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
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
From Jessica - Painting in Armenia day 2
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Hello Everyone from Joanie
Today a small group of us spent the day at the Kings Home for Children where approximately 45-50 children live. These children, through no fault of their own and for various reasons, have no family able to care for them and so, have been taken in by the Home. They range in age from infants to young adults. Leoni, the founder and director, was not there for much of the day, but her sister, Fay, oversaw the activities and goings-on in her absence. Anne and Ashley provided much needed help with the laundry. The children are on Spring Break this week and are at the Home all day since school is out. And yes, as Anne learned, Belizian teens change their clothes up to 4 times/day just like American teens! Jane and I helped in the kitchen; cleaning tables, sweeping, mopping, drying dishes, and helping make banana bread. But of course, in addition to knowing that we were helping with the chores and daily needs of the Home, most enriching was meeting and talking with the people. We were fortunate to be able to listen to Fay as she spoke about the Home, it’s purpose, their hopes for the children, their needs, and frustrations. Her dedication to the children is amazing. We spent time with Clement, a 16 year (if I remember correctly) volunteer who helps prepare every meal – in addition to his regular job outside the Home. Anne and Ashley spent much time talking with the wonderful ladies doing the laundry. And these are just a few of the many people who help. And of course, the children – Nathan (who looked about 2), LaQuisha (5), Josiah (7), Zarah (maybe 7?), Ezekial (10), Gladys (14), and a 20 year old blind, schizophrenic girl (whose name I don’t remember right now) who was led around the Home as needed by the younger children. There are so many more I met, but only briefly for now. I was struck by the sense of community and family within the Home – a toddler would cry and a 6 year old would comfort him. They live together as a team – helping each other, playing with each other, fussing with each other. I enjoyed so much getting to know them even in the short time we had today – some shy, some very outgoing and engaging. They enjoyed talking with me about the Superman movie they were watching and others enjoyed sitting in our laps being read to. And I keep thinking how grateful I am that this Home exists and that these children of God are cared for, provided for, and are given love, structure, discipline, friendship, and attention. We’re looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow!!
Joanie Scheuer
(Oh – I’ve just been given word that Eric walked in with a cat-eyed snake wrapped around his arm!)
Joanie Scheuer
(Oh – I’ve just been given word that Eric walked in with a cat-eyed snake wrapped around his arm!)
Hi Church Family from Barbara
Our first real work day! Monday started out as usual with a great devotional, singing and- pancakes! (It was noted that it is St. Patricks Day and the teens were painting withgreen and came back wearing green paint) But my task today was with Dale Hadden and those others participating in the medical deed-doing. We were a bit late so there were people waiting in line. Also waiting were the 3 Armenian helpers- Filberta, Odelia and Sarah. These 3 ladies were truly amazing, very helpful with translating and assisting. Sarah wants to become a nurse and is in her 2nd semester of nurse school in Belmopan, Belize. Sarah is being sponsored in her studies by Jaguar Creek.
Last night Dale taught us in Nurse-Aid 101 how to take blood pressure, TPR vitals, etc.
Today we just did it! All of the children today were sick. Lots of coughing and runny noses, lots of head lice and scabies, lots of staph skin infections. But Dale did see at least 3 children or infants who very much needed her services. Serious problems that she willfollow up with in the coming days. These kids benefited from our services today.
I got to be the pharmacist. Dale has pretty good writing so it wasn’t a challenge to read her scripts.
Tonight we had a lecture by Ed Boles an Aquatic Biologist from the Univ. of Belize speaking on watersheds and the problems with deforestation, dams, pollution, etc. Belize is truly ecologically diverse and unspoiled compared to the surrounding countries, but big business and international investors are coming. He said Belize needs to act now to protect itself.
Thanks for your letters and encouragement. Barbara Reeve
Last night Dale taught us in Nurse-Aid 101 how to take blood pressure, TPR vitals, etc.
Today we just did it! All of the children today were sick. Lots of coughing and runny noses, lots of head lice and scabies, lots of staph skin infections. But Dale did see at least 3 children or infants who very much needed her services. Serious problems that she willfollow up with in the coming days. These kids benefited from our services today.
I got to be the pharmacist. Dale has pretty good writing so it wasn’t a challenge to read her scripts.
Tonight we had a lecture by Ed Boles an Aquatic Biologist from the Univ. of Belize speaking on watersheds and the problems with deforestation, dams, pollution, etc. Belize is truly ecologically diverse and unspoiled compared to the surrounding countries, but big business and international investors are coming. He said Belize needs to act now to protect itself.
Thanks for your letters and encouragement. Barbara Reeve
From Nancy - March 17th
You may have noticed that there are names you don't recognize who are blogging on here. We are cross-posting every blog that is written on the Oak Ridge and Farragut sites so that you don't miss anything!
Today was our first day of work. I am working with the teen-to-teen group this week and today and tomorrow we are painting in the village of Armenia, which is about 15 minutes away from Jaguar Creek, where we are staying. We got there this morning and met the Belizean teens and got our brushes and buckets. Throughout the day, we painted the majority of three classrooms (the exterior). We painted them light green with dark green trim. We'll finish the classrooms tomorrow and do some other painting, too.
I was amazed to just stand back and watch the activity in the village. People are coming and going all the time. Children are running around, checking to see what's going on in their community. It was so neat to work alongside the Belizean teens and learn about them, their schooling, etc.
Painting also provides a great opportunity for group bonding. I was not surprised to see that our group was much closer by the end of the day than we had been at the beginning. We had discovered new things about each other and about the new people we met.And I'm sure others have told you - but it's absolutely beautiful here - it can't even be described in a blog post. And the food is delicious. We had fried plantains for lunch - Mmmmmmmm. :)
Today was our first day of work. I am working with the teen-to-teen group this week and today and tomorrow we are painting in the village of Armenia, which is about 15 minutes away from Jaguar Creek, where we are staying. We got there this morning and met the Belizean teens and got our brushes and buckets. Throughout the day, we painted the majority of three classrooms (the exterior). We painted them light green with dark green trim. We'll finish the classrooms tomorrow and do some other painting, too.
I was amazed to just stand back and watch the activity in the village. People are coming and going all the time. Children are running around, checking to see what's going on in their community. It was so neat to work alongside the Belizean teens and learn about them, their schooling, etc.
Painting also provides a great opportunity for group bonding. I was not surprised to see that our group was much closer by the end of the day than we had been at the beginning. We had discovered new things about each other and about the new people we met.And I'm sure others have told you - but it's absolutely beautiful here - it can't even be described in a blog post. And the food is delicious. We had fried plantains for lunch - Mmmmmmmm. :)
From Charica-March 16 morning
The morning started out very peacefully. Waking up to the sound of birds in the jungle and the soft morning light sifting in through the trees was as close to sleeping outdoors as you can get with a roof over your head. The peace was short-lived, though. Within about ten minutes, the place was bustling with activity and very human noise. Not that it was a bad thing. It was a good noise – the sound of people sharing space, getting to know each other, getting along.
Later in the morning, we were blessed with some truly joyous noisemaking. We joined the Church of the Nazarene for a powerful, music-centric worship service. The energy in the room was contagious and the volume loud enough that even I felt at ease joining in. The sermon itself was particularly moving to me. It was such an insightful look at Jesus’ triumphal entry – focusing in such detail on the unbroken, young colt that the Master needs. It spoke to me about willingness versus willfulness and about missed opportunities.
My afternoon was spent cave-tubing in Jaguar Paw. If you have never been there, then you are missing an amazing experience. That such vast beauty can be hidden in such dark places says a lot to me about the wondrous ways of God. Words cannot describe it and photos can’t capture it (despite Mike’s very determined efforts as designated photographer!). If you can, go see it for yourself someday...
Later in the morning, we were blessed with some truly joyous noisemaking. We joined the Church of the Nazarene for a powerful, music-centric worship service. The energy in the room was contagious and the volume loud enough that even I felt at ease joining in. The sermon itself was particularly moving to me. It was such an insightful look at Jesus’ triumphal entry – focusing in such detail on the unbroken, young colt that the Master needs. It spoke to me about willingness versus willfulness and about missed opportunities.
My afternoon was spent cave-tubing in Jaguar Paw. If you have never been there, then you are missing an amazing experience. That such vast beauty can be hidden in such dark places says a lot to me about the wondrous ways of God. Words cannot describe it and photos can’t capture it (despite Mike’s very determined efforts as designated photographer!). If you can, go see it for yourself someday...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Question:
From Belmopan, in what direction do you go to get to Jaguar Creek? And how far? South to Armenia first, perhaps, and then . . .
- Jim Tonne
- Jim Tonne
Sunday, March 16, 2008
From Chuck
Written by Chuck, Saturday March 15
Some of us drove to Atlanta Friday night and flew out Saturday morning, going through Miami. Well, that was an adventure. We came through downtown Atlanta shortly after the tornado hit, and had to work our way through traffic that was slowed way down by rescue workers helping with overturned vehicles and other damage. We had a very nice hail storm later in the evening. The parking lot below our window was nearly white with hail before it switched back to rain.
Saturday morning traffic was snarled on the taxiway by a plane with a mechanical malfunction as our plane was trying to get away from the terminal. It took us mare than an hour to get to the runway, and with only an hour and a half for our connection, we were really concerned that we wouldn’t get out of Miami. However, American airlines delayed the flight to Belize, and we made it after all. I guess God really intended for us to get here.
It was really nice to get to Jaguar Creek again. We arrived just at dusk, and the birds were singing their evening songs. The lushness of the jungle is amazing. And all around, it is warm and buggy and noisy.
We are sharing the camp with some of the directors of the organization that runs Jaguar Creek Ministries. They are here to energize old staff, orient new staff, recruit volunteers, and court potential donors. They are all from the San Francisco area, so the setting is even more different for them than it is for us.
Saturday night we met Jacinto, the head of the water board for Armenia and also for the Cayo district (the north central district). We didn’t have a long discussion, but we learned a few things that will change our approach to providing clean water. I have hopes that he will be a good resource and possibly an apolitical ally. Otherwise, we will have trouble, because no plan outlasts the term of office of the person with whom you make the plan. Sometimes I think no truth outlasts the term of office of the person who tells you that truth. Pray for good decisions as we try to find our way to beneficial service to God’s children in Armenia.
From Chuck, Sunday, March 16, 2008
It was chilly last night! We couldn’t believe that we actually needed a blanket. This morning dawned to the accompaniment of bird songs, and the bugs had shut up for the day.
We went to church at the Nazarene church in Roaring Creek. What a contrast from the Pentacostal church in Armenia! Lots of praise songs with drums, guitar, and electronic keyboard. Then the sermon, which was excellent. He spoke about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, of course. On of his points was about spontaneity. The crowd just turned out to welcome Jesus without being recruited and organized. Similarly, we should be prepared to respond to God’s call without planning and organization. One had to do with lost opportunity. Jesus wept for Jerusalem’s lost opportunities. We should be attentive to opportunities as they arise so we don’t miss out as well.
The point that somehow resonated most with me was about the donkey. Here was an animal that was too young to be used yet, and not been broken for riding. Yet that was what Jesus asked for. And, he said, how many of us have gifts and talents as our own donkeys that are tied up somewhere, and when God calls, we say “It’s not time yet” or “Wait until I have this ability better trained.” We may do that over and over, and never get around to answering the call.
One thing that kind of pricked at us was the minister’s reference to the Pharisees as people who couldn’t stand disorder. The crowd was having a good time praising Jesus, and the Pharisees said tell them to shut up, they are unruly, it isn’t appropriate to be so disorderly. Maybe the frozen chosen need to think about that a bit more.
This afternoon Dale and Ashley and I went to Armenia to find Filberta and Odelia, the village nurses. Their houses were appalling. They had no windows in their windows, but you don’t really need windows in Belize. There were chickens walking around the yard picking among the bits of trash and litter, apparently unlimited numbers of dogs, most of which we so thin they must have been infested with parasites. It was a reminder how little we can identify with conditions of such poverty, and how little we can do about it. The best we can do, I guess, is to offer our friendship and knowledge.
Some of us drove to Atlanta Friday night and flew out Saturday morning, going through Miami. Well, that was an adventure. We came through downtown Atlanta shortly after the tornado hit, and had to work our way through traffic that was slowed way down by rescue workers helping with overturned vehicles and other damage. We had a very nice hail storm later in the evening. The parking lot below our window was nearly white with hail before it switched back to rain.
Saturday morning traffic was snarled on the taxiway by a plane with a mechanical malfunction as our plane was trying to get away from the terminal. It took us mare than an hour to get to the runway, and with only an hour and a half for our connection, we were really concerned that we wouldn’t get out of Miami. However, American airlines delayed the flight to Belize, and we made it after all. I guess God really intended for us to get here.
It was really nice to get to Jaguar Creek again. We arrived just at dusk, and the birds were singing their evening songs. The lushness of the jungle is amazing. And all around, it is warm and buggy and noisy.
We are sharing the camp with some of the directors of the organization that runs Jaguar Creek Ministries. They are here to energize old staff, orient new staff, recruit volunteers, and court potential donors. They are all from the San Francisco area, so the setting is even more different for them than it is for us.
Saturday night we met Jacinto, the head of the water board for Armenia and also for the Cayo district (the north central district). We didn’t have a long discussion, but we learned a few things that will change our approach to providing clean water. I have hopes that he will be a good resource and possibly an apolitical ally. Otherwise, we will have trouble, because no plan outlasts the term of office of the person with whom you make the plan. Sometimes I think no truth outlasts the term of office of the person who tells you that truth. Pray for good decisions as we try to find our way to beneficial service to God’s children in Armenia.
From Chuck, Sunday, March 16, 2008
It was chilly last night! We couldn’t believe that we actually needed a blanket. This morning dawned to the accompaniment of bird songs, and the bugs had shut up for the day.
We went to church at the Nazarene church in Roaring Creek. What a contrast from the Pentacostal church in Armenia! Lots of praise songs with drums, guitar, and electronic keyboard. Then the sermon, which was excellent. He spoke about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, of course. On of his points was about spontaneity. The crowd just turned out to welcome Jesus without being recruited and organized. Similarly, we should be prepared to respond to God’s call without planning and organization. One had to do with lost opportunity. Jesus wept for Jerusalem’s lost opportunities. We should be attentive to opportunities as they arise so we don’t miss out as well.
The point that somehow resonated most with me was about the donkey. Here was an animal that was too young to be used yet, and not been broken for riding. Yet that was what Jesus asked for. And, he said, how many of us have gifts and talents as our own donkeys that are tied up somewhere, and when God calls, we say “It’s not time yet” or “Wait until I have this ability better trained.” We may do that over and over, and never get around to answering the call.
One thing that kind of pricked at us was the minister’s reference to the Pharisees as people who couldn’t stand disorder. The crowd was having a good time praising Jesus, and the Pharisees said tell them to shut up, they are unruly, it isn’t appropriate to be so disorderly. Maybe the frozen chosen need to think about that a bit more.
This afternoon Dale and Ashley and I went to Armenia to find Filberta and Odelia, the village nurses. Their houses were appalling. They had no windows in their windows, but you don’t really need windows in Belize. There were chickens walking around the yard picking among the bits of trash and litter, apparently unlimited numbers of dogs, most of which we so thin they must have been infested with parasites. It was a reminder how little we can identify with conditions of such poverty, and how little we can do about it. The best we can do, I guess, is to offer our friendship and knowledge.
Emily on Sunday
Nature here is absolutely, stunningly magnificent. Just looking out at the lush vegetation or floating through ginormous caves fills me with such a sense of wonder, I want to climb on the top of a mountain and sing to my creator from the top of my lungs: “How great thou art!”
The sounds are beautiful as well, a symphony of interweaving voices all rejoicing in the simple fact that they are filled with life. I’m genuinely happy to be here, experiencing the glories of this world in an entirely new life. I hope that as the week progresses we grow and spread God’s love throughout this gorgeous landscape.
~Emily~
The sounds are beautiful as well, a symphony of interweaving voices all rejoicing in the simple fact that they are filled with life. I’m genuinely happy to be here, experiencing the glories of this world in an entirely new life. I hope that as the week progresses we grow and spread God’s love throughout this gorgeous landscape.
~Emily~
It's in God’s hands
Saturday late, March 15
Well we’re finally here in Belize, and despite the day’s hijinx, We’re ALL here. As I sit and listen to the various jungle noises (think katydids on steroids) I can still hear Jaguar Creek flowing gently in the forest. Looking back, today was an incredibly long day, and it really is amazing that we all made it. After waking up at 4:30, there were a comical number of obstacles in our two leg flight. Interestingly enough, I saw Kirsten Brynestaad at the airport while checking in, but that was the high point. From there we had to wade through hours of cancellations (due mostly to fog), faulty ticket reservations, lost (and subsequently found) passports, the whole nine yards. And still, despite all these obstacles, I’m sitting in a screen porch in the middle of the rainforest, hearing true fish stories from Mike Skytta. I think God was reminding us it’s not our decision, but that He’s in control. I also remember being amazed by several things in my first few hours here. First was the oppressive humidity. It was like I stepped out of the plane and into a damp blanket. Another interesting detail was the fact that sodas are actually in glass bottles. I was struck also by the beauty of the forest. Descriptions weren’t enough to prepare me for the real thing; it’s truly beyond words. Also, I was struck by the sense of peace. It is truly in God’s hands, and I realized I didn’t have to worry, just go with the flow.
- ben terpstra
Well we’re finally here in Belize, and despite the day’s hijinx, We’re ALL here. As I sit and listen to the various jungle noises (think katydids on steroids) I can still hear Jaguar Creek flowing gently in the forest. Looking back, today was an incredibly long day, and it really is amazing that we all made it. After waking up at 4:30, there were a comical number of obstacles in our two leg flight. Interestingly enough, I saw Kirsten Brynestaad at the airport while checking in, but that was the high point. From there we had to wade through hours of cancellations (due mostly to fog), faulty ticket reservations, lost (and subsequently found) passports, the whole nine yards. And still, despite all these obstacles, I’m sitting in a screen porch in the middle of the rainforest, hearing true fish stories from Mike Skytta. I think God was reminding us it’s not our decision, but that He’s in control. I also remember being amazed by several things in my first few hours here. First was the oppressive humidity. It was like I stepped out of the plane and into a damp blanket. Another interesting detail was the fact that sodas are actually in glass bottles. I was struck also by the beauty of the forest. Descriptions weren’t enough to prepare me for the real thing; it’s truly beyond words. Also, I was struck by the sense of peace. It is truly in God’s hands, and I realized I didn’t have to worry, just go with the flow.
- ben terpstra
Stations of the Cross
From Pastor Kerra:
Pope John Paul II created a version in which all of the Stations were taken from Scripture. Those who wish to take on this discipline may want to pick one gospel in which to follow the story. Imagine the scene as you read and pray.
The Stations are:
(1) Jesus prays in the Garden
Matthew 26:36-36; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46; John 17:1-26
(2) Jesus' betrayal and arrest
Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-12
(3) He is condemned by the High Priest
Matthew 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:54-55, 63-71; John 18:13-24
(4) Denied by Peter
Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:56-62; John 18:25-27
(5) Jesus tried before Pilate
Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:2-5; John 18:29-38
(6) The Soldiers mock Jesus
Matthew 27:27-31a; Mark 15:16-20a; John 19:2-3
(7) Jesus takes up his cross
Matthew 27:31b-32; Mark 15:20b-21; Luke 23:26-32; John 19:17a
(8) Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus
Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26
(9) Jesus meets with the women of Jerusalem
Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49
(10) Jesus is crucified
Matthew 27:33-37; Mark 15:22-26; Luke 23:33-34; John 19:17b-27
(11) Jesus on the Cross
Matthew 27:38-44; Mark 15:27-32; Luke 23:35-43; John 19:18
(12) Jesus speaks to John and Mary his mother
John 19:25b-27
(13) The death of Jesus
Matthew 27:45-54; Mark 15:33-39; Luke 23:44-48; John 19:28-30
(14) Jesus' burial
Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42
Pope John Paul II created a version in which all of the Stations were taken from Scripture. Those who wish to take on this discipline may want to pick one gospel in which to follow the story. Imagine the scene as you read and pray.
The Stations are:
(1) Jesus prays in the Garden
Matthew 26:36-36; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46; John 17:1-26
(2) Jesus' betrayal and arrest
Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-12
(3) He is condemned by the High Priest
Matthew 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:54-55, 63-71; John 18:13-24
(4) Denied by Peter
Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:56-62; John 18:25-27
(5) Jesus tried before Pilate
Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:2-5; John 18:29-38
(6) The Soldiers mock Jesus
Matthew 27:27-31a; Mark 15:16-20a; John 19:2-3
(7) Jesus takes up his cross
Matthew 27:31b-32; Mark 15:20b-21; Luke 23:26-32; John 19:17a
(8) Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus
Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26
(9) Jesus meets with the women of Jerusalem
Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:49
(10) Jesus is crucified
Matthew 27:33-37; Mark 15:22-26; Luke 23:33-34; John 19:17b-27
(11) Jesus on the Cross
Matthew 27:38-44; Mark 15:27-32; Luke 23:35-43; John 19:18
(12) Jesus speaks to John and Mary his mother
John 19:25b-27
(13) The death of Jesus
Matthew 27:45-54; Mark 15:33-39; Luke 23:44-48; John 19:28-30
(14) Jesus' burial
Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42
Deja Vu
Sunday, March 16, 5:15AM
It’s early. But I’m done sleeping. I’m not alone. Syd’s rattling around in the bathroom and Uncle Mike’s just rolled out of bed. Guess us old farts just don’t sleep like the young pups anymore. Besides, it’s already after 7 back home.
It’s interesting and somewhat unsettling to be back here after three years. See Belize filtered through my memories and expectations and projecting what it must look like to the eyes on the team seeing it for the first time.
The drive from Belize City was disappointing. We started with a wrong turn from the airport (I was navigator), and wound up driving through the edge of the city instead of taking the “shortcut” we’d intended. We turned it into a learning opportunity, observing what I imagine many bustling cities in the developing world must look like. As we left the city, we drove for what seemed a long time through brush and scrub. Occasional fires to clear the land for planting wafted thick smoke across the van. The landscape and housing was impoverished, ramshackle and unappealing.
Then we turned south at Belmopan and things changed. The road narrowed, lush growth encroaching on either side. Banana palms and large vine covered trees replaced the scrub. Sudden elevation changes replaced the flat. I was gratified that the jungle was still as awesomely different and beautiful as I remember.
We missed the turn from Hummingbird Highway to Jaguar Creek (I was the navigator). Dave Mullins spotted the small sign that marked my mistake. When we finally pulled into the parking area, I was feeling the strong pull of Déjà vu as Matteo met us at the van to help us unload.
I insisted to Ben and Drew that a visit to the namesake creek was a must. They complied and I was gratified by the teenaged exclamations of approval at the incredible beauty of this special place. We’re here. I’m back. And God is with us in this place.
- dan terpstra
It’s early. But I’m done sleeping. I’m not alone. Syd’s rattling around in the bathroom and Uncle Mike’s just rolled out of bed. Guess us old farts just don’t sleep like the young pups anymore. Besides, it’s already after 7 back home.
It’s interesting and somewhat unsettling to be back here after three years. See Belize filtered through my memories and expectations and projecting what it must look like to the eyes on the team seeing it for the first time.
The drive from Belize City was disappointing. We started with a wrong turn from the airport (I was navigator), and wound up driving through the edge of the city instead of taking the “shortcut” we’d intended. We turned it into a learning opportunity, observing what I imagine many bustling cities in the developing world must look like. As we left the city, we drove for what seemed a long time through brush and scrub. Occasional fires to clear the land for planting wafted thick smoke across the van. The landscape and housing was impoverished, ramshackle and unappealing.
Then we turned south at Belmopan and things changed. The road narrowed, lush growth encroaching on either side. Banana palms and large vine covered trees replaced the scrub. Sudden elevation changes replaced the flat. I was gratified that the jungle was still as awesomely different and beautiful as I remember.
We missed the turn from Hummingbird Highway to Jaguar Creek (I was the navigator). Dave Mullins spotted the small sign that marked my mistake. When we finally pulled into the parking area, I was feeling the strong pull of Déjà vu as Matteo met us at the van to help us unload.
I insisted to Ben and Drew that a visit to the namesake creek was a must. They complied and I was gratified by the teenaged exclamations of approval at the incredible beauty of this special place. We’re here. I’m back. And God is with us in this place.
- dan terpstra
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Spectacular Arrival!
The Lord works in wondrous and mysterious ways. We’ve all made it. I’ll let someone else recount their adventures with tornados and hail storms in Atlanta. Those of us that left out of Knoxville had to endure the uncertainties of US Air. In short, after arriving at Tyson at 6:00 am, we expected to be delayed until Sunday due a delay getting to Charlotte. We canceled our flight to Belize on Saturday and re-booked for Sunday. After arriving two hours late in Charlotte, we discovered that our connection to Belize had also been delayed and so we had to then cancel Sunday’s reservation and re-book for today. When all was said in done, we arrived in Belize three hours late but just slightly before the Atlanta group.
The lesson: if we had simply trusted everything to work out we would have made it just fine. In fact, our efforts potentially would have only made matters worse. Maybe this is a lesson to keep in mind as we proceed into our projects this week.
Belize is hot and humid (big surprise there). The country is sparsely populated and has a remarkable contrast in its geography. The area near Belize City where we arrived is largely below sea level and we drove through mangrove swaps for about 30 minutes as we headed to Jaguar Creek. We slowly climbed to rolling country and then into the foothills near Jaguar Creek. Jaguar Creek can only be described as spectacular. The rain forest environment is something I’ve only seen in movies (or possibly at Disney World). Our hosts have warned us not to be alarmed when the howler monkeys let loose tonight.
I am truly blessed to be here and even feeling slightly embarrassed to have this opportunity. The beauty of the area seems far removed from the selflessness and sacrifice that I associated with “mission work”.
We look forward to sharing worship at a local church on Sunday and then diving into our projects on Monday.
Peace to you all,
Dave
The lesson: if we had simply trusted everything to work out we would have made it just fine. In fact, our efforts potentially would have only made matters worse. Maybe this is a lesson to keep in mind as we proceed into our projects this week.
Belize is hot and humid (big surprise there). The country is sparsely populated and has a remarkable contrast in its geography. The area near Belize City where we arrived is largely below sea level and we drove through mangrove swaps for about 30 minutes as we headed to Jaguar Creek. We slowly climbed to rolling country and then into the foothills near Jaguar Creek. Jaguar Creek can only be described as spectacular. The rain forest environment is something I’ve only seen in movies (or possibly at Disney World). Our hosts have warned us not to be alarmed when the howler monkeys let loose tonight.
I am truly blessed to be here and even feeling slightly embarrassed to have this opportunity. The beauty of the area seems far removed from the selflessness and sacrifice that I associated with “mission work”.
We look forward to sharing worship at a local church on Sunday and then diving into our projects on Monday.
Peace to you all,
Dave
Monday, March 10, 2008
Belize 2008
The time is almost upon us to depart for our 2008 mission trip to Belize. This year there are 30 of us from 3 different Presbyterian communities, First Presbyterian Church, Oak Ridge; Farragut Presbyterian Church; and Maryville College.
We'll be leaving next Saturday, March 15, on several different flights from two different cities (Knoxville and Atlanta) to convene in the Belizean jungle at Jaguar Creek on Saturday evening.
Please hold us in your prayers as we finish our preparations this week and find our way -- physically and spiritually -- to a new and different place in the jungles of Belize.
Here's the team:
First Presbyterian
Farragut Presbyterian
Maryville College
- dan terpstra
for the Belize Team 2008
We'll be leaving next Saturday, March 15, on several different flights from two different cities (Knoxville and Atlanta) to convene in the Belizean jungle at Jaguar Creek on Saturday evening.
Please hold us in your prayers as we finish our preparations this week and find our way -- physically and spiritually -- to a new and different place in the jungles of Belize.
Here's the team:
First Presbyterian
| Paul Akers Elizabeth Andrews Anne Backus Catherine Backus Emily Backus Chuck Hadden Dale Hadden | Ashley Hadden Jane Hayden Lauren Johnson Dave Mullins Drew Mullins Syd Murray Robin Parker | Barbara Reeve Mike Skytta Sue Skytta Dan Terpstra Peggy Terpstra Ben Terpstra Olivia Wood |
Farragut Presbyterian
| Charica Collins Lynn Kszos Jessica Kszos | Nancy Myer Mike Sale | Erin Scheuer Joanie Scheuer |
Maryville College
| Matt Murrill | Sarah Terpstra |
- dan terpstra
for the Belize Team 2008
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Belize trip, Spring 2007
Wednesday, May 23, pre-trip
We spent the afternoon and evening packing and making other preparations. When we put Ashley to bed she commented that we hadn’t sung “Will you come and follow me” on Sunday. Nevertheless, we have felt the congregation’s support and we thank you.
Thursday, May 24
The flight to Belize was relatively uneventful. We picked up our rented car and a cell-phone, found Ed and Janice Stratman (a couple from Wyoming with whom we were going to Benque) and set off across what I hoped would become the Western Highway. Eventually I decided that we weren’t lost. We stopped in Belmopan to buy minutes for the phone and buy plantain and cassava chips for our taste buds. We arrived in Benque after dark, missed the turn to the mission, turned around at Guatemala, and finally found our intended location, thanks to the cell-phone.
In Benque we met Father Dan Estes, a young priest who had worked as a teenager for Ed and Janice at the field study camp they operate in Wyoming. We were so late arriving that all the spaghetti was gone in the mission dining room, so Father Dan took us up the street to the Chinese restaurant. In the conversation over supper, we learned that Benque has water treatment but that Father Dan wanted to show us the village of Arenal. He also talked about his mission to the people of Benque. The parish operates an elementary school and a high school, with a total of around 1200 students, and we met several of the teachers at one time or another during the evening.
The parish is building a building that houses the dining room, quarters for the priests, and eventually a chapel and a common room. They are also renovating a building that used to be a printing plant. It is becoming a warren of rooms and corridors that will be a convent. Our rooms were in this building. It was hot and humid, but we were tired and glad to get to bed.
Friday, May 25,
The morning was very nice, relatively cool. I went to run, and enjoyed seeing people go to work. I saw several birds, including after checking my bird book, a kiskadee. We had breakfast with the mission crew. The food was good, pancakes and fresh fruit. It reminded me of Jaguar Creek, but not quite as good. Father Dan was busy for the morning and he needed to introduce us to the people at the other prospective sites for water installation. We decided to visit the nearby Maya ruins. We went to Cahal Pech, the oldest known Maya site in Belize. It was interesting, much smaller than Caracol. I saw an Arakari ( kind of toucan) there. We went on to Xunantunich, a very elaborate site with some beautiful friezes. I saw a Trogon there. We had to cross the Mopan river to get to the site, which we did on a small ferry that carried us across. All passengers had to get out of the car while it was loaded onto the ferry so if the car went off the ferry or unbalanced it only the driver would go in the river. Motive power was a crank that turned a truck tire rim with a cable from one side of the river to the other wrapped around it. There were a number of large Iguanas on the river bank.
After lunch we embarked with Father Dan to the village of Arenal. It was several miles down a very rocky, dusty dirt road. The village reminded us very much of Armenia. There were many small thatched house, many stick houses. We found a small health clinic, which is open once a month. The village is about 600-700 people. There is a police department and a fire department. The village is on the Guatemala border and is in fact split down the middle between Guatemala and Belize. There is electricity and water on the Belize side and there are water pipes into homes, but not on the Guatemala side. Unfortunately, the major and the person in charge of water were not available. The mayor was on strike because of some ongoing political unrest and the water person was out of town until the end of the week. Father Dan was able to speak to one of the village women who was knowledgeable about the situation. She was interested in the idea of clean water, but she told us that she thought that the water was chlorinated before it was pumped into the water tower. The water is drawn from the river and pumped into a water tower which is high on the hill above the village. Father Dan’s mission runs the village primary school and they are building a new one in the village. Ms Sanchez, the village woman Father Dan talked with said that there are plans to extend the water system to the Guatemala side. We decided to collect a water sample at the site of the new school and returned to the mission to test it. The results were interesting. Our testing system detected no residual or free chlorine. The water was very hard and high in alkalinity. We are waiting on the bacteriological results. An incubator to keep the sample warm is definitely not needed.
Saturday, May 26,
Armenia and Jaguar Creek today. After breakfast at the rectory in Benque, we set off for Armenia. We saw a sign at the turn to the community center that proclaimed the presence of a “rudimentary water system”. We were early for our meeting, so we poked around the laundry for a while. My first impression was disappointment; the door had been removed, there were various bits of block and other rubble and a broken chair on the floor. Most but not all of the plumbing had been attached. The cistern, which had been attached to the community center, had been moved to the laundry, but there was no connection to the laundry plumbing. The result was that the community center has lost its water supply but the laundry hasn’t gained one.
Things turned worse and then better when Michael, the Peace Corps guy, and Pedro Garcia, the chairman of the village council and a member of the water board, appeared. Pedro told us clean water is a crucial issue because there is NO water. He said the first well collapsed, they installed another, which collapsed, and a third, which produced for about an hour before it went dry. They hope that when the rains start in a few weeks, the well will produce again, but it is obviously not a permanent source. They had borrowed a water truck from the Water Ministry and trucked in a load from Caves Branch River, but it wasn’t treated. The Ministry has offered to deliver water by truck if the village had a tank to put it in. It’s not clear that it would be chlorinated, so further treatment might be needed. But there is no tank. We figure that with a population of around 1500, assuming not all would use the water, they would need 2000 gal/day with little left for non-drinking/cooking use. We estimate a 2000-gal tank would cost about $1200 Bz ($600 US).
Pedro is interested in the possibility of purification for whatever water is available for daily use. He is also concerned about accumulating treated water because the community center is a designated hurricane shelter. He was put off a bit by the estimated operating and maintenance costs, but he seemed to think it might be possible to support it. He understood that they would have to run and bottle for 5-6 hr/day, and that may present a personnel problem. However, supply pipes have been laid to the community center just behind the laundry, so hooking the laundry up will not be hard once there is water.
Two civic wells, with hand pumps, are in use. We sampled them, but the second was difficult because the people collecting water had run it dry, and it took 5-10 minutes to recharge enough to get a sample. Both had high pH, high hardness, and high alkalinity.
We had heard from the peace corps worker and from Jaguar Creek that the Armenia primary school needs a new sanitary system. When we brought up the issue of a new septic tank, Pedro said he was considering options. A septic tank would not be useful if there was no water, and he didn’t know the leaching capacity of the potential drain field. He was thinking they might be better off with new, larger latrines, but he didn’t know whether there are too many rocks to be able to dig, and whether the wet-season water table is too high for deeper latrines to be possible. We encouraged him to work on the problem and let us know what it might cost.
We got to see Filberta, who we worked with at the clinic. She is very concerned that not much progress has been made in health education. I promised that if we got back to Armenia, I would talk with her and the other community health nurse Odelia about those issues. We have since decided that a return to Armenia at the end of the week is probably essential, both to solidify our position as interested and committed and ready to help, but to also just make a second contact be fore we come home. I was again impressed, as in the middle of the day we watched middle school age children labor up the hill from the river with 5 gallon containers of water. How do they do it? I don’t think I could. Chuck is not saying what we feel is obvious, there are many opportunities to be of service in Armenia and probably much can be done in the future, but they need water now, it seems easy to do—so let’s get it done.
From Armenia, we went on the Jaguar Creek. where we met Mark and Adrian Parcher, the new operators. We learned that their mission is to disadvantaged children – building supplemental facilities for schools, providing scholarships, etc. They are still working closely with Armenia, and they agree water is a serious problem. They reported that Rotary International has just approved a grant to install a septic system at the Armenia primary school, information that Pedro had apparently not yet received. They would be glad to house a group of water workers.
The camp has changed a bit but not a lot. They have remodeled several of the cabanas and bunkhouses, and they are replacing the batteries in the power plant. They have also cleared some of the forest at the edges of the central open space. But mostly it looks the same and had the same feel. Being there brought back many memories.
We are now at In His Will Ministries, with Lynn and Chris Kszos, Robin Graham, and Susan French. Actually we are now in San Ignacio at a dance recital that includes Caleb Coverdale, who is in the camp director family. Several of the pieces have religious titles, although they look like any other dance recital pieces. I’m glad we came. This is a side of Belize we hadn’t seen, where there are dance recitals and PTA, soccer moms and ballet moms, and cute little blondes as well as cute little Mayans and Hispanics. Dale’s not quite so glad. She says it’s past bedtime.
Surprise! The bacteriological sample from Arenal is already black.
I was hoping this would go out on a wireless connection, which some 12-year-old kid who was attracted by the computer told me was possible through one of maybe three routers, but no deal, but probably because I didn’t know how to turn on the wireless in the computer.
Sunday, May 27, part I
We went to an Anglican service in San Ignacio this morning, with the Bishop himself in attendance. It was a nice service, a combination of more formal than we are used to and less formal than we are used to. Afterward we were accosted by a woman who is in Rotary and plans to go tomorrow to visit a village that has only an untreated well. She is excited about getting other Rotary folks together with us to talk about how we might combine forces. We’re looking forward to that.
We spent the afternoon observing God’s day of rest and appreciating God’s beautiful creation. We visited Herman’s Cave and Blue Hole. After several hours of contemplation we concluded that the water of Blue Hole is probably not an appropriate site for a Living Waters System.
We have preliminary results from Armenia well #1 (the central one we remember) appears to be a clean site. The second well is bad. We will be emailing the Peace Corps representative in the AM with this information.
We met as a group this evening, and it was a very fruitful meeting. We have detailed plans (too long to enumerate) as to how to proceed the rest of the week. We will be meeting with the Rotary people tomorrow afternoon. It is raining, and temperature has dropped 10 degrees, the Lord has indeed blessed us.
May 28, Chuck’s birthday
This has been a fractionated day. Some of the group went to help build a fence around what will be a basketball court at the learning center, associated with In His Will Ministries. It certainly was reminiscent of Armenia, scorching temperatures and hard physical labor. Chuck, Lynn and I went to visit Octavia Waight Center for the Aged.
We were very impressed with the facility, you could send your grandmother there. It is clean and the patients are well cared for. They freely allowed us to see all parts of the facility. The facility is clean and Spartan. There are 6 rooms with 4 beds each. Some are devoid of decoration and some clearly have a lot personal mementos. Each room has its own bathroom and bath/shower. The staff seemed comfortable and good with the patients. We had to wait a while to see the director, so we chatted with the patients, who expressed satisfaction with their care.
We also talked to the director. He has been director for 18 years! It is a non-profit organization that receives some federal funds. They have been buying bottled water for drinking for their patients. The home is in San Ignacio, which has a municipal chlorinated water system, but they had requested an evaluation of their water because they had had an outbreak of diarrhea 3 months ago which they thought was related to the water. They have 26 patients and they feared that 3-4 would die. They also have had times when the water runs brown, or tastes like chlorine, or there is not enough water pressure to have water. They have installed a cistern that they collect water in and use it for when the water pressure is too low to have water. He is very concerned about the cost of water, they pay $300 a month for city water, which they use for cooking as well as other water uses, and they spend $125/ month for bottled water to protect the health of his patients. We have tested the water, both the tap water and the water from the cistern. There was a minimal amount of chlorine present in the tap water. We promised him we would report results. As a team we have mixed feelings about this site. The major problem is that they probably have clean water at least part of the time, and it therefore may not qualify as a Living Water site. But they have a vulnerable population, at least anecdotally they have intermittent water problems and, they would be an easy install and education component. They have a pump to move rainwater from the catchment cistern to a storage tank, they have a full-time maintenance staff, they are accustomed to handling clean water and keeping it clean, and they are very aware of the appropriate uses of clean water. Also, distribution of water jugs would be strictly in house rather than dispersed around a village.
Among our accomplishments of the day was to use Belize figures and calculate the cost of water from a Living Waters system. We think that the straight cost is 1-1.1cents/gallon. If you pay an operator $30 BZ/hr and give away 20 percent of your water the cost is close to 8 cents/gallon. A five gallon jug would then cost 40 cents and you could give away 20% of your water
Our contact with the Rotary club did not materialize today. Belize time seems to be the problem. We have hopes that we will be able to meet with them tomorrow and possibly visit the Yalbac site, another village which we have not reported on because we do not yet have enough information. We want to at least test the water there so we have a baseline. We have been unable to contact the Orange Walk site. The telephone system from here to there is not working either by cell or land line. We plan to try again tomorrow and if it does not work we will probably drive up unannounced on Wednesday. We have done all our appropriate email contacts with our previous sites and now just await return information.
The evening was spent at the learning center helping local kids with homework. It was reminiscent to us of tutoring inner city children in Chicago, with great variation in ability and the general level below what one would expect in mediocre schools in the US. However, we were startled when helping a high school girl with her math homework that it included review of simply subtraction of complex fractions and beginning algebra with multiplication of complex numerators and denominators. Since the girl seemed to get the concepts but did not manage the manipulations it became clear that she had learned a good deal of the algebra along with the simple fraction manipulations.
Another day is done, we are tired and both discouraged and hopeful.
Note from Chuck: The roads from Armenia to Belmopan and Belmopan to San Ignacio have become much less exotic, since we have driven back and forth so many times. I still assume I will get lost if we are going someplace new or even for the second time. San Ignacio has several one-way streets, but none is marked, so I have found myself going the wrong way several times. Our first time through San Ignacio, I missed the westbound bridge and took the eastbound bridge, which has one narrow lane. Fortunately, an oncoming truck waited for me rather than making me back up, and the policeman who was near the end of the bridge didn’t pursue me. On every trip we have to stop at a police roadblock, but they only check the inspection and insurance stickers.
The flowers are beautiful. Hibiscus and bougainvilleas are everywhere, and there is a lovely tree called Shower of Gold with huge clusters of yellow flowers without any leaves to obscure them, and the Flamboyant tree, which is a bright orange. I want to bring home some seeds, but I think Customs wouldn’t approve.
We are checking the blog as well as posting, and we would love to hear from you.
Tuesday, May 29
Today was fairly quiet. I spent the first part of the morning on administrative work, checking e-mail and trying to set up meetings, and then I joined Dale and the others at the construction site. We completed one of the block walls and put up the fenceposts for its fence, and we poured concrete into the other block wall. These walls are not as even as the ones we built for the laundry, but I don’t think they started on a level concrete base.
The morning was overcast until I got to the work site, at which time the sun turned vicious. It stayed hot until about 2PM, when it clouded over and began to rain. It took until 3 PM to quit and pack up to come home. We welcomed being rained on. It felt good to be wet and cooled off.
We tutored some high school kids on homework. In the process I learned that UPS means uninterruptible power supply and that URL is universal resource locator.
Tomorrow some of us go to the village of Yalbac, and some of us to Orange Walk to check on the New Life Presbyterian School. We have a meeting with Rotary folks in San Ignacio set for Thursday.
Wednesday, May 30
From Dale
Today was a big day. We split into 2 groups; one went to Orange Walk, the rest of us went to Yalbac. Yalbac is 30 miles due north of Unitedville. Most of the drive is up rough dirt roads. We went with Sheree and Akai Fukai, and some one named Joe Carlson, all of whom are associated with the Rotary of San Ignacio, are interested in water, and are ex-patriot Americans. None of us speak Spanish. We had instructions to speak to the principal of the school. We left just after noon and arrived in the middle of the day to find the school closed and no one around. We spotted the well. Eventually a couple of teenagers came by and they told us that Mr. Neill, the principle of the school, has closed school because his wife was ill and in the hospital at San Ignacio. They also told us how to find the vice chair person Maria (I think Castillo). Maria spoke only Spanish but we managed to communicate in some basic ways. We learned from her that the second well in the village was contaminated with oil, and the Minister of Health had told them that the other well was contaminated. We learned that the village is 19 families with 106 individuals. We asked where people got water and we were told from the creek. When we asked if they used it to drink she said no, that they buy bottled water (at approximately 1 Bz dollar a gallon). We briefly explained that the system we were proposing would require maintenance and they would have to collect money for it. She was concerned that it would be too much money for the people. We explained that the water would cost about 8 cents/gallon and she was much more interested after that. There are several challenges with a water system for this village: they have no electricity, and due to the hardness and alkalinity they will need reverse osmosis as well. On the positive side, the Rotary is interested in the project and there is an intact village council. The Rotary people will pursue the contacts when we have left and they will keep in contact with us.
We will meet with several people from the Rotary tomorrow. They have people interested in water and also have people who are familiar with water regulations and water boards in Belize.
We have a meeting arranged with the people from Armenia for 6:30PM on Friday. I hope to meet with Odelia and Filberta at 4 PM. The news from them is mixed. The Belizean government will provide water from tank trucks but it is straight river water. The rainy season has just begun so it is possible that the wells near the reservoir will fill and they will have water soon, but another dry season will come.
From Chuck, Wednesday
I was in the Orange Walk group. Orange Walk Town, in Orange Walk District, is north of Belize City. To get to it, we had to drive east on the Western Highway for about an hour and then north on the Northern Highway for another hour. We went through a lot of uncultivated scrub, some of which had been burned off, and passed one sugar refinery. After a few wrong turns, we found the Presbyterian School, which is a fairly large three-story building with a couple of water tanks on the roof.
I had e-mailed Rev. German (pronounced Herman) Cob, who we thought was the director of the school, to ask for an appointment. He responded that he was no longer associated with the school, and that he had forwarded my e-mail to Rev. Rafael Ku, who is now the general manager. I e-mailed Rev. Ku to reiterate our interest and to say that we had decided to come to Orange Walk hoping that we could see him. We left this morning without receiving confirmation from Rev. Ku, so we were uncertain what to expect. As it turned out, he was waiting for us. He had been unable to get an e-mail out, so he decided he would just be sure to be there when we arrived.
We learned that Rev. Ku is general manager of all Presbyterian schools in Belize, not manager of the Orange Walk school. He told us the sordid tale of how the first director had slipped from Presbyterian ways and was disciplined by Presbytery, but refused to abide by their rulings. He managed to shift the license for the school from the Presbytery to himself, and he diverted funds to his own pockets. Presbytery couldn’t manage to take the school back until recently. German Cob was hired to direct the school, with his wife as principal, and he gradually caught on that the lack of any financial records covered up the embezzlement. Apparently he decided that he couldn’t take the pressure from Presbytery, so he didn’t come back from spring break, effectively handing the school back to Presbytery. They got a temporary license to finish the school year, but they have a shortfall of about $5500 US for June salaries. They don’t have records of tuition payments, so they can’t track down parents who are behind. Ku expects to get a gift of $3000, so he is left needing $2500. Then to get a license to reopen in the fall, he has to have an education plan, a staffing plan, and a business plan (which will include government grants). A very tough task in a short time.
The school has about 120 students, down from about 180 before the parents realized that the administration was corrupt. The school is clean, the children are happy, and I was impressed with some of the things they were learning—Standard 1 (3rd grade) was learning about vowel diagraphs, and Standard 2 was learning about magnetic fields. Everywhere there were pictures of Jesus and religious slogans (this is typical of Belizean schools, even those with government support). One wing of the school has not been completed, including classrooms, restrooms, and a gymnasium; I think the capacity of the school could be doubled. They have one unisex restroom, which is functional but not attractive. They have city water, but they don’t trust it, so each classroom has its own bottled water dispenser (bottled water costs $2.50 US for 5 gal.) At the end of the school day we saw teachers and students emptying the garbage and mopping floors.
Eventually we got to see the Living Waters system that had been installed in 2003. It is intact, although one pump appeared to have seized, and I couldn’t tell whether the other one would turn. I think they might be repairable. It looks like there are pipes leading to the classrooms, but I told Rev. Ku that if we were to rebuild the system, we would set it up so they would bottle the water and carry it to the classrooms. We agreed that although there was potential to get it running again, we couldn’t do any planning until we knew that the school was going to remain open.
Rev. Ku is a remarkable man. He is one of five ordained Presbyterian ministers in Belize, and the only one born in Belize. He oversees about nine schools, many of them preschools only, all over Belize. He actually lives in San Ignacio, west of where we are staying, but he was in Orange Walk for two days to do school business there. He has started a Presbyterian church in Santa Elena, the across-the-river sister city to San Ignacio. He also teaches in a seminary that he established in a church in Belize City. He has seven candidates whom he hopes will soon be ordained, and he hopes they will remain in Belize to strengthen the church. He was educated in the US, after having been kicked out of Guatemala when Guatemala was being combative toward Belize. He then accepted a standing offer to attend a Reformed Church of America Bible college in Grand Rapids, MI. He told an amusing story about arriving the first of January with only his Belize clothes. He said people had to shop for warm clothes for him because it was too cold for him to go out. It had been 100 degrees at home, and it was below zero for quite a while in Grand Rapids. He stuck it out, and then went to a Reformed seminary in Jackson, MS, where the temperatures were a bit better. He really impressed us with his dedication to his job, his concern for the church and for the children.
We concluded that this is not the time to be concerned about water purification, but it is definitely time to pray for the success of his efforts to keep the school running.
Thursday, May 31
Chuck again. This morning we went to a meeting with some Rotary folks in San Ignacio. The president and past president joined the Fukais and Joe Carlson, whom you met in Dale’s blog yesterday. The president is the only native Belizean in that group. We also had a member of the water board of the village of Santa Familia, which is just to the northwest of San Ignacio. The past president wanted a central distribution system for Yalbac, with chlorination at the central holding tank. Others thought the expense of piping from the well to all of the houses isn’t justified, and agreed that chlorination is not necessarily reliable and that chlorinated water doesn’t taste good. We agreed to keep thinking about Yalbac, even though their source water is to hard and alkaline that it will require softening and reverse osmosis, and the village has no electricity.
The Fukais then took us to Santa Familia, where we rejoined Robbie, the water board member. She is also from the US, retired after a career in the Air Force. She is a very organized and forceful person. She said that a few years ago the government handed her authority for the village water and a budget of $3. There was a flat rate of $10/month for water, which is pumped from the river to a holding tank, and from which it flows through distribution pipes to the houses. She said she had increased payment rates from 38% to 99% and now has a surplus of $18,000 to make improvements.
Her interest in us is related to her intention to get the school off the village distribution system. There must be major leaks, because they school uses a disproportionately large fraction of the water they pump, and if they can get the school off the system, the pumps will not have to be replaced as often. She wants to install a rainwater catchment system and supply the school from a cistern. The school is fairly large, with 287 students currently, and it has, by my estimate, about 70,000 to 75,000 sq. ft. of roof on four buildings. She thinks they can store enough water to last through the dry season, and she likes the idea of treating what they use to drink.
The school is a Catholic-operated school with government support. The principal thought that the water plan would be approved by the board that oversees all Catholic schools in Belize, so we are encouraged about the potential there.
We met the chairman of the village council, a young man with a vision for progress in the village. We learned that there is another school in the village, a “Christian” school that had not been interested in the catchment system. We talked about the possibility of talking them into cooperating, since the capacity of a treatment system should be enough to sustain the daytime drinking water needs of more than the Catholic school. So we were even more encouraged about Santa Familia.
After lunch we went back to Benque to say good-bye to Father Dan. This was more a sentimental trip for the Stratmans than a business trip, since we had concluded all of our water-related business with him except to tell him about the school in Santa Familia. From there it was back to Spanish Lookout, a Mennonite community between Unitedville and Yalbac, so we could have ice cream from the dairy there.
Dale had been concerned about confirming our meetings in Armenia tomorrow, so while we were heading for Benque, she phoned the general store to leave a message for Filberta. We were also concerned about how to get hold of Michael, the Peace Corps guy. When she asked to leave a message, she found that Filberta was in the store that very moment. Filberta agreed to talk to the other health care worker and to Michael, and a short time later, Michael phoned to confirm that he would be at the meetings. We thanked God for the timing that connected Dale to Filberta and saved us a trip to Armenia to find her and Michael (which would have ruled out ice cream).
Tomorrow morning we plan to go to the Belize zoo, a small zoo with native animals in natural settings. We did this on our way home two years ago, and it was an experience we wanted to repeat and to share with the rest of our group. Tomorrow afternoon we will go to Belmopan for some shopping and a visit to the Department of Rural Development to talk about the Armenia well situation and to Armenia to do chemical tests on the river water.
Friday, June 1
This morning we went to the zoo, where we saw spider and howler monkeys, toucans, peccaries, jaguars and other cats, many other native animals and birds. Afterward we had lunch at the world-famous Cheers restaurant. It was a nice break from our travels from village to village.
After lunch the Farragut group left to hike and swim at the Blue Hole park across the road from Jaguar Creek. We did some shopping in Belmopan, to stock up on Marie Sharp hot sauce and jellies. Dale needed to organize materials for her health care meeting in Armenia, so we stopped to get a drink in a restaurant on the edge of the market. I was amazed to find that we were on the periphery of a wireless internet server, probably from one of the nearby internet shops.
Dale dropped off at Armenia for her meeting, while Ed and Janice and I went on to the river to test the water. Its pH was very high, but hardness and alkalinity were within limits for treatment without reverse osmosis. That was good news. We didn’t have time for the 48-hour bacteriological test, but we wouldn’t assume even with a good sample that the river would remain uncontaminated.
In Armenia, Dale met with Filberta and Odelia, the health care workers, and the Peace Corps worker. Besides water, their major health issues are worms—tapeworms, “beef worms” (bot-flies), and hookworm. Dale discussed educating the people about how to avoid tapeworms and hookworm, and she got a list of needed medical supplies. Once again we faced the problem that giving them medicine would help only as long as the medicine lasted, since they will become re-infected immediately.
During the meeting, children began to gather to see what was going on. Robin sat outside and chatted with them, and then she read a book I had bought at the zoo. It was in a version of Creole, which would be appropriate in Unitedville, but the kids didn’t really relate to it because they speak either Spanish or Mayan in addition to English. But they did enjoy clustering around Robin and getting her attention. Eventually, some of the kids showed up with craft items their mothers had made, so we had to buy some baskets and beads. One child had things his father had carved before his recent death.
I had gone to a Government ministry to try to get a geological map so our experts at home could try to get some idea where there might be water. If there was a map, it was at another ministry, but I had been routed to a woman who appeared to be the ministry’s manager of the Armenia well project. She told me that they had found water at 230 feet and then cased the well and screened it at 240 feet, where they didn’t get water. She said they were hypothesizing that they had a thin layer of water and had blocked it off with the casing, so they were going to pull the screen up ten feet to see if they could get water. This would happen in the next week or two. As an aside, the water was contaminated with bacteria. The story at Armenia was that they had talked to the drillers, who said they well had produced and then gone dry, and they were going to drill another 100 feet. Also, they said the International Development Fund was putting the well in, not the government. So one of our problems is not only finding out who to talk to but determining what the truth is after you talk to people. I think maybe you have to hear enough stories that you can recognize the truth when you observe it. I guess that’s a feature of Belize.
Pedro arrived for our second meeting, and we thought he may have been a bit overwhelmed to be greeted by six of us. Of course, he was at the end of his work day, on a job in which he teaches jungle survival to British soldiers. We talked more about the water tank that they need, and agreed that until we know what happens with the well in the next couple of weeks, we can’t decide what size tank we need. We agreed that Antonio, from Jaguar Creek, would be a good project foreman, and Pedro thought Jaguar Creek might be able to get a church group to come and build the pad for the tank. We think the job can be done for around $5000, including the tank. Then we would have to find out whether the water would be clean enough to drink. We left with a good feeling that with God’s guidance, our congregation can accomplish something really important to the Armenia villagers.
Saturday, June 2
We said our goodbyes after an early breakfast and headed for the airport. Along the way we had to pull off the road for a few minutes to let an oncoming bicycle tour of forty or fifty cyclists get past. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Our plane was delayed for a bit because it was overloaded. A combination of ejecting a party of four, burning off some excess fuel, and a better breeze got us off the ground and over the Caribbean in a few seconds.
We traveled from the coast to the western border, and about one-third the north-south distance of the country. We went about 750 miles, which required $300 BZ in gasoline (that’s $150 US). We developed an unexpectedly good friendship with Ed and Janice from Wyoming, and we met many people who could help us with many water projects.
We thank God for the opportunity to make this trip and pray that it will be fruitful. And we thank all of your for your prayers and words of encouragement that helped us along the way.
We spent the afternoon and evening packing and making other preparations. When we put Ashley to bed she commented that we hadn’t sung “Will you come and follow me” on Sunday. Nevertheless, we have felt the congregation’s support and we thank you.
Thursday, May 24
The flight to Belize was relatively uneventful. We picked up our rented car and a cell-phone, found Ed and Janice Stratman (a couple from Wyoming with whom we were going to Benque) and set off across what I hoped would become the Western Highway. Eventually I decided that we weren’t lost. We stopped in Belmopan to buy minutes for the phone and buy plantain and cassava chips for our taste buds. We arrived in Benque after dark, missed the turn to the mission, turned around at Guatemala, and finally found our intended location, thanks to the cell-phone.
In Benque we met Father Dan Estes, a young priest who had worked as a teenager for Ed and Janice at the field study camp they operate in Wyoming. We were so late arriving that all the spaghetti was gone in the mission dining room, so Father Dan took us up the street to the Chinese restaurant. In the conversation over supper, we learned that Benque has water treatment but that Father Dan wanted to show us the village of Arenal. He also talked about his mission to the people of Benque. The parish operates an elementary school and a high school, with a total of around 1200 students, and we met several of the teachers at one time or another during the evening.
The parish is building a building that houses the dining room, quarters for the priests, and eventually a chapel and a common room. They are also renovating a building that used to be a printing plant. It is becoming a warren of rooms and corridors that will be a convent. Our rooms were in this building. It was hot and humid, but we were tired and glad to get to bed.
Friday, May 25,
The morning was very nice, relatively cool. I went to run, and enjoyed seeing people go to work. I saw several birds, including after checking my bird book, a kiskadee. We had breakfast with the mission crew. The food was good, pancakes and fresh fruit. It reminded me of Jaguar Creek, but not quite as good. Father Dan was busy for the morning and he needed to introduce us to the people at the other prospective sites for water installation. We decided to visit the nearby Maya ruins. We went to Cahal Pech, the oldest known Maya site in Belize. It was interesting, much smaller than Caracol. I saw an Arakari ( kind of toucan) there. We went on to Xunantunich, a very elaborate site with some beautiful friezes. I saw a Trogon there. We had to cross the Mopan river to get to the site, which we did on a small ferry that carried us across. All passengers had to get out of the car while it was loaded onto the ferry so if the car went off the ferry or unbalanced it only the driver would go in the river. Motive power was a crank that turned a truck tire rim with a cable from one side of the river to the other wrapped around it. There were a number of large Iguanas on the river bank.
After lunch we embarked with Father Dan to the village of Arenal. It was several miles down a very rocky, dusty dirt road. The village reminded us very much of Armenia. There were many small thatched house, many stick houses. We found a small health clinic, which is open once a month. The village is about 600-700 people. There is a police department and a fire department. The village is on the Guatemala border and is in fact split down the middle between Guatemala and Belize. There is electricity and water on the Belize side and there are water pipes into homes, but not on the Guatemala side. Unfortunately, the major and the person in charge of water were not available. The mayor was on strike because of some ongoing political unrest and the water person was out of town until the end of the week. Father Dan was able to speak to one of the village women who was knowledgeable about the situation. She was interested in the idea of clean water, but she told us that she thought that the water was chlorinated before it was pumped into the water tower. The water is drawn from the river and pumped into a water tower which is high on the hill above the village. Father Dan’s mission runs the village primary school and they are building a new one in the village. Ms Sanchez, the village woman Father Dan talked with said that there are plans to extend the water system to the Guatemala side. We decided to collect a water sample at the site of the new school and returned to the mission to test it. The results were interesting. Our testing system detected no residual or free chlorine. The water was very hard and high in alkalinity. We are waiting on the bacteriological results. An incubator to keep the sample warm is definitely not needed.
Saturday, May 26,
Armenia and Jaguar Creek today. After breakfast at the rectory in Benque, we set off for Armenia. We saw a sign at the turn to the community center that proclaimed the presence of a “rudimentary water system”. We were early for our meeting, so we poked around the laundry for a while. My first impression was disappointment; the door had been removed, there were various bits of block and other rubble and a broken chair on the floor. Most but not all of the plumbing had been attached. The cistern, which had been attached to the community center, had been moved to the laundry, but there was no connection to the laundry plumbing. The result was that the community center has lost its water supply but the laundry hasn’t gained one.
Things turned worse and then better when Michael, the Peace Corps guy, and Pedro Garcia, the chairman of the village council and a member of the water board, appeared. Pedro told us clean water is a crucial issue because there is NO water. He said the first well collapsed, they installed another, which collapsed, and a third, which produced for about an hour before it went dry. They hope that when the rains start in a few weeks, the well will produce again, but it is obviously not a permanent source. They had borrowed a water truck from the Water Ministry and trucked in a load from Caves Branch River, but it wasn’t treated. The Ministry has offered to deliver water by truck if the village had a tank to put it in. It’s not clear that it would be chlorinated, so further treatment might be needed. But there is no tank. We figure that with a population of around 1500, assuming not all would use the water, they would need 2000 gal/day with little left for non-drinking/cooking use. We estimate a 2000-gal tank would cost about $1200 Bz ($600 US).
Pedro is interested in the possibility of purification for whatever water is available for daily use. He is also concerned about accumulating treated water because the community center is a designated hurricane shelter. He was put off a bit by the estimated operating and maintenance costs, but he seemed to think it might be possible to support it. He understood that they would have to run and bottle for 5-6 hr/day, and that may present a personnel problem. However, supply pipes have been laid to the community center just behind the laundry, so hooking the laundry up will not be hard once there is water.
Two civic wells, with hand pumps, are in use. We sampled them, but the second was difficult because the people collecting water had run it dry, and it took 5-10 minutes to recharge enough to get a sample. Both had high pH, high hardness, and high alkalinity.
We had heard from the peace corps worker and from Jaguar Creek that the Armenia primary school needs a new sanitary system. When we brought up the issue of a new septic tank, Pedro said he was considering options. A septic tank would not be useful if there was no water, and he didn’t know the leaching capacity of the potential drain field. He was thinking they might be better off with new, larger latrines, but he didn’t know whether there are too many rocks to be able to dig, and whether the wet-season water table is too high for deeper latrines to be possible. We encouraged him to work on the problem and let us know what it might cost.
We got to see Filberta, who we worked with at the clinic. She is very concerned that not much progress has been made in health education. I promised that if we got back to Armenia, I would talk with her and the other community health nurse Odelia about those issues. We have since decided that a return to Armenia at the end of the week is probably essential, both to solidify our position as interested and committed and ready to help, but to also just make a second contact be fore we come home. I was again impressed, as in the middle of the day we watched middle school age children labor up the hill from the river with 5 gallon containers of water. How do they do it? I don’t think I could. Chuck is not saying what we feel is obvious, there are many opportunities to be of service in Armenia and probably much can be done in the future, but they need water now, it seems easy to do—so let’s get it done.
From Armenia, we went on the Jaguar Creek. where we met Mark and Adrian Parcher, the new operators. We learned that their mission is to disadvantaged children – building supplemental facilities for schools, providing scholarships, etc. They are still working closely with Armenia, and they agree water is a serious problem. They reported that Rotary International has just approved a grant to install a septic system at the Armenia primary school, information that Pedro had apparently not yet received. They would be glad to house a group of water workers.
The camp has changed a bit but not a lot. They have remodeled several of the cabanas and bunkhouses, and they are replacing the batteries in the power plant. They have also cleared some of the forest at the edges of the central open space. But mostly it looks the same and had the same feel. Being there brought back many memories.
We are now at In His Will Ministries, with Lynn and Chris Kszos, Robin Graham, and Susan French. Actually we are now in San Ignacio at a dance recital that includes Caleb Coverdale, who is in the camp director family. Several of the pieces have religious titles, although they look like any other dance recital pieces. I’m glad we came. This is a side of Belize we hadn’t seen, where there are dance recitals and PTA, soccer moms and ballet moms, and cute little blondes as well as cute little Mayans and Hispanics. Dale’s not quite so glad. She says it’s past bedtime.
Surprise! The bacteriological sample from Arenal is already black.
I was hoping this would go out on a wireless connection, which some 12-year-old kid who was attracted by the computer told me was possible through one of maybe three routers, but no deal, but probably because I didn’t know how to turn on the wireless in the computer.
Sunday, May 27, part I
We went to an Anglican service in San Ignacio this morning, with the Bishop himself in attendance. It was a nice service, a combination of more formal than we are used to and less formal than we are used to. Afterward we were accosted by a woman who is in Rotary and plans to go tomorrow to visit a village that has only an untreated well. She is excited about getting other Rotary folks together with us to talk about how we might combine forces. We’re looking forward to that.
We spent the afternoon observing God’s day of rest and appreciating God’s beautiful creation. We visited Herman’s Cave and Blue Hole. After several hours of contemplation we concluded that the water of Blue Hole is probably not an appropriate site for a Living Waters System.
We have preliminary results from Armenia well #1 (the central one we remember) appears to be a clean site. The second well is bad. We will be emailing the Peace Corps representative in the AM with this information.
We met as a group this evening, and it was a very fruitful meeting. We have detailed plans (too long to enumerate) as to how to proceed the rest of the week. We will be meeting with the Rotary people tomorrow afternoon. It is raining, and temperature has dropped 10 degrees, the Lord has indeed blessed us.
May 28, Chuck’s birthday
This has been a fractionated day. Some of the group went to help build a fence around what will be a basketball court at the learning center, associated with In His Will Ministries. It certainly was reminiscent of Armenia, scorching temperatures and hard physical labor. Chuck, Lynn and I went to visit Octavia Waight Center for the Aged.
We were very impressed with the facility, you could send your grandmother there. It is clean and the patients are well cared for. They freely allowed us to see all parts of the facility. The facility is clean and Spartan. There are 6 rooms with 4 beds each. Some are devoid of decoration and some clearly have a lot personal mementos. Each room has its own bathroom and bath/shower. The staff seemed comfortable and good with the patients. We had to wait a while to see the director, so we chatted with the patients, who expressed satisfaction with their care.
We also talked to the director. He has been director for 18 years! It is a non-profit organization that receives some federal funds. They have been buying bottled water for drinking for their patients. The home is in San Ignacio, which has a municipal chlorinated water system, but they had requested an evaluation of their water because they had had an outbreak of diarrhea 3 months ago which they thought was related to the water. They have 26 patients and they feared that 3-4 would die. They also have had times when the water runs brown, or tastes like chlorine, or there is not enough water pressure to have water. They have installed a cistern that they collect water in and use it for when the water pressure is too low to have water. He is very concerned about the cost of water, they pay $300 a month for city water, which they use for cooking as well as other water uses, and they spend $125/ month for bottled water to protect the health of his patients. We have tested the water, both the tap water and the water from the cistern. There was a minimal amount of chlorine present in the tap water. We promised him we would report results. As a team we have mixed feelings about this site. The major problem is that they probably have clean water at least part of the time, and it therefore may not qualify as a Living Water site. But they have a vulnerable population, at least anecdotally they have intermittent water problems and, they would be an easy install and education component. They have a pump to move rainwater from the catchment cistern to a storage tank, they have a full-time maintenance staff, they are accustomed to handling clean water and keeping it clean, and they are very aware of the appropriate uses of clean water. Also, distribution of water jugs would be strictly in house rather than dispersed around a village.
Among our accomplishments of the day was to use Belize figures and calculate the cost of water from a Living Waters system. We think that the straight cost is 1-1.1cents/gallon. If you pay an operator $30 BZ/hr and give away 20 percent of your water the cost is close to 8 cents/gallon. A five gallon jug would then cost 40 cents and you could give away 20% of your water
Our contact with the Rotary club did not materialize today. Belize time seems to be the problem. We have hopes that we will be able to meet with them tomorrow and possibly visit the Yalbac site, another village which we have not reported on because we do not yet have enough information. We want to at least test the water there so we have a baseline. We have been unable to contact the Orange Walk site. The telephone system from here to there is not working either by cell or land line. We plan to try again tomorrow and if it does not work we will probably drive up unannounced on Wednesday. We have done all our appropriate email contacts with our previous sites and now just await return information.
The evening was spent at the learning center helping local kids with homework. It was reminiscent to us of tutoring inner city children in Chicago, with great variation in ability and the general level below what one would expect in mediocre schools in the US. However, we were startled when helping a high school girl with her math homework that it included review of simply subtraction of complex fractions and beginning algebra with multiplication of complex numerators and denominators. Since the girl seemed to get the concepts but did not manage the manipulations it became clear that she had learned a good deal of the algebra along with the simple fraction manipulations.
Another day is done, we are tired and both discouraged and hopeful.
Note from Chuck: The roads from Armenia to Belmopan and Belmopan to San Ignacio have become much less exotic, since we have driven back and forth so many times. I still assume I will get lost if we are going someplace new or even for the second time. San Ignacio has several one-way streets, but none is marked, so I have found myself going the wrong way several times. Our first time through San Ignacio, I missed the westbound bridge and took the eastbound bridge, which has one narrow lane. Fortunately, an oncoming truck waited for me rather than making me back up, and the policeman who was near the end of the bridge didn’t pursue me. On every trip we have to stop at a police roadblock, but they only check the inspection and insurance stickers.
The flowers are beautiful. Hibiscus and bougainvilleas are everywhere, and there is a lovely tree called Shower of Gold with huge clusters of yellow flowers without any leaves to obscure them, and the Flamboyant tree, which is a bright orange. I want to bring home some seeds, but I think Customs wouldn’t approve.
We are checking the blog as well as posting, and we would love to hear from you.
Tuesday, May 29
Today was fairly quiet. I spent the first part of the morning on administrative work, checking e-mail and trying to set up meetings, and then I joined Dale and the others at the construction site. We completed one of the block walls and put up the fenceposts for its fence, and we poured concrete into the other block wall. These walls are not as even as the ones we built for the laundry, but I don’t think they started on a level concrete base.
The morning was overcast until I got to the work site, at which time the sun turned vicious. It stayed hot until about 2PM, when it clouded over and began to rain. It took until 3 PM to quit and pack up to come home. We welcomed being rained on. It felt good to be wet and cooled off.
We tutored some high school kids on homework. In the process I learned that UPS means uninterruptible power supply and that URL is universal resource locator.
Tomorrow some of us go to the village of Yalbac, and some of us to Orange Walk to check on the New Life Presbyterian School. We have a meeting with Rotary folks in San Ignacio set for Thursday.
Wednesday, May 30
From Dale
Today was a big day. We split into 2 groups; one went to Orange Walk, the rest of us went to Yalbac. Yalbac is 30 miles due north of Unitedville. Most of the drive is up rough dirt roads. We went with Sheree and Akai Fukai, and some one named Joe Carlson, all of whom are associated with the Rotary of San Ignacio, are interested in water, and are ex-patriot Americans. None of us speak Spanish. We had instructions to speak to the principal of the school. We left just after noon and arrived in the middle of the day to find the school closed and no one around. We spotted the well. Eventually a couple of teenagers came by and they told us that Mr. Neill, the principle of the school, has closed school because his wife was ill and in the hospital at San Ignacio. They also told us how to find the vice chair person Maria (I think Castillo). Maria spoke only Spanish but we managed to communicate in some basic ways. We learned from her that the second well in the village was contaminated with oil, and the Minister of Health had told them that the other well was contaminated. We learned that the village is 19 families with 106 individuals. We asked where people got water and we were told from the creek. When we asked if they used it to drink she said no, that they buy bottled water (at approximately 1 Bz dollar a gallon). We briefly explained that the system we were proposing would require maintenance and they would have to collect money for it. She was concerned that it would be too much money for the people. We explained that the water would cost about 8 cents/gallon and she was much more interested after that. There are several challenges with a water system for this village: they have no electricity, and due to the hardness and alkalinity they will need reverse osmosis as well. On the positive side, the Rotary is interested in the project and there is an intact village council. The Rotary people will pursue the contacts when we have left and they will keep in contact with us.
We will meet with several people from the Rotary tomorrow. They have people interested in water and also have people who are familiar with water regulations and water boards in Belize.
We have a meeting arranged with the people from Armenia for 6:30PM on Friday. I hope to meet with Odelia and Filberta at 4 PM. The news from them is mixed. The Belizean government will provide water from tank trucks but it is straight river water. The rainy season has just begun so it is possible that the wells near the reservoir will fill and they will have water soon, but another dry season will come.
From Chuck, Wednesday
I was in the Orange Walk group. Orange Walk Town, in Orange Walk District, is north of Belize City. To get to it, we had to drive east on the Western Highway for about an hour and then north on the Northern Highway for another hour. We went through a lot of uncultivated scrub, some of which had been burned off, and passed one sugar refinery. After a few wrong turns, we found the Presbyterian School, which is a fairly large three-story building with a couple of water tanks on the roof.
I had e-mailed Rev. German (pronounced Herman) Cob, who we thought was the director of the school, to ask for an appointment. He responded that he was no longer associated with the school, and that he had forwarded my e-mail to Rev. Rafael Ku, who is now the general manager. I e-mailed Rev. Ku to reiterate our interest and to say that we had decided to come to Orange Walk hoping that we could see him. We left this morning without receiving confirmation from Rev. Ku, so we were uncertain what to expect. As it turned out, he was waiting for us. He had been unable to get an e-mail out, so he decided he would just be sure to be there when we arrived.
We learned that Rev. Ku is general manager of all Presbyterian schools in Belize, not manager of the Orange Walk school. He told us the sordid tale of how the first director had slipped from Presbyterian ways and was disciplined by Presbytery, but refused to abide by their rulings. He managed to shift the license for the school from the Presbytery to himself, and he diverted funds to his own pockets. Presbytery couldn’t manage to take the school back until recently. German Cob was hired to direct the school, with his wife as principal, and he gradually caught on that the lack of any financial records covered up the embezzlement. Apparently he decided that he couldn’t take the pressure from Presbytery, so he didn’t come back from spring break, effectively handing the school back to Presbytery. They got a temporary license to finish the school year, but they have a shortfall of about $5500 US for June salaries. They don’t have records of tuition payments, so they can’t track down parents who are behind. Ku expects to get a gift of $3000, so he is left needing $2500. Then to get a license to reopen in the fall, he has to have an education plan, a staffing plan, and a business plan (which will include government grants). A very tough task in a short time.
The school has about 120 students, down from about 180 before the parents realized that the administration was corrupt. The school is clean, the children are happy, and I was impressed with some of the things they were learning—Standard 1 (3rd grade) was learning about vowel diagraphs, and Standard 2 was learning about magnetic fields. Everywhere there were pictures of Jesus and religious slogans (this is typical of Belizean schools, even those with government support). One wing of the school has not been completed, including classrooms, restrooms, and a gymnasium; I think the capacity of the school could be doubled. They have one unisex restroom, which is functional but not attractive. They have city water, but they don’t trust it, so each classroom has its own bottled water dispenser (bottled water costs $2.50 US for 5 gal.) At the end of the school day we saw teachers and students emptying the garbage and mopping floors.
Eventually we got to see the Living Waters system that had been installed in 2003. It is intact, although one pump appeared to have seized, and I couldn’t tell whether the other one would turn. I think they might be repairable. It looks like there are pipes leading to the classrooms, but I told Rev. Ku that if we were to rebuild the system, we would set it up so they would bottle the water and carry it to the classrooms. We agreed that although there was potential to get it running again, we couldn’t do any planning until we knew that the school was going to remain open.
Rev. Ku is a remarkable man. He is one of five ordained Presbyterian ministers in Belize, and the only one born in Belize. He oversees about nine schools, many of them preschools only, all over Belize. He actually lives in San Ignacio, west of where we are staying, but he was in Orange Walk for two days to do school business there. He has started a Presbyterian church in Santa Elena, the across-the-river sister city to San Ignacio. He also teaches in a seminary that he established in a church in Belize City. He has seven candidates whom he hopes will soon be ordained, and he hopes they will remain in Belize to strengthen the church. He was educated in the US, after having been kicked out of Guatemala when Guatemala was being combative toward Belize. He then accepted a standing offer to attend a Reformed Church of America Bible college in Grand Rapids, MI. He told an amusing story about arriving the first of January with only his Belize clothes. He said people had to shop for warm clothes for him because it was too cold for him to go out. It had been 100 degrees at home, and it was below zero for quite a while in Grand Rapids. He stuck it out, and then went to a Reformed seminary in Jackson, MS, where the temperatures were a bit better. He really impressed us with his dedication to his job, his concern for the church and for the children.
We concluded that this is not the time to be concerned about water purification, but it is definitely time to pray for the success of his efforts to keep the school running.
Thursday, May 31
Chuck again. This morning we went to a meeting with some Rotary folks in San Ignacio. The president and past president joined the Fukais and Joe Carlson, whom you met in Dale’s blog yesterday. The president is the only native Belizean in that group. We also had a member of the water board of the village of Santa Familia, which is just to the northwest of San Ignacio. The past president wanted a central distribution system for Yalbac, with chlorination at the central holding tank. Others thought the expense of piping from the well to all of the houses isn’t justified, and agreed that chlorination is not necessarily reliable and that chlorinated water doesn’t taste good. We agreed to keep thinking about Yalbac, even though their source water is to hard and alkaline that it will require softening and reverse osmosis, and the village has no electricity.
The Fukais then took us to Santa Familia, where we rejoined Robbie, the water board member. She is also from the US, retired after a career in the Air Force. She is a very organized and forceful person. She said that a few years ago the government handed her authority for the village water and a budget of $3. There was a flat rate of $10/month for water, which is pumped from the river to a holding tank, and from which it flows through distribution pipes to the houses. She said she had increased payment rates from 38% to 99% and now has a surplus of $18,000 to make improvements.
Her interest in us is related to her intention to get the school off the village distribution system. There must be major leaks, because they school uses a disproportionately large fraction of the water they pump, and if they can get the school off the system, the pumps will not have to be replaced as often. She wants to install a rainwater catchment system and supply the school from a cistern. The school is fairly large, with 287 students currently, and it has, by my estimate, about 70,000 to 75,000 sq. ft. of roof on four buildings. She thinks they can store enough water to last through the dry season, and she likes the idea of treating what they use to drink.
The school is a Catholic-operated school with government support. The principal thought that the water plan would be approved by the board that oversees all Catholic schools in Belize, so we are encouraged about the potential there.
We met the chairman of the village council, a young man with a vision for progress in the village. We learned that there is another school in the village, a “Christian” school that had not been interested in the catchment system. We talked about the possibility of talking them into cooperating, since the capacity of a treatment system should be enough to sustain the daytime drinking water needs of more than the Catholic school. So we were even more encouraged about Santa Familia.
After lunch we went back to Benque to say good-bye to Father Dan. This was more a sentimental trip for the Stratmans than a business trip, since we had concluded all of our water-related business with him except to tell him about the school in Santa Familia. From there it was back to Spanish Lookout, a Mennonite community between Unitedville and Yalbac, so we could have ice cream from the dairy there.
Dale had been concerned about confirming our meetings in Armenia tomorrow, so while we were heading for Benque, she phoned the general store to leave a message for Filberta. We were also concerned about how to get hold of Michael, the Peace Corps guy. When she asked to leave a message, she found that Filberta was in the store that very moment. Filberta agreed to talk to the other health care worker and to Michael, and a short time later, Michael phoned to confirm that he would be at the meetings. We thanked God for the timing that connected Dale to Filberta and saved us a trip to Armenia to find her and Michael (which would have ruled out ice cream).
Tomorrow morning we plan to go to the Belize zoo, a small zoo with native animals in natural settings. We did this on our way home two years ago, and it was an experience we wanted to repeat and to share with the rest of our group. Tomorrow afternoon we will go to Belmopan for some shopping and a visit to the Department of Rural Development to talk about the Armenia well situation and to Armenia to do chemical tests on the river water.
Friday, June 1
This morning we went to the zoo, where we saw spider and howler monkeys, toucans, peccaries, jaguars and other cats, many other native animals and birds. Afterward we had lunch at the world-famous Cheers restaurant. It was a nice break from our travels from village to village.
After lunch the Farragut group left to hike and swim at the Blue Hole park across the road from Jaguar Creek. We did some shopping in Belmopan, to stock up on Marie Sharp hot sauce and jellies. Dale needed to organize materials for her health care meeting in Armenia, so we stopped to get a drink in a restaurant on the edge of the market. I was amazed to find that we were on the periphery of a wireless internet server, probably from one of the nearby internet shops.
Dale dropped off at Armenia for her meeting, while Ed and Janice and I went on to the river to test the water. Its pH was very high, but hardness and alkalinity were within limits for treatment without reverse osmosis. That was good news. We didn’t have time for the 48-hour bacteriological test, but we wouldn’t assume even with a good sample that the river would remain uncontaminated.
In Armenia, Dale met with Filberta and Odelia, the health care workers, and the Peace Corps worker. Besides water, their major health issues are worms—tapeworms, “beef worms” (bot-flies), and hookworm. Dale discussed educating the people about how to avoid tapeworms and hookworm, and she got a list of needed medical supplies. Once again we faced the problem that giving them medicine would help only as long as the medicine lasted, since they will become re-infected immediately.
During the meeting, children began to gather to see what was going on. Robin sat outside and chatted with them, and then she read a book I had bought at the zoo. It was in a version of Creole, which would be appropriate in Unitedville, but the kids didn’t really relate to it because they speak either Spanish or Mayan in addition to English. But they did enjoy clustering around Robin and getting her attention. Eventually, some of the kids showed up with craft items their mothers had made, so we had to buy some baskets and beads. One child had things his father had carved before his recent death.
I had gone to a Government ministry to try to get a geological map so our experts at home could try to get some idea where there might be water. If there was a map, it was at another ministry, but I had been routed to a woman who appeared to be the ministry’s manager of the Armenia well project. She told me that they had found water at 230 feet and then cased the well and screened it at 240 feet, where they didn’t get water. She said they were hypothesizing that they had a thin layer of water and had blocked it off with the casing, so they were going to pull the screen up ten feet to see if they could get water. This would happen in the next week or two. As an aside, the water was contaminated with bacteria. The story at Armenia was that they had talked to the drillers, who said they well had produced and then gone dry, and they were going to drill another 100 feet. Also, they said the International Development Fund was putting the well in, not the government. So one of our problems is not only finding out who to talk to but determining what the truth is after you talk to people. I think maybe you have to hear enough stories that you can recognize the truth when you observe it. I guess that’s a feature of Belize.
Pedro arrived for our second meeting, and we thought he may have been a bit overwhelmed to be greeted by six of us. Of course, he was at the end of his work day, on a job in which he teaches jungle survival to British soldiers. We talked more about the water tank that they need, and agreed that until we know what happens with the well in the next couple of weeks, we can’t decide what size tank we need. We agreed that Antonio, from Jaguar Creek, would be a good project foreman, and Pedro thought Jaguar Creek might be able to get a church group to come and build the pad for the tank. We think the job can be done for around $5000, including the tank. Then we would have to find out whether the water would be clean enough to drink. We left with a good feeling that with God’s guidance, our congregation can accomplish something really important to the Armenia villagers.
Saturday, June 2
We said our goodbyes after an early breakfast and headed for the airport. Along the way we had to pull off the road for a few minutes to let an oncoming bicycle tour of forty or fifty cyclists get past. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Our plane was delayed for a bit because it was overloaded. A combination of ejecting a party of four, burning off some excess fuel, and a better breeze got us off the ground and over the Caribbean in a few seconds.
We traveled from the coast to the western border, and about one-third the north-south distance of the country. We went about 750 miles, which required $300 BZ in gasoline (that’s $150 US). We developed an unexpectedly good friendship with Ed and Janice from Wyoming, and we met many people who could help us with many water projects.
We thank God for the opportunity to make this trip and pray that it will be fruitful. And we thank all of your for your prayers and words of encouragement that helped us along the way.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Goodbyes
We said our goodbyes after an early breakfast and headed for the airport. Along the way we had to pull off the road for a few minutes to let an oncoming bicycle tour of forty or fifty cyclists get past. The rest of the trip was uneventful. Our plane was delayed for a bit because it was overloaded. A combination of ejecting a party of four, burning off some excess fuel, and a better breeze got us off the ground and over the Caribbean in a few seconds.
We traveled from the coast to the western border, and about one-third the north-south distance of the country. We went about 750 miles, which required $300 BZ in gasoline (that’s $150 US). We developed an unexpectedly good friendship with Ed and Janice from Wyoming, and we met many people who could help us with many water projects.
We thank God for the opportunity to make this trip and pray that it will be fruitful. And we thank all of your for your prayers and words of encouragement that helped us along the way.
We traveled from the coast to the western border, and about one-third the north-south distance of the country. We went about 750 miles, which required $300 BZ in gasoline (that’s $150 US). We developed an unexpectedly good friendship with Ed and Janice from Wyoming, and we met many people who could help us with many water projects.
We thank God for the opportunity to make this trip and pray that it will be fruitful. And we thank all of your for your prayers and words of encouragement that helped us along the way.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Armenia Again
This morning we went to the zoo, where we saw spider and howler monkeys, toucans, peccaries, jaguars and other cats, many other native animals and birds. Afterward we had lunch at the world-famous Cheers restaurant. It was a nice break from our travels from village to village.
After lunch the Farragut group left to hike and swim at the Blue Hole park across the road from Jaguar Creek. We did some shopping in Belmopan, to stock up on Marie Sharp hot sauce and jellies. Dale needed to organize materials for her health care meeting in Armenia, so we stopped to get a drink in a restaurant on the edge of the market. I was amazed to find that we were on the periphery of a wireless internet server, probably from one of the nearby internet shops.
Dale dropped off at Armenia for her meeting, while Ed and Janice and I went on to the river to test the water. Its pH was very high, but hardness and alkalinity were within limits for treatment without reverse osmosis. That was good news. We didn’t have time for the 48-hour bacteriological test, but we wouldn’t assume even with a good sample that the river would remain uncontaminated.
In Armenia, Dale met with Filberta and Odelia, the health care workers, and the Peace Corps worker. Besides water, their major health issues are worms—tapeworms, “beef worms” (bot-flies), and hookworm. Dale discussed educating the people about how to avoid tapeworms and hookworm, and she got a list of needed medical supplies. Once again we faced the problem that giving them medicine would help only as long as the medicine lasted, since they will become re-infected immediately.
During the meeting, children began to gather to see what was going on. Robin sat outside and chatted with them, and then she read a book I had bought at the zoo. It was in a version of Creole, which would be appropriate in Unitedville, but the kids didn’t really relate to it because they speak either Spanish or Mayan in addition to English. But they did enjoy clustering around Robin and getting her attention. Eventually, some of the kids showed up with craft items their mothers had made, so we had to buy some baskets and beads. One child had things his father had carved before his recent death.
I had gone to a Government ministry to try to get a geological map so our experts at home could try to get some idea where there might be water. If there was a map, it was at another ministry, but I had been routed to a woman who appeared to be the ministry’s manager of the Armenia well project. She told me that they had found water at 230 feet and then cased the well and screened it at 240 feet, where they didn’t get water. She said they were hypothesizing that they had a thin layer of water and had blocked it off with the casing, so they were going to pull the screen up ten feet to see if they could get water. This would happen in the next week or two. As an aside, the water was contaminated with bacteria. The story at Armenia was that they had talked to the drillers, who said they well had produced and then gone dry, and they were going to drill another 100 feet. Also, they said the International Development Fund was putting the well in, not the government. So one of our problems is not only finding out who to talk to but determining what the truth is after you talk to people. I think maybe you have to hear enough stories that you can recognize the truth when you observe it. I guess that’s a feature of Belize.
Pedro arrived for our second meeting, and we thought he may have been a bit overwhelmed to be greeted by six of us. Of course, he was at the end of his work day, on a job in which he teaches jungle survival to British soldiers. We talked more about the water tank that they need, and agreed that until we know what happens with the well in the next couple of weeks, we can’t decide what size tank we need. We agreed that Antonio, from Jaguar Creek, would be a good project foreman, and Pedro thought Jaguar Creek might be able to get a church group to come and build the pad for the tank. We think the job can be done for around $5000, including the tank. Then we would have to find out whether the water would be clean enough to drink. We left with a good feeling that with God’s guidance, our congregation can accomplish something really important to the Armenia villagers.
Chuck
After lunch the Farragut group left to hike and swim at the Blue Hole park across the road from Jaguar Creek. We did some shopping in Belmopan, to stock up on Marie Sharp hot sauce and jellies. Dale needed to organize materials for her health care meeting in Armenia, so we stopped to get a drink in a restaurant on the edge of the market. I was amazed to find that we were on the periphery of a wireless internet server, probably from one of the nearby internet shops.
Dale dropped off at Armenia for her meeting, while Ed and Janice and I went on to the river to test the water. Its pH was very high, but hardness and alkalinity were within limits for treatment without reverse osmosis. That was good news. We didn’t have time for the 48-hour bacteriological test, but we wouldn’t assume even with a good sample that the river would remain uncontaminated.
In Armenia, Dale met with Filberta and Odelia, the health care workers, and the Peace Corps worker. Besides water, their major health issues are worms—tapeworms, “beef worms” (bot-flies), and hookworm. Dale discussed educating the people about how to avoid tapeworms and hookworm, and she got a list of needed medical supplies. Once again we faced the problem that giving them medicine would help only as long as the medicine lasted, since they will become re-infected immediately.
During the meeting, children began to gather to see what was going on. Robin sat outside and chatted with them, and then she read a book I had bought at the zoo. It was in a version of Creole, which would be appropriate in Unitedville, but the kids didn’t really relate to it because they speak either Spanish or Mayan in addition to English. But they did enjoy clustering around Robin and getting her attention. Eventually, some of the kids showed up with craft items their mothers had made, so we had to buy some baskets and beads. One child had things his father had carved before his recent death.
I had gone to a Government ministry to try to get a geological map so our experts at home could try to get some idea where there might be water. If there was a map, it was at another ministry, but I had been routed to a woman who appeared to be the ministry’s manager of the Armenia well project. She told me that they had found water at 230 feet and then cased the well and screened it at 240 feet, where they didn’t get water. She said they were hypothesizing that they had a thin layer of water and had blocked it off with the casing, so they were going to pull the screen up ten feet to see if they could get water. This would happen in the next week or two. As an aside, the water was contaminated with bacteria. The story at Armenia was that they had talked to the drillers, who said they well had produced and then gone dry, and they were going to drill another 100 feet. Also, they said the International Development Fund was putting the well in, not the government. So one of our problems is not only finding out who to talk to but determining what the truth is after you talk to people. I think maybe you have to hear enough stories that you can recognize the truth when you observe it. I guess that’s a feature of Belize.
Pedro arrived for our second meeting, and we thought he may have been a bit overwhelmed to be greeted by six of us. Of course, he was at the end of his work day, on a job in which he teaches jungle survival to British soldiers. We talked more about the water tank that they need, and agreed that until we know what happens with the well in the next couple of weeks, we can’t decide what size tank we need. We agreed that Antonio, from Jaguar Creek, would be a good project foreman, and Pedro thought Jaguar Creek might be able to get a church group to come and build the pad for the tank. We think the job can be done for around $5000, including the tank. Then we would have to find out whether the water would be clean enough to drink. We left with a good feeling that with God’s guidance, our congregation can accomplish something really important to the Armenia villagers.
Chuck
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