From Lynn: Living Waters for the World - Orange Walk

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