The team all arrived safely at SeaTac International late Sunday, our minds filled with memories of our interactions with the villagers, the work we accomplished, the long travel and some of the fun we had at the touristy but spectacular Lake Atitlan on our final day.
As I wrote earlier, this mission trip was a little more challenging than most, due to the 100+ degree temperatures and the steep trail to our second village, El Moxon. We didn’t quite finish up our work there. Alex, Elvin and their crew from Hands for Peacemaking and the village helpers completed it for us on Tuesday, installing the last 13 of the 110 stoves and water filters that we’d funded for the little villa in the hills and fitting them with reading glasses too.
Each year for the past several Marine View teams have managed to make even more of a difference than we’d initially intended, such as the church roof rehab in Barillas we funded last year. Thanks to our donor generosity, the schools of both villages received new library books and water tanks, and will soon boast improved cooking facilities for student meal preparation. Once seeing the need one of our team members decided to reach deep while there and personally fund two RACHEL servers that will provide educational content for school computer networks to go with the laptops we donated for the two schools.
And what a feeling it is to know that after being somewhere and seeing a need we know our short visit will make a real and lasting impact. In visiting El Moxon this year we had to first step around a working backhoe that is slowly excavating a road down what is now a steep, 500-foot elevation pathway toward the river below. This is not a government project, but one privately funded by the impoverished villagers themselves who took up a community collection to get it started. The total cost of this first section of road is $18,000 – they have managed to both borrow and pass the hat for the first $6,000 but where the remaining $12,000 will come from to finish it remains uncertain. Keep in mind that this is ad-hoc road construction at its best – it is unlikely there is any formal planning, engineering, surveying, leveling, base layering or asphalting going on with this project. Just the eyeballs of the skilled heavy equipment operator while he’s moving dirt.
And we hope it works, because until that road is built, the villagers must continue to carry either on their backs or the backs of mules everything that they need from the outside world to their homes. While we only had small backpacks to carry ourselves, it is hard to imagine the lives of these people so reliant on a daunting trail system for their own survival. Even water must be carried up the hill throughout the dry system for their are no wells.
For that reason we’ve decided to help these people by initiatiaing a “crowd source” campaign (think “GoFundMe”) to help with the road project. In talking about it over lunch, coming up with 12k in U.S. dollars doesn’t seem like too much of a lift, but will surely make a huge difference in the lives of the 360 residents among the 60 families who live in this 1,700 foot elevation village. We will raise the funds through a special account with the Hands for Peacemaking Foundation. If you would like to be one of the first to donate for the road, please do so at this link. Or send a check to Hands for Peacemaking, P.O. Box 964, Everett, WA 98206. If we can raise enough funds early then we will not need to conduct a formal campaign. We will keep you informed of the road funding progress in this space. Thank you!
The Fauntleroy UCC/Rotary team of 14 leaves Thursday (May 23) for its mission trip to another village, and the cycle of love and interaction will repeat itself once again. We wish them the very best.
Below are some additional photos from our team’s final time in the villages and doing tourist things later.
Thank you again for following along, and for all of your prayers and support!
Hasta la vista for now,
Brian
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