan mild and Gringo spicy was really pretty mild. Their papadum was also very good, but much different in flavor from Indian papadum.

I am being dragged off to a meeting (I am actually writing this Thursday morning). More later.

Peace,
Chuck

Monday in Cayo District

2009-02-23T22:55:00.000-05:00

We got to Hanna's restaurant in San Ignacio shortly after 6 AM because Ray said it would be really crowded by 6:15. Actually, maybe four other parties had come in by 6:45. I had papaya and pineapple with homemade yogurt and granola. A nice change from eggs and beans.

We went up through Cristo Rey to the Crystal Paradise resort, where Ray negotiated with Victor Tut to set rates to stay at Tut's resort in Yalbac. We saw hummingbirds twice as big as those at home, brown jays the size of small crows, and a collared aracari, as well as several birds and flowers I couldn't identify.

After dropping off a present for Nadean Jones's grandbaby at Cristo Rey, we picked up Sherree and Aki and went up to Yalbac. I talked to one of the teachers about or education plans. He thought it was a good idea but couldn't comment on whether we could use any class time or whether he thought we could use the church, and he clearly did not want to stay after school to help with the teaching.

Meetings with the village elders were successful beyond our expectations. The folks at the evening meeting of the village council were enthusiastic and seemed savvy about what we were planning. We left feeling that we really would end up with a signed covenant. One of the council, a 17-year old who had interpreted for the afternoon meeting, felt this was so important that she came in her church dress and earrings.

Monday night we were treated to a howler monkey chorus and then a heavy rain shower. Another interesting feature was that after we went to bed the generator was turned off and didn't come on again until just before breakfast. It was very dark with the overcast and no city lights around.

Chuck

Cayo

2009-02-22T23:08:00.001-05:00

We made it to Cayo. This is the name of both the largest district and the nickname of the largest town in western Belize. Formerly known as San Ignacio, it’s smaller than Oak Ridge, but the jumping off point for our adventures in Yalbac.
We attended the Anglican (don’t call us Episcopal) church in Placencia this morning, after which we all had brunch. Ray headed for a swim, as the rest of us headed back to the guest house to pack and dispose of some water samples. So far two of the samples we collected on our first day have shown positive for biological contamination: the creek near Gales Point at the old pumping station, and the spigot in Ramon’s village of Hope Creek. The second of those, Ramon’s village, may be a good possibility for a future water site.
On our way back up Hummingbird Highway, we decided to stop at Jaguar Creek and look around. As we drove down the dirt road in a light drizzle, we came upon Matteo and his wife walking toward camp from the bus stop. Matteo was a security guard during both of our previous stays at Jaguar Creek. He remembered us after a brief puzzlement, and asked if Sarah was still playing soccer. He invited us to look around, and since not much had changed, it brought back a flood of memories as we showed it off proudly to Ray and Pat.
We continued on to Belmopan and headed down Western Highway toward Cayo town. We rolled in about 5:30 and checked into 5 little stand-alone wooden bungalows in the back near the river. A flurry of phone calls was mostly unproductive, but I was able to talk to Lucy, the young daughter of the water board president in Cristo Rey to let him know we would stop in briefly in the morning to arrange a longer visit later in the week. We also set up an early morning meeting with Victor Tut, owner of a resort south of Cristo Rey and a camp near Yalbac where we hope to stay tomorrow night. As we prepared to walk to dinner, we were surprised to see Sheree and Aki, our local Rotary contacts roll into the parking lot. We took them to dinner and had a long and productive conversation over a good meal. They are a class act, and have everything under control. I’m more confident than ever that this trip will be a success.
I hope to post this entry if I can find a wireless signal. After that it might be a couple days before I get another chance.
It’s gratifying to see the comments on the blog and know that someone’s reading this. Keep commenting. And keep praying for us. So far this trip has been blessed with few and minor glitches. I’m grateful and confident that we’ll be able to achieve our major goals.
Dan Terpstra

Placencia, Jaguar Creek, San Ignacio

2009-02-22T22:39:00.001-05:00

Ray and I started the day with coffee at dawn at Yoli's restaurant on the pier. Sunrise over the ocean didn't really happen. There was a line of clouds on the horizon that rose as fast as the sun. I guess that means the clouds were moving east to west, which seems strange to me.

At church we were treated to a baptism, whose participants were not readily identifiable except the baby, Mom, and the priest. There were two other women and a man in the group, whom some thought were godmother, aunt, and father, but I thought were grandmother and godparents. I think Dad slipped in after the service for the family picture. The priest took the party to task at one point for not answering the questions loudly enough. The baby was wearing white slacks and jacket and a lovely ecclesiastical stole, which is not common in Belize but is in Guatemala, where the woman I thought was grandmother had bought it.

After brunch, at which I had a french toast sandwich filled with chocolate and topped with a white sauce containing a berry liquer, we checked out and headed back to the Hokey Pokey water taxi.

After stops in Jaguar Creek and then at Ian Anderson's to look for Ray's daily requirement of iron-in-Guiness, we arrived at our resort in San Ignacio. The resort comprises a number of cabins in a row of trees that have labels giving the scientific name, common name, habitat, and medicinal uses. They included avocado, almond, trumpet tree, and custard apple. It was a great surprise that my cabin had a large cable TV. There were at least six soccer channels, and channels 110-113 were in Chinese. What I heard later seemed to be that most of the cable service was pirated from somebody else's signals.

Sherree and Aki arrived just as we were contemplating supper. We walked up the street to a restaurant where the tables were under an open roof. We had great food and conversation, and also kids on bicycles and dogs running around among the tables.

It was really nice to catch up with Sherree and Aki again and incorporate Sherree's enthusiasm with ours. Aki's support is strong and quiet. He really seems to be key in getting projects done. We are blessed to be working with both of them and have them mentor us on the ways of Belize.

Transitions

2009-02-21T23:37:00.000-05:00

I’m sitting on the veranda on the second floor of Dianni’s Guest House, enjoying the pleasant ocean breezes and feeling the slight glow of a mild sunburn. It’s late; 11:00 back home, but only 10:00 here. Dianni’s is in the town of Placencia on the tipoff a 17 mile peninsula about halfway down the coast of Belize.
Today is an early R&R day, between our commitments at Hope Mission in Mafredi last night and this morning, and our commitments in San Ignacio and Yalbac beginning tomorrow evening.
It’s been a pleasant day. We woke up to the sound of the ocean in Punta Gorda and trekked back to Mafredi for breakfast at Jerry Parham’s house next door to the Hope Mission Center at 7:30. We arrived right on time – very American. After breakfast we had a long and engaging conversation with Jerry and Valerie Osborne about future directions and opportunities. I’m optimistic we can together make something happen to God’s glory and the benefit of the people of this area.
Around mid-morning we headed deeper into the mountains toward the Guatemala border. Our goal was two-fold:
First, to visit a small Mayan village that Rebekah Pound mentioned to us yesterday. She said we would find it representative of the small poor villages in the area. It was. While collecting a water sample from the pumping station, we were accosted by 3 generations of Mayan women and children eager to sell us their handmade wares. Ben now has a new bracelet and Sarah has a brightly colored handbag.
Second, to visit a waterfall that Ray remembers from a visit over a decade ago. When it became apparent that Ray, the oldest member of our team, fully intended to jump off the bluff nearly 30 feet above the pool below the falls, Dave and I couldn’t let him be the only one. We stripped to our skivvies and joined him in the water. Thankfully no pictures accompany the event.
A long ride on rough dirt roads finally brought us back to the paved Southern Highway and north to Independence. On Ray’s insistence, we parked the SUV and took the Hokey Pokey ferry from Independence across the lagoon to Dianni’s place in Placencia. After some sight-seeing and fruit gelato, we wandered down to Yoli’s place on the beach. Ray wanted to know who was cooking dinner. Yoli herself came out and gave Ray a big hug along with assurances that she was the cook tonight. We had a couple rounds on a pier over the bay, watching some big catamarans reposition themselves, and talking to Yoli’s husband Ragan. He’s a Canadian ex-pat with some valuable knowledge about the goings-on around Yalbac.
Dinner was excellent; shrimp, grouper and black snapper. The conversation matched the meal, including a rollicking tale from Pat Montgomery about how he single handedly salvaged the merger of the Northern and Southern Presbyterian churches oh so many years ago. An after dinner walk took Ray and Chuck and me on a scavenger hunt to find the daughter and son-in-law of Jerry Parham. This morning his wife told us over breakfast that they both work at restaurants in Placencia. We found them, and embarrassed them at their work place by showing up as three old white guys they’d never met with a message from mom and dad. It’s a story they’re sure to repeat.
Now it’s late and time for bed. Tomorrow it’s off to Northwest Belize and another adventure.
Dan Terpstra

Saturday PM, Punta Gorda to Placencia

2009-02-21T22:29:00.003-05:00

First, my thoughts about Punta Gorda. The southernmost large town in Belize, PG was a disappointment when we visited Friday night. It was dreary, with dirty, shabby buildings packed close together. Other than political rallies by both the ins and the outs, nothing seemed to be going on. Ray seemed to delight in taking us up one empty street and down the next, pointing out all the shuttered shops and restaurants. Not a place to vacation or do much of anything else.

We started our Saturday venture with a search for bakery shops so Ray could get pastries. No luck, they were closed. We went back to the Hope mission for a delicious breakfast of beans, fresh fruit, fry bread and fried dukunus. Fry bread is something like a light fluffy large sopapilla made with wheat flour. Dukunus are a kind of tamale made from a lump of freshly ground white corn mush steamed in a corn husk. We had had fresh duconos Friday night, and the leftovers were sliced and fried for breakfast.

Our hosts, the local director of the mission and his wife, had ancestors from southern India. He is a rice farmer in addition to his duties with the mission and as the head of the village council.

After breakfast we headed up into the hills on roads that wandered through the forest and would probably have been twice as long if you measured up and down through the potholes as well as forward. We passed through the village of San Antonio, which had a paved road(!), and then on to San Marcos to take a water sample. Before the car had stopped moving at the San Marcos well, a young woman came running down the hill to be the first to offer us crafts to buy. She had a covered palm basket the size of a volley ball, which was lovely and probably a steal at $30 US, but it seemed too large to pack and bring home. Now I am wishing I had decided to find a way to bring it home. The woman had four small children and another on the way. She was barefoot but wearing a beautiful dress, apparently handmade.

On through the village we saw free range chickens, horses, pigs, and even a peccary (javelina in Texas). Also churches, a school, and a library. I think you have read about our adventures at the waterfall.

On the way back north, we had pavement briefly, then several miles of dirt-surfaced road construction, and finally pavement again. We went first through orange groves, then banana plantations, more oranges, more bananas, and back to oranges. There weren’t many kinds of flowers, mostly a yellow daisy-like composite on trees that were up to about 30 feet high. In the towns, however, there were many varieties of hibiscus and bougainvillea, all on large bushes. Most of the birds inland were grackles, but I did see a king vulture Friday, kingfishers at the waterfall, and a pair of yellow kiskadees today. Out on the beach at Placencia there were brown pelicans, gulls, cormorants, and a few magnificent frigate birds.

Placencia seems somehow disconnected from the rest of Belize, like Key Caulker did. People elsewhere have their own real lives, but in Placencia everything seems to be related to partying and shopping. It’s much less dreary than Punta Gorda.

Saturday night we had supper at a restaurant on a pier over the ocean. The proprietor and her husband were friends of Ray, as many people in Belize seem to be. We had a delicious meal of shrimp and fish with coconut rice and salad. Dan and Ray and I wandered around for a while finding the daughter and son-in-law of the Hope Mission folks, and then abandoned the hopping nightlife in favor of sleep.

Dave has been twitting me about how much I am writing, so enough for now. To maintain my record, my Sunday entry will come in on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Chuck

Day One

2009-02-20T23:35:00.000-05:00

It’s been a long and busy day. I’m rewinding and trying to find an anecdote that captures the essence of the day. I’m not sure there’s one that will do it.
Might it be the conversation with the school principal at Gales Point who just wants clean water for her kids to drink? She couldn’t even provide us a sample because today there was no water. The pump was not working and she didn’t know why.
Or Karl, the operator who rode two miles on Ray’s lap to the pump house for the Gales Point well, and fired up the diesel generator to power the electric pump to pump the water so we could get a sample. Oh, by the way, since the pump is running, let’s go ahead and fill the water tank.
Or maybe the Nazarene lay pastors who hosted us for lunch (stewed chicken and rice and beans…or beans and rice). They listened intently as we outlined the role of Living Waters for the World.
Ramon, a former cop and bar owner, and a recent convert to Christianity, was impressive in his passion for his faith and his community. He’s setting up an internet café, the first in his community and promises to have his own email address on March 9. He wants very much for us to “approve his application” for a Living Waters system so his church can provide affordable clean water to the disadvantaged in his community.
Maybe Rebekah Pound, niece of a Nazarene “pioneer” missionary who came to Belize over 30 years ago. She came to Belize over 6 years ago to do recovery work for Hurricane Iris. She stayed and started a High School. She talked with us intently about wanting to do good for the people of the villages of southern Belize. She thinks water might be a part of that picture.
Or Jerry Parham, village elder rice grower and school bus driver in Mafredi. He opened his house to us for dinner, accompanied by four surprise (to us) house guests from Kentucky who we hadn’t expected to meet. Then he offered to let us sleep in the house with his wife and son and granddaughter (and Kentucky guests) when it was discovered that the killer bees living behind the church had migrated inside.
Or maybe Ray Hopkins, extravert extraordinaire, who hobnobbed with everyone in sight, brought a smile to many faces through the day, and pestered the innkeepers at a hotel in Punta Gorda (we couldn’t take advantage of Jerry’s genuinely gracious hospitality) to find us a place with rooms available. And who decided after we’d checked in to another hotel, to pay a visit to the owner when the night manager told us he couldn’t honor the 10% discount that the first innkeepers had negotiated for us. I still don’t know the outcome of that story.
The bottom line: if the remaining trip is as adventure filled as today, I’ll come home exhausted. With a big and satisfied smile on my face. God is good.
Dan Terpstra

On the Mission Circuit!

2009-02-20T22:23:00.002-05:00

We covered a lot of ground today. Most of the others did the heavy lifting. I’ll let Dan provide the gory details. The first stop struck me as the most frustrating. The poverty was significant and our primary task was to convince people of very limited resources that they needed to be concerned, and ultimately pay for, pure water (that’s why I’m a LWW tech person and not a people person).
We visited a number of villages, took many water samples and drove on miles and miles of dirt roads. We finished the day at the Hope Mission Center and were surprised to find our contacts from Kentucky came down here to work at the last minute (they say hi, Tim). Things took a further surprising turn when our lodging for the night, the local Methodist church, turned out infested by killer bees. Our host offered to put the five of us in his living room along with housing four from Kentucky but we opted to drive up to the nearest “big” city and get some hotel rooms for the night.
We’re on the coast so we should see another great Belizean sunrise tomorrow. We’ll hit a few more villages at the southern most end of our travels before heading up to the Yalbac area on Sunday.
Peace to all,
Dave

We've Arrived

2009-02-20T07:47:00.002-05:00

We've arrived safe and sound in Belize.

Deju vu all over again (see my first post during last years trip). Our flight was delayed out of Knoxville and we only had a forty five minute lay over in Atlanta to begin with. A rush through the Atlanta airport but we made it okay.

We met up with Pat in Atlanta (he actually spotted me, I guess I looked distinctly Presbyterian) and Ray was waiting for us outside the Belize airport with the car already to go.

Beautiful drive to our first night's stop. A little cramped with five guys plus luggage in a small SUV. We'll be drawing straws to see who drives, who gets shot-gun and the loser sits in the middle in the back.

We stopped for a late lunch in Belmopan. We all had "Cow's Foot Soup". Quaint name. I won when I discovered a good size bit of "hoof" at the bottom of the bowl.

We then stopped in Armenia. The water system wasn't in terrible disrepair. The brass faucets had been removed but not broken off. Unfortunately it also looked like the tanks hadn't been used in a while. They were empty and the tie-down straps were missing (maybe they disappeared when the faucets were taken). On the up side the last large tank (the one Ben climbed inside to clean) had been plumbed into the bathroom in the Community Building.

We proceeded through the mountains on Humingbird Highway south of Jaguar Creek (the direction we didn't typically drive). The last seven miles were on a dusty durt road and we ended up at a small church camp for the night.

Today we're off to investigate a few potential water sites.

Peace to all,
Dave

Advance

2009-02-19T22:11:00.000-05:00

Thursday evening
We made it to the Advance Mission at about 5:30 this afternoon. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but this is Belize. Ray encouraged us to take Hummingbird Highway instead of the Coastal Highway. Judging from the 7 miles we finally did travel on the dirt and potholes of Coastal, that was probably the right choice. Isidro and his wife cooked up a delicious dinner of chicken with rice and beans (or is it beans and rice?) while the five of us settled into a dorm built for 32. After dinner Ray Neu joined us to explain his role in teaching lay pastors to more effectively minister in the area and his interest in helping us with clean water systems. He provided us with a new tidbit of information: Barry Bowen’s Crystal Water is now available as refills for $2 BZ for a five gallon jug. That’s very cost competitive and raises the question as to whether we should try to compete with those prices. This may lead us to consider focusing on areas where Crystal is not readily available; too small or remote.
We learned a great deal of valuable and interesting information from Ray and Ray today. It’s kinda overwhelming to try to absorb it all. Tomorrw the plan is to visit a government school in Gales Point about 10 miles north of here. The principal filled out a Water Issues Survey and we want to complete the picture with a water sample. After that we’ll head to Mafredi, stopping in Hope Creek for another water sample and in Silk Grass to pick up a Survey to go along with it.
I’m looking around the room. Everyone else is asleep, or at least trying to. I suppose I should turn off the lights. Good night.
Dan Terpstra

On our Way

2009-02-19T14:04:00.000-05:00

We're in the air over Atlanta and the captain has just announced that we can use approved electronic devices. So out comes my computer. I've got a choice. I can write another entry for the blog. Or I can write an update on the Community Garden for the Banner. Blog sounds more fun.
Mary Mullins delivered us safely to the airport this morning, where we cooled our heels waiting for departure. We sat on the ground for a half hour waiting for clearance from Atlanta. A bit unnerving, since we only had a 45 minute layover. We made it, after a mad dash up the escalators to our gate. And we even got a chance to meet Pat Montgomery, albeit very briefly, before boarding.
I’ve got a window seat, and I must not be composing my thoughts too quickly, because I can see the Florida coast as I glance out the window. Soon we’ll be in Belize. I’m trying to focus on today and not look too far ahead.
An email yesterday from our host for tonight, Ray Neu, indicates that he’s been busy. He says he’s got several completed Water Issues Surveys from locations in our area, and recommends that we stop at a school on the way to Dangriga to talk with the principal who is interested in a water system.
Valerie Osborne, our contact for Mafredi, tells us that although there’s no café or restaurant in the village (just a church, a school, two shops and four houses), the local families are excited about our visit tomorrow and planning to cook for us. She says we’re in for a treat.
Another email message last night indicates that Ray Hopkins, our Swarthmore partner, is still negotiating a place to stay for Monday night. One of the families of Yalbac has a resort near Cristo Rey, and a camp near Yalbac. We’d like to stay overnight at the camp while we’re negotiating with the village about the water system, but so far the price we’ve been quoted for the camp is higher than for the resort. We’ll need to see what happens here.
We’ve picked up a solid cloud cover, so there’s nothing to see out the window. I hope it breaks before we get to Cuba. In the meanwhile I suppose I should write that garden article.
Dan Terpstra

Back To Belize

2009-02-17T21:42:00.004-05:00

It's Tuesday night as I write. Weather.com says its 47 degrees. In Belmopan, the capital of Belize, it's 73, On Thursday morning three of us, me, Dave Mullins, and Chuck Hadden, will be headed back to Belize. I can't wait. This will be Dave's second trip, Chuck's fourth, and my third. Our main goal this time is to make sure everything's in place for a water system installation in late April, but we'll be covering a lot of other ground as well. This is the third trip I've planned since 2005, and in many ways it's both the easiest and hardest. There are far fewer of us to worry about, but the agenda is far more fluid and open ended.

As in the past we intend to blog the experience as we go, and hope you'll follow along. Don't forget, you can also post comments so we can get a bit of feedback. This first entry will set the stage, introduce some additional players, and give you an idea of where we'll be when.

Come Thursday morning February 19, bright and early, we'll convene at the church, declare a quorum, and prevail upon Mary Mullins to take us to the airport. By mid-morning we'll be scanning the Atlanta airport looking for Pat Montgomery, pastor of 1st Presbyterian, Cody WY. He'll be our travelling companion for the rest of the trip. By early afternoon we'll be basking in the balmy Belizean air and scanning the arrivals area for Ray Hopkins, retired Political Science Professor from Swarthmore, and member of the Swarthmore Rotary. He should have our rental SUV and be ready to take us to our first destination.

In a little less detail, here's where we'll be spending the rest of our week:

Thursday night finds us at the Advance Mission north of Dangriga about halfway down the Belizean coast. We met Ray Neu at the car rental place last March and when we mentioned water, he asked us to come for a visit.

Friday night, the 20th, we'll be sleeping in the church at Mafredi, a small village about 17 miles inland from Punta Gorda in Southern Belize. Wil Howie and Tim Myrick met Mitch and Valerie Osborne at a LWW Appalachia meeting last November and they insisted we needed to visit their Hope Mission in Mafredi to explore the possibility of a water system.

Saturday afternoon and evening is early R&R in Placencia which, according to Ray Hopkins is one of the prettiest beaches in Belize. We'll let you know.

We hope to stop in at Jaguar Creek on Sunday to say hi to Matteo, even though Mark and Adrienne, our hosts from last year will have left for the States on Wednesday. We also plan to stop in Armenia and get a few pictures of the water tanks and laundry facility.

By Sunday night we'll be in San Ignacio where we'll be based for most of the upcoming week. It's the largest town in West Central Belize. From here we'll be working on finalizing plans for a water system in Yalbac, a village about 20 miles north. We also hope to have time to visit our friends in Cristo Rey, south of San Ignacio and further discuss a future relationship and possible water system.

On Friday February 27 we head back to Belize City to drop Ray at the airport. From there the remaining four of us head north to Orange Walk. We'll meet with the principal of the Presbyterian Day School Saturday morning with the hope of laying the groundwork for restarting the Living Waters system installed there in 2003.

Finally on Sunday, March 1, it's back to Belize City and then back to the States.

Please visit this blog throughout our trip and keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We have high expectations for this trip, even as we have high anxiety about the many holes left to fill. We know that through God all things are possible.

Dan Terpstra for
the LWW Belize Team

Cristo Rey

2008-03-31T19:50:00.009-04:00

We turned right from Santa Elena and headed south toward Cristo Rey. We had just driven a loop over the low steel plate bridge on the Macal River, into San Ignacio, and then back across the Macal on the Hawkesworth Bridge, a high and picturesque single lane suspension bridge built by the British in 1949. We climbed a hill and left the village. The road quickly turned to dirt, or actually a kind of familiar East Tennessee sort of wet and sticky red clay. I was glad to be driving a 4-wheel SUV, just in case. Chuck was riding shotgun, with Lynn, Jessica and Peggy in the back. The short trip to Cristo Rey – just a couple miles – was punctuated by real estate signs advertising your own piece of jungle paradise on the banks of the Macal.

My brief phone conversation with Jamie the night before had provided our directions. We were to look for a park on the right side of the road after entering Cristo Rey, and then ask the first person we saw where Atiliano Jones lived. I spotted the park, and pulled the SUV in front of a small tienda a few hundred yards down the road. Peggy and I got out and asked after Atiliano, as instructed. The shopkeeper pointed to a small blue house across the street. We’d found our destination with 20 minutes to spare. As we walked up to the blue house, we saw Atiliano stride out from the porch of a house two doors down. He was a striking figure, large and athletic. His button-down shirt and slacks made me self-conscious in my t-shirt and shorts.

Atiliano invited us to share the porch of his bother’s house while we made small talk and waited for the chairman of the water board to arrive. He was obviously uncomfortable with these strange Americans who not only arrived on time, but even came EARLY.

After several uneasy glances at Atiliano’s watch, the water board chair, Jesus Guerra, came roaring down the trail behind the house in a beat-up pickup truck. We reconvened at the community center with his nephew, the chair of the village council and settled in to talk water. Jesus’ two main concerns were that it would cost too much in electricity (very expensive in Belize) to generate purified water, and that people would think it was inferior to bottled Crystal water. While Lynn and I took and measured water samples, we assured him and his nephew Joe that a Living Waters system could produce water as good as Crystal for way less than the $2.50 - $4.00 Bz that many in the village were currently paying. After treating us to a round of papaya smoothies (made with Crystal water!), Jesus told me he wanted to take me to his house while the others regrouped on Atiliano’s brother’s porch.

Thinking that I was in for a wild ride, I was surprised when we pulled into a homestead not much more than a stone’s throw from the porch where the others now sat, but back in the woods on the bank of the river. Two boys were cutting palm fronds to rethatch the palapa next to the house. Jesus invited me in. It was small – three rooms – and shabbier than Atiliano’s brother's. Half a dozen dogs kept me preoccupied while Jesus found his daughter and had her give me her hotmail address for future email communications. I asked her how often she checked it, and in a worldy tone she answered “Oh, at least once a week, sometimes more!”

Jesus delivered me back to Atiliano, and we walked to the house between his blue house and his brother’s house. His mother greeted us at the back door and ushered us into the kitchen. A bowl full of tamales wrapped in plantain leaves was served up, along with water that we were assured came straight from the cistern.

It was a morning of hospitality. Shared food, shared conversations and a shared sense of community permeated our visit. Although poor, Cristo Rey did not feel impoverished. In fact in many ways it seemed to provide a richer lifestyle than the ones we aspire to in suburban America

- dan terpstra

Blocks

2008-03-29T11:29:00.002-04:00

Thinking back...

Monday Morning Construction

Task one for the week is to build a concrete block platform for the fourth water tank; the one currently perched haphazardly near the laundry building. Three years ago it sat on a wooden platform next to the Development Center and provided water for the two flush toilets inside the building. Soon it will have a new concrete home and fill that role (and the toilets) again.

The two guys from Jaguar Creek (I wish I knew their names) are busy measuring and staking out the footings for the platform, a job that requires skills and knowledge we don’t have. We cut a few stakes for them, using Dave and Charica’s window shutter lumber, but soon run out of work. I see a stack of concrete blocks in front of the building. Sooner or later they’ll be needed for the platform. I decide to move them. It’s make-work, but necessary.

“Sarah, Matt – let’s move these blocks” “OK, How do you carry them?” I instruct the college kids to hold one block in each hand, careful to keep them away from your legs. Watch out, they’re rough. Walk slowly, you don’t want to trip.

I hoist a block in each hand and turn to make the trip to the back of the building. Directly in front of me is a little guy, all bright eyes, big smile and bare feet. He looks up at me with a toothy grin. “Sir! Sir! I can help?” It isn’t a question as much as a request. I have my doubts. The blocks are nearly half his height. But he is so eager. I try to work out how he’s going to carry such a large and heavy object; one hand on each end? He shakes his head vigorously and turns his back to me. He lifts his hands back behind his head and waits. I finally catch on and place the block between his hands, the weight resting on his back. He scampers off across the construction site, a trip he’ll repeat more times than I will as I try to keep him busy and happy.

I find out later from Sarah that his name is Miguel and he’s 5 years old. He spends the day with us, eagerly helping in any way he can (and cajoling a push on the swings from Sarah whenever he can). There’s a lesson in Miguel’s eager participation that I still haven’t quite put my finger on. I wonder about the metaphor of the concrete block. What blocks in our lives prevent us from living as fully and joyfully as I saw Miguel live on Monday? What tasks do we decide are too tough or too big to tackle, instead of saying “Sir! Sir! I can help!” Here I am Lord. Send me.

- dan terpstra

The trip home - from Nancy

2008-03-26T22:21:00.001-04:00

We may have been delayed, but we got home safely and that's what counts. There were 7 of us who arrived at the airport in Belize City on Saturday in plenty of time for our flights back to the United States. Anne, Catherine, Emily, and Lauren were flying American Airlines and they were departing before Joanie, Erin, and I. The employee came over the intercom to announce it was time for them to board and we gave hugs and they were on their way. We watched their plane take off and everything seemed in order...

Our plane (U.S. Airways) was supposed to board at 11:45 a.m. so that we could depart at 12:15. People started standing up about that time and were crowding around the counter, so we figured it was time to board and followed suit. It wasn't long until we heard the word "delay." Apparently the airport was low on fuel and we would only have enough fuel to fly to Cancun where we would refuel for the rest of the trip. This is not the weekend to fly into Cancun - spring break, anyone? We would not be leaving Belize City until 2:00 and would hopefully get into Charlotte at 7:55. That would work - maybe - our flight to Knoxville was scheduled to leave Charlotte at 8:20 p.m. Could we clear customs in record time? Not to worry... the plane trip to Cancun took a long time because of the lack of fuel (we flew slowly) and it took quite a while to refuel once we got there. The Cancun airport also uses the same runway for arrivals and departures, so taking off took another 45 minutes as we sat on the runway and waited. We landed in Charlotte at approximately 8:45 p.m. The airlines gave us hotel and meal vouchers and told us we would be spending the night in Charlotte. We didn't make it to the Easter worship service as we had planned - our flight the next morning landed at 11:15 a.m. We were glad to be home after a wonderful week - and we were so glad that we made it safely!

Fom Anne, Friday

2008-03-21T16:08:00.000-04:00

Orphanage Update - Sorry I haven't posted all week, but you know I hate technology.

Tuesday Joanie and I headed back to the orphanage. I did more laundry and she worked in the kitchen and a dentist was there. Dora did say that she appreciated the help. We had more time with the kids. At one point I had Lequesha and Leah (Dora's daughter) each on a knee. It reminded me of when the twins were little. After about an hour, Lequesha asked me if she could tell me a secret in my ear. I said yes, and she whispered in my ear "I'm afraid of the dentist". I told her I used to be also and we went and watched the dentist for about 30 minutes. Then she told me to follow her and she went and put her name on the list for the dentist! I told her she was a brave girl. Joanie had a lot of time with the kids since lunch was so late.

Wednesday morning I took a walk with the teens and went back to the orphanage to take the older kids to swim at blue hole. Of course they weren't ready when we got there, but we stayed cool and waited until they were. Chio (the bus driver) started honking the horn and they all started climbing on the bus. They asked Joanie and I if we wanted to ride with them and we agreed. Chio makes the trip in a lot less time than any of our drivers! I think our children were scared for our lives, but Joanie & I stayed cool. When we got there we had kids everywhere and it was chaos. Kids jumping where they shouldn't, swimming past where they should, and wandering off. I manned the water and Peggy used her teacher voice from above to keep everyone in line. We even took Eleona, a blind girl. Joanie spent the entire time with her, but we were a little amazed they sent her with us. She did beautifully and she sang several to Joanie in Spanish. Together they sang This is the Day the Lord hath Made in English and then she sang it in English Creole. When it was time to go, Chio started honking the horn, we did a count and thought we were missing 3 kids, they told us there was an extra kid we were missing also. They kept saying they would catch the bus home, but eventually the bus pulled out and the other 4 showed up and got on. I don't think we were following Girl Scout Safety Wise, but were doing it the Belezian way.

Thursday was back to the orphanage for teens, medical and us. We were going to take the kids to the park and play games, but it was raining. So we stayed flexible and ended up playing with the kids and helping them brave the medical team. I apparently have several new daughters since my girls have new sisters. When we got in the van, the teens and us were crying because they wouldn't see their new friends again. I know Kings Children Home is going to be in our monthly budget.

Thanks for all your support. We are flying home tomorrow and if we don't have any problems will spend Easter morning with you.

From Erin, Friday

2008-03-21T15:53:00.000-04:00

Today was a "play day", so 15 of us traveled to Xunantunich (we had a lot of trouble pronouncing and spelling this word!) to visit Mayan ruins. The ruins were absolutely astounding. There were several very large, stone temples. The largest pyramid temple was around 150 feet, but we're not sure the exact height. We just know that it was EXTREMELY tall, and very scary when we climbed all the way to the top. The weather wasn't exactly nice - it misted pretty much the entire day. Which made it interesting for us to climb the many, many stairs of the temples since they were slippery and wet. Some of us went on all 4 fours and did a "spider crawl" down the temple.

Our guide, Dino, was great - he informed us in great detail of how Mayans sacrificed people to the gods, which was a little gut-wrenching (quite literally). But we learned alot about the culture and history of the Mayan people.
After visiting the ruins we did a little shopping in San Ignacio. We ate lunch at a small cafe and had barbeque chicken, which is a very common Belizean dish. After lunch we headed back to Jaguar Creek...however we encountered many bumps, potholes, and a speed bump on a gravel road along the way. Mike was a great driver, but we had 16 people packed in a 15 passenger van, and the back row hit the ceiling many times from the extreme turbulance. We have had a great time in Belize! Seven of us are flying back tomorrow, and we appreciate your prayers!

Completion!

2008-03-21T11:03:00.002-04:00

The construction projects were completed on Thursday. In a flurry of activity gutters were hung, PVC was cut and glued, valves were installed and the water tanks attached. All this occurred in unusual and less than ideal conditions. It started to rain just before we woke up and continued steadily throughout the day. We climbed on slippery ladders and slogged through mud while finishing the work. In addition we decided to make up t-shirts that say "I went to Belize and almost got hypothermia!" The steady rain combined with a steady breeze left us all chilled.

The one reward from the soggy conditions was that after everything was hooked-up, the rain began to fill the water tanks. By late afternoon when the Living Waters team passed by, there was water available out of the spigots.

There are still some loose ends to tie-up but this morning the conditions are a lot like yesterday's. Shoving our American "completion" complexes aside, we concluded that safety outweighed further progress and decided to take the morning figuring out how to pack our wet and dirty clothes.

My "rain forest" experience is now complete.

See you soon.

Peace,
Dave

From Sumner

2008-03-21T10:59:00.004-04:00

AH!!! I wish I were there with you all! I can completely recall everything you describe - the incredibly green everything, the howler monkeys at night, the creek with its wooden stairs, the glass coke bottles (although that's the norm over here), the cicadas chirping like there's no tomorrow! I miss Jaguar Creek so much! Get elizabeth to show you where the eel lives...have you climbed up the waterfall yet? If you go farther back, there's a deep blue hole where the water comes out. Its so cool (and a tad scary). Anyway, say hi to LaQuisha and Ezekiel and Crystal for me, if they are still there (although they would probably have no idea who you were talking about) Do they still have a dog? When I was there he was just a puppy, and Ezekiel and I (I think) decided to name it Little Basil (no idea why). I bet he's huge now... :) Right now, even in Provence, there is no place I'd rather be than with you all in Belize. And I do mean that!

Love, Sumner

From Chuck

2008-03-21T00:39:00.003-04:00

Thursday night

Today I went with Dan, Peggy, Lynn, and Jessica on a field trip to the San Ignacio area. On the way we stopped at the basketball court we had worked on last spring. It was finished and looked great. From there we went to visit Nadean Jones's husband in the village of Cristo Rey. Dan will likely write about that, so I'll let this be sufficient.

We then visited the Octavia Waight nursing home, where Lynn chatted briefly with a resident she had met last spring and gave him a stack of magazines she had brought. Next, a visit with Rafeal Ku, the general manager of Presbyterian schools in Belize. We discussed the potential water treatment system at the Orange Walk school, and I felt we came to an understanding that we should proceed toward a covenant to rebuild the existing non-functional system.

Tonight we had Maundy Thursday communion. I felt a strong connection with you back home taking communion in a far different place, but linked by the bond between us. I think it went well, by which I mean that I think I didn't prevent anyone's having a worshipful experience. It was my first experience as a celebrant, and a bit scary. I am thankful for the change in the Book of Order that allowed us to have communion and for the training that Pastor Kerra gave me to make it possible.

Back at the lodge after the service, Peggy, Sarah, Ben, Drew, Dale and I sang hymns and gospel songs for a while. It was wonderful to join our voices and our hearts to make such joyful music to praise God.

From Dale, Thursday

2008-03-21T00:33:00.000-04:00

3/20/08 Dale Hadden
Today we worked at the orphanage. We worked in the kitchen because there was a dental team seeing the children where we had worked before. First, several impression - the orphanage is much improved. There is much less debris, the rooms are clean but still crowded. The kitchen is improved. Everything looks freshly painted. This is reflected in the children as well. Three years ago we treated 10 or 12 children with ringworm. This time I treated one. I identified one child with a minor heart murmur and one child (new to the orphanage and young) with badly bowed legs, probably rickets, who needs orthopedic intervention. A few children had ear infections. There were many cases of head lice. The children on the whole were healthy, and their skin looked good. In one long marathon session we completed the physicals on the children, several children of staff members and a few staff members. I was impressed with our teens’ relationship with the children.

From Syd, Thursday

2008-03-21T00:29:00.001-04:00

3/20/2008 Syd Murray
The process to plaster the interior and perhaps the exterior walls is to first load the pointed trowel and toss the mud in evenly delivered blops. Raul tried with great patience to instruct me. The best I could do was to wear most of it on my head or his back. My Spanish is as nonexistent as my mud throwing skills but I thought I heard someone comment that I threw mud like a girl. The comment tasted like cement back home.

Praying for You

2008-03-20T11:44:00.002-04:00

How hard it is to do God's work! God doesn't work on "American" time, or on our "to do lists." The Spirit moves where she will. The projects and programs we think are so important are sometimes God's little ruse to get us where we need to be. In my own ministry, I've seen this time and again. The things I think are important are far less than the events that come unexpected, unannounced and way, way off my schedule. The Spirit's work is seen in hindsight or from looking kind of sideways and unfocused. God called each of you to be in Belize - for reasons which may be yet unknown. It may have been to build relationships more so than to build a laundry house or put shutters on windows. Blessed are the poor and the meek. Perhaps we who are rich and strong have much to learn.

How easy it is to do God's work! Remember that the confessions of our church teach that the chief end of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. That little word - enjoy - is so valuable. Another spiritual teacher acknowledges that to align ourselves with God's purpose is to be filled with joy and enthusiasm, or when we cannot be thrilled about what we're doing to at least be present in the moment - because God is with us, right here, right now. The beauty you see all around you is God's spectacular show. The church's celebration of resurrection is Sunday, but it is with us every moment.

It's both difficult and easy to find ourselves in God's hands doing God's work. Trust in the Spirit. In Jeremiah God comforts all the families of Israel by saying, "The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. When Israel sought for rest; the Lord appeared from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you." God loves you and God is faithful. God will not let you stumble or fall - unless of course you will recognize God more clearly in the face of the person who helps you back up!

We're praying for you!

Kerra

Wednesday

2008-03-20T00:52:00.000-04:00

Today was the last day of medical clinic in Armenia, the clinic was fairly small we only saw 21 people. We saw several men today. The slower pace of clinic allowed me time to talk more with the mothers. One of the mothers was giving her year old child a bottle of sugared coffee! The additional time allowed me to ask her what she was giving her child. Over the period of time we have seen one very sick little girl, a child with malnutrition from worms, and several children with draining ear infections. I was grateful that we had the medications to treat them. We also saw an 89 year old woman with severe arthritis her hands, feet and knees were deformed and she complained of pain. We were able to give her Ibuprofen because the team contributed their own medications. I had given out all the Ibuprofen and Tylenol I had. It was cough and cold season and many of these people cannot even buy aspirin. It was a blessing to be able to give these medications. Odelia and Filberta the community nurses asked if I could give a public talk on asthma and scabies. It was an answer to my prayer, because I had wanted to do more health education. The people volunteers who staffed the clinic have done a fantastic job. They made the clinic successful. Tomorrow we will be working at the orphanage with the children there.

Dale

Who moved the goal posts?

2008-03-20T00:12:00.003-04:00

Everyone seems to have a fantastic success story, so why don't I? The youth have been exceeding everyone's expectations. They completed twice as much painting and bonded with both the Belize kids and with each other. The medical team has seen almost a hundred patients and has had enough time to establish relationships to promote long term health education in addition to short term care.

The Living Waters group returns each day with another challenging opportunity and a call to return this summer to install a water system.

The "results" from the construction team have been mixed. The blocks are up and most of the concrete has been poured. The plumbing and gutters are going up and should be finished by Friday morning.

As for me, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I elected to serve on the carpentry detail to install windows and doors. You need to understand that my idea of a window and what they wanted are two different things. Essentially what they wanted were shutters. That's fine. Once I figured that out I dug right in. Made good progress the first day but then ground to a halt when we didn't have any hinges. Not quite as simple as driving down to the Home Depot. Finally got the hinges Tuesday afternoon and installed them before we called it a day. This morning when it came time to hang the windows we discovered that my one accomplishment on Tuesday had been done wrong so we had to remove them and try again.

So in three days I've constructed a couple of windows and mixed a little concrete. Is this what it's all about? Don't get me wrong; it's been a marvelous experience. I've rejoiced in the accomplishments of others, marveled at the beauty of the country and felt tremendous pain viewing the poverty of the citizens. Somehow it all feels very selfish, however. I've been gaining a lot but it's not clear what I've been giving back.

Will I do it again? That remains to be seen. It is an experience that everyone should have. Perhaps I'm also learning things that will make future trips more fruitful. Or possibly I need to come to terms with my goal oriented mentality.

Stay tuned.

Peace,
Dave

At the Creek

2008-03-20T00:08:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, ~6:30AM
It’s morning. The sun’s up and the birds are calling to each other. I find myself sitting at the edge of Jaguar Creek, a place and time of day I occupied almost exactly three years ago. Some things have changed. The deck now extends to the water’s edge. I could dangle my feet in the creek if I wasn’t wearing shoes. Some things are eternally the same. The crystal clear water burbles over the small waterfall upstream, surrounded by lush jungle growth. I’m reminded of the journal entry I wrote three years ago, and again of the contrasts between the natural beauty and the human degradation one sees in Belize. I’m not sure how the jungle view from where I sit could be much more beautiful. And I don’t understand the psychology and culture that permits the rampant trashing of this beauty with plastic bags and bottles and junk of all sorts. Not much different, I guess, from many of the ‘hollers’ I’ve seen in the hills of East Tennessee.
I spent yesterday in Orange Walk in the northern part of the country. Four and a half hours of driving punctuated by a four hour meeting with the principal of a Christian elementary school and her husband. Their dedication to and vision for their community and school was inspiring. The conditions in which they worked out that vision were appalling to these American eyes: unsafe wiring; open sewer lines; construction materials in hallways, classrooms and playgrounds.
But even in these conditions they immediately grasped the idea of providing clean water to their students and families as a way to powerfully minister to their community.
God is at work in us and through us amid the contrasts that define Belize.
- dan terpstra

From Lynn: Living Waters for the World - Orange Walk

2008-03-19T22:05:00.000-04:00

On Sunday and Monday the LWW team was focused on Armenia with meetings with the Village Chairman and a member of the Water Board. We’re making progress and think that a system may be viable next year because of the plumbing work we’re doing on this trip. The political picture is quite complicated though so we continue to work through those issues and pray for guidance.

On Tuesday morning, parts of the LWW team (Lynn, Mike, Dan, and Matt) headed to the Presbyterian Pre and Primary school in Orange Walk. Lynn had made contact with the school last year so this was the next step and we were hoping for good progress. Orange Walk is a little more than 2 h north of Jaguar Creek (JC). Driving from JC north, the land changes from jungle to very dry coastal plain. As with everywhere we go, there are small villages along the road and then long expanses of absolutely nothing. After all, there are more people in Knox Co., then in the entire of Belize! When we got to Orange Walk I was relieved that my memory of the location was correct. Orange Walk is more city-like than other places we’ve been (although it is technically called a town). Narrower streets with shops on either side, lots of Chinese restaurants (honest), people walking back and forth, and kids hanging out since they’re on break. As everywhere, housing varied from shacks with cloth windows to block, wood, shingle places that were tucked behind cement walls. Matt saw some kids playing football (soccer) with an empty bottle and wished he had a soccer ball to give them.

We arrived at the school to meet the principal, Ruth Ku and her husband Mario. We spent the first hour learning about the history of the school, progress since last year, and plans for the future. It was immediately clear that Mrs Ku has a vision for the school and is working very hard with limited resources to improve the school. 170 kids attend the school – from Kindergarten through 8th grade (they call it preschool through standard 6). The school is still struggling with tuition as they have no external support. They are making it month to month with all of their expenses until next year. If they can get gov’t support next year, the gov’t will pay 70% of the teacher salaries. Mrs. Ku was very excited about the possibility of us fixing the water treatment system. The system would be a source of clean water instead of each class chipping in to purchase water. Mrs. Ku is also certain that families in the community would use the water – to the tune of 300-500 people between the school and community. We had a bit of a scare when Mrs Ku started talking about selling the water to help the school – which is not our purpose. Mike looked at me, I looked at Dan, I looked at Mike…and after an awkward pause we started talking about the mission of LWW and providing water only to recover your costs or free for those that couldn’t afford it. We were greatly relieved when Mrs. Ku got the picture of water as a method to reach out to the community and she got excited about how it would help them rebuild the trust of the community after the corruption that happened in the past.

After our discussions, we took a look at the defunct system and then headed for lunch. We went to a Chinese restaurant and I was brave enough (or stupid enough) to order ice tea because I am so tired of coke and water. (As of this writing – no ill effects ). We enjoyed getting to know the Ku’s – where they grew up, the ages of their children, etc.
We headed back to the school and Dan, Matt, and Mike went to figure out what was needed for water treatment and I sat down with Ruth to complete the water survey and talk about the covenant that we would need to complete/sign. We also talked about when she would like the installation – July or August to be ready for school in September – Yikes! I wasn’t surprised, really, and assuming we can find a team and the $$ it is absolutely doable. In addition, Mrs Ku talked about the teacher workshops she holds in August and we thought that would be the perfect time to teach the teachers the health, hygiene and spiritual training – perfect! I left my meeting with Mrs Ku convinced that an installation will happen. I can’t tell you how good that feels after working on this LWW effort for three years now. It is hard to stay enthusiastic over time but I guess I’ve learned that the work last year starting the relationship with this school, fed into this year, which will feed into an installation. And it will happen in God’s time, not mine.

Mark and Dan’s conclusion with the old system was that it would have to be replaced entirely and scavenged for pieces. The holding tanks are in good shape though and it wouldn’t be hard to fix up a bottling station. On the “bummer” side, Mike and Dan also learned that the electrical system at the school is a real hazard and raw sewage from one of the bathrooms empties onto the ground outside the exterior wall. There was also rebar sticking out of walls that looked hazardous. Our feeling is that the water system would only be the beginning – that to accomplish Mrs Ku’s vision and ours, we will need to help the school with some of their other problems. I’m also thinking that maybe we could hook them up with other mission groups as well – none have visited the school since July. The problems with the school are not for lack of desire to fix things up, it’s a matter of resources. God blessed us with a successful trip and relationships begun. Speaking of relationships, I’ve noticed when we talk at night about what we accomplished during the day, it is the stories of relationships that puts a spark in people’s eyes and voices. It might be pushing a child in a swing during a break, painting next to a new friend, sitting with a child to convince them that it was ok to visit the dentist, or trying to figure out what to do with a tarantula (really!). The construction, painting, clothes washing, water systems (the things) are important, but it is the relationships that everyone is experiencing is making this trip a blessing to us all.

Lynn Kszos

From Jessica - Painting in Armenia day 2

2008-03-19T10:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a productive day. The teens painted more of the schools and we even painted inside of one school building. After all of the schools were done we headed to a town council building to paint it grey. It was smaller than a school building so it took us about two hours to do the inside and outside of it. We had a lot of help.

During the day some teens spotted a tarantula. A boy named Kevin apparently was thrilled to see it and I think he stepped on it. I was not there to see it but it was definitely memorable. Kevin helped us paint and we all came to the conclusion that he stayed for one of our paint buckets. He ended up receiving 2. These were for water. It’s hard to believe that kids would stand around the whole day waiting for a bucket. But that’s what really happened.

I took some pictures in the morning of a bunch of kids jammed on the slide. They really wanted their pictures taken. One of the little boys had a big bump on his forehead. One little girl’s teeth were in pretty bad shape.

At the beginning of the trip I was expecting Armenia to be in terrible conditions. I thought the water was going to be horrible. When I got there it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. People bought water, and some people got it from the pipes.

Most of the kids I interacted with were the happiest you’d ever see them. They were so happy and they all wanted to help. Some kids even helped with construction. All of the kids were very nice and none of them judgmental. Everyone here does not care what you look like. It’s so easy and laid back.

One of the kids I met named Suli had never been to the ocean. I’m going to the ocean on Friday and some of the kids here have never even seen an ocean.

I love all the experiences I am having here and I hope to remember them all.

-jessica kszos

Mixed Feelings

2008-03-19T00:24:00.000-04:00

Tuesday AM, March 19, 2008
Most of us were working in Armenia yesterday. I was among them. I found myself nurturing very mixed feelings as I walked through the community center and onto the porch where we mixed so much concrete three years ago. It was gratifying to see the laundry building we’d put so much effort into – now much more complete with a roof and cyclone fencing on the windows. But as I entered, it was disconcerting to realize that it had never been used for laundry. The six cast concrete wash tubs formed two rows down the center of the building, exactly as designed. But they were filled with discarded snack food bags, not laundry. The PVC pipe came up from the floor and fed the laundry tubs. Except for the broken fittings where kids had climbed or jumped on them. The building had been secured at one point, but only hinges on the frame suggested where a door had once hung. Dead vines climbing the back of the building reinforced the feeling of disuse. Putting aside feelings of disappointment, I walked out into the bright blue Belizean day. Hope re-emerged as I became engaged in the process of planning for the water tanks that will resurrect the promise of the laundry building from three years ago and promote the dream of clean water for the people of Armenia.
- dan terpstra

Clinic Notes

2008-03-19T00:15:00.002-04:00

I won’t hurt you. “No voy a causarle dolor.” This is what I was trying to communicate with my eyes and my smile without much success. Two year olds are supposed to be scared of strangers especially ones that want to touch them with “things”. How scary it is not to understand what is happening or why it is happening; especially when we are children. Keep in mind I was doing fairly non-evasive procedures such as taking blood pressures, pulse rates, and respiration rates in the medical clinic but I was overcome with the desire to make sure the children knew I wasn’t going to hurt them. Smiling helps!!! Often I was rewarded with a huge grin in response to my smiles and if I was lucky may be even a giggle. I really had to stop and pray several times, “Lord, I want to help not hurt.” Finding the English to Spanish Medical Dictionary and translating “I won’t hurt you” increased my confidence and hopefully eased the fears of several toddlers and young children. I have no idea what the children who speak Mayan and not Spanish thought I was saying. My goal tomorrow is to learn how to say I won’t hurt you in Mayan. Keep me in your prayers, who knows how Mayan sounds with a slight southern drawl.

Having the opportunity to return to Belize and work on the mission projects gives me the incredible sense that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, serving God. When my heart serves I feel all is right with the world. I know in my head that I don’t have to travel to another country to serve Him but stepping out of the daily routine and INTENTIONALLY serving is freeing to my soul. So today I learned to take blood pressures on a squirming, squalling toddler as well as learned how to communicate several different ways – “No voy a causarle dolor” and felt my soul soar with service and love for my Lord.

The clinic was able to serve approximately 27 people today. Dale (our Nurse Practioner) was also able to spend quite a bit of time with the village’s health care workers answering their questions, offering solutions as well as assessing the needs of the village as a whole. Tomorrow should bring more people in need of medical care and we will do our best to treat the issues present.

In peace,

elizabeth

School in Armenia

2008-03-19T00:11:00.001-04:00

Monday, March 17
Today we loaded up the vans and headed into Armenia, where our American teenagers met up with their Belizean counterparts. After some shy and giggly introductions, we all grabbed buckets of paint and began to slap paint, Tom Sawyer-style, on the weathered boards of three school classrooms. Painting is a nice way to get to know somebody, since conversation is not forced to be continuous, but just happens as a natural part of the process. By noon, our enthusiastic crew looked to be about half done with our task for the week, and I was thinking uh-oh, what about the rest of the week! But Mark has figured out a few more things for us to do, not to worry.

I met the principal of the school, and found out that classes are typically over thirty kids, which is pretty amazing considering what the inside of the classrooms looked like. The classroom I first entered shocked me. The one blackboard was about 3’ x 6’ and was badly scratched and marred. There were two huge holes in the blackboard, and I wondered how I would use it! The classroom had a stained concrete floor, desks in various stages of disrepair, shuttered windows with no glass or screens, and posters that looked like the same ones you’d see in a US elementary classroom. My eye found the mandatory list of classroom rules. One of the class rules was “no stealing”; not something I’d think to put on my list! I couldn’t imagine thirty lively kids in that little room. What we cast off would be absolute heaven to whatever teacher God calls to teach there.

Peggy