Guatemala Team Reports

If you do a Google search for Rio Azul (Blue River) in Guatemala, you will be presented with lovely images of stunning blue water and waterfalls in a park-like touristy setting. That’s not where we are going. Or you may see another Rio Azul in the very northeast corner of Guatemala by Belize, the site of ancient Mayan ruins and also a desination spot for tourists. We’re not going there either.

You probably can’t find the Rio Azul where the Marine View team will be just over two weeks from this writing. At least I can’t. I only know where it is because I’m told it’s quite close to another village where our team worked a few years ago, Centinela Grande. You can look that up.

Rio Azul is close to the Mexican border, roughly 33 miles to the northwest of our mission house base in Barillas in northwestern Guatemala. But those 33 miles will take three hours to drive along mostly dusty and bumpy roads. Like many other villages in the area, it is a place that was ravaged by the 36-year civil war ending in 1996. As with other villages where we have been, the 115 homes are mostly dirt floors and tin roofs.

Nestled in the hills at an elevation of 2,300 feet, Rio Azul has 650 residents divided into 128 families. There is no running water, no electrical save a few solar-powered lights, or any indoor plumbing. Most villagers eke out a living growing cardamom, corn, beans and coffee. Our job is to install 128 stoves in this village, stoves that will replace open pit cooking fires in the homes, discharge smoke outside from a stove pipe, and reduce the overall consumption of wood. As before we’ll stay in the village school while there.

The Marine View team has been preparing for months for this mission and is now nearly ready. We have many new team members this year – in fact we won’t all meet each other for the first time until we land in Guatemala City and begin the two-day trip to Barillas. Pray we all get along!

Marine View team veterans are Loren Melton from Packwood, Tom Dirks of Seattle, Odilia Gonzalez of Milton and Brian Dirks of Federal Way. Tracy and Terrie Gill from Marysville, who have gone in the past with the Marysville Free Methodist Church (now Rockcreek Church), will join the Marine View group this year. New to the Guatemala mission this year are Fred Wilkins of Federal Way who attends Marine View, Tom’s wife Suzy Murray Dirks, and Caren Cortez of Packwood. So there are nine of us, which is great because only a few weeks ago there were just six. The ideal team size is at least 10. Last year we had 11. We also are blessed to have two team members in strong support roles: Mary Altena is coordinating supplies and Dale Armstrong is our treasurer, both from Marine View.

As team leader I always worry about a lot of things. First there’s forming the team itself. Many say they want to go, but when it comes down to it leaving home and loved ones behind for 10 days of adventurous travel to a distant Mayan village is a big ask. We hear a lot of “I can’t go this year but next year for sure,” then next year comes along and … A few of our past team members decided to take a break this year. So we are grateful to once again have a team.

Then there are the financial aspects. Each stove costs $225, so this year we needed to raise $28,800 in stove money on top of other trip expenses. Fortunately we had some “extra” from last year that could be rolled over. The Marine View congregation is very supportive, with many attending our big fundraising dinner put on by the Iglesia Cristiana LA VOZ Guatemalan church and others donating through special appeals. Marine View allocates funds each year from its mission budget to assist with airfare and other team expenses as needed. Team members are asked to pay their own in-country expenses (about $1500 each) and to raise additional funds through whatever sources they might have. Tom, for instance, purchased souvenir travel mugs and “sold” them to friends and co-workers for a donation. We just received word of a sizable donation from Rockcreek Church too! So as of right now we are nearing our financial goals. We thank God for the continued generosity of our donors, many no doubt are reading this post.

This year we found super-saver fares of $468 through AeroMexico (last year we paid over $1100 per ticket). The only rub is that we’ll need to leave from Vancouver, B.C. rather than Sea-Tac so will incur some extra trip expenses and travel time, plus an extra border crossing. We will take a redeye, then lay over in Mexico City rather than Houston as before and arrive in Guatemala City around 9:30 a.m. on May 24th. We will take with us gift packs for the 130 school children and hot pads. Before we have taken Bibles but we found a supply in Barillas so will not have to transport Bibles, saving excess baggage fare in the process.

Just this week we were asked by Wily, who heads operations in Barillas, if we could bring five battery powered impact wrenches with us. My brother Tom priced them out and found them for $100 each. Although we had not budgeted for these, we were able to find the funds and will bring the items with us – at 7.1 pounds apiece.

I always regard being able to field a team and raise funds as blessings, a sign from God that we are doing His work by helping our village friends. We do have miracle moments, or “God winks” as some call them. One came a day after our big dinner when a generous couple offered a “scholarship” to help a team member who may otherwise not be able to go. We were able to award that scholarship.

A few months ago we were contacted by a high school student on Vashon Island, Libby Scott, who has gone to Guatemala with another team the previous two years but could not go again this year. She still found a way to help.

Each student at her school must take the Community Projects class to graduate. For her project Libby chose to raise funds for Guatemala school supplies. She said she planned to do this by making presentations to the Soroptimist and Rotary clubs on the island. I thanked her and we exchanged a couple more emails, then in the rush of other things I frankly kind of forgot about her efforts. That is until last week, when Jeffrey Hager, the executive director of Hands for Peacemaking, let us know that he’d received a check of nearly $1,200 from Libby! We consulted with Wily about school needs, who in turn consulted with the village’s school principal. He came up with a long list. As a result, Libby’s funds will be used to buy 40 school desks, with another $200 toward library books for the school. That will make a huge difference, and we will get the joy of seeing those desks, manufactured by our staff in Barillas, being placed in the school while we are there.

Every year we try to take reader eyeglasses with us and ask the congregation for donations of readers for the villagers. Mary Altena, who has again led our efforts for school supplies also put out baskets for pot holders and eyeglasses and gathered a few. Team member Fred Wilkins purchased 300 pair through a mission supply house for $150. Then Tom, who works at Costco corporate, was able to use his connections there to procure a donation of 500 “high end” pair of readers through Costco’s supplier, FGX International. So now we’ll have not only enough to meet our needs, but many we can give to other Hands for Peacemaking teams too!

We again needed dental supplies for the children’s gift packs. I asked Joe Martin, who attends Marine View and happens to work for Burkhart Dental Supply, if he could again help. He readily agreed and now we have all of the toothbrushes and toothpaste we need.

I am gratified by every donation, but was especially touched by a gift from a retired former co-worker who knew nothing about our mission until he read my recent piece in the Seattle Times. We were catching up with a couple of other former co-workers at an establishment in Tacoma and he whipped out a check, unsolicited, to help. Thank you Bill!

We still need pot holders (i.e. hot pads) to give to each family with the stove. If you would like to help with a stove or additional school supplies the principal requested, our fundraising continues. you can give at this link (please specify Guatemala team).

Thanks again for all of your support, prayers for a successful and safe mission, and kindness! I will try to keep you informed from the field as I can, although my posts may be more pictures than words as I’ll be posting from my phone (which will also depend on cell phone service availability in the village and my state of consciousness after a long work day).

Please feel free to offer the team words of encouragement in the comments section.

Resources:

What’s in a Hands for Peacemaking Guatemala Mission?

Hands for Peacemaking website

Podcasts for Good: Hands for Peacemaking

Tom Dirks shares his Guatemala experience