Guatemala Team Reports

So here’s an example of why we’re working in the village of Rio Azul. It’s like so many other villages in Guatemala, maybe a little nicer in some respects. There is no central electricity or running water but some of the houses are much nicer than others.

One of the nicer houses festooned with large painted American flags on its side, no doubt a sign of the source of their relative prosperity from a family member working in the U.S. Many other homes are more like the one of the woman you see here, with dirt floors and tin roofs.

I took this photo after dark while we were working across the way. You can see the open cooking fire burning right in the home. Our team installed 41 stoves today that replace this traditional method of open fire cooking. The second photo shows one of our installations, minus the ornate tiles that our tile guys will add later where the side trays are.

For some of us our day began with an early walk where we met a man who asked if we could help. His son had been injured in a bad car accident 11 months ago and now suffers from major brain damage. The man had taken his son to nearby Mexico for treatment but could not get much help, in part due to the language barrier (the man’s native language is the Mayan dialect of Chu). Odilia on our team had to sadly explain to him (in Spanish) that there were no doctors among us so there wasn’t anything we could do. Intensive health care is pretty rare in these parts.

After breakfast we participated in a ceremony in the school yard where we presented the students with the 40 desks our donors purchased, along with two new teacher desks, a water tank and several dozen books for the library.

Wily, who heads our Barillas operations, told us he bought the books from a list the principal gave him. Some covered basic curriculum like reading, math and social studies but there were a few novels in there two. They replace some of the well worn government issued books in use today.

Wily also told us to his knowledge Marine View is the first Hands for Peacemaking church group to bring school supplies, although many Rotary groups have in the past.

The children, all wearing their best dress, danced and sang for us. Then they lined up to receive the 130 bags of school and dental supplies we brought along. We also gave out several of the donated soccer balls.

Then we divided up into our five stove teams and were each assigned a helper from the village as well as Hands for Peacemaking staff, so four on each team. The stoves we are installing are of the latest design. While they are efficient and work well, there is more assembly required than earlier models so consequently take longer to install.

So with the late start due to the morning ceremony and the extra workload before us, one of the teams (mine in fact) didn’t wrap up their final install until well after dark.

With that the rice and beef steak dinner prepared by Lidiia and Elena tasted extra fine. And the cold shower after was so refreshing.

Our hearts are filled with love and joy after this first full day in the village of Rio Azul. We give thanks to God, and thanks to you, for making our journey here possible.