Watching for God

Geckos abound in Honduras. These harmless little lizard-like creatures have the amazing ability to cling to any vertical surface (with the exception of Teflon) thanks to bristle-like structures on their footpads. No matter where they are (Teflon excluded) they are ‘firmly planted’.

This week we, too, are attempting to be firmly planted, fully engaged in all the encounters in which we find ourselves. Christian spiritual teachers describe this way of being as practicing the presence of God or the sacrament of the present moment – living with an awareness of God’s presence in the here and now and being open to the potential of the sacred in the ordinary.

We are witnessing God’s presence everyday here. Holy ground stretches for miles.

Is it stepping outside of our ordinary routine that makes us more receptive to God’s presence here? The invitation and the challenge to be open to God in the present moment awaits us on our return to Aiken.

Holly

Real work.......Great Partnering from the People

The whole group returned to La Montanita on Monday to help the locals complete the school desks and benches, start the Justa stove project, conduct a dental hygiene clinic, teach a group of women how to make various crafts for them to sell, and assist Dr. Elsa conduct a personal hygiene clinic.


Justa stove
We installed their first Justa stove today. This stove is an efficient, wood burning unit that is totally vented to the outside. Omar, a previous recipient of one of these stoves, assisted us by building one for a resident of La Montanita. He concurrently trained some other residents. On Tuesday, our plan is to install a second unit in another home. This installation will be done by the local residents under the supervision of Omar.

The enthusiasm and work ethic of the residents of this village are exciting and encouraging.
George

School Desks and Benches

When we returned to La Montanita this AM, we found 10-15 residents eagerly waiting on us to bring more nails so they could continue assembling the desks & benches. They took the nails and enthusiastically took complete ownership of this job. Some of us started sanding the finished desks/benches and other residents showed up and joined in to help with this. This whole job would have been completed, but we ran out of nails again!! We will take more nails Tuesday AM.

While Allen was carrying out his board president duties (walking around inspecting!), he saw a group of men & boys complete a desk, set it on the floor, and give it the “wobble” test. Well, it failed the test. Then, they disassembled the desk and reassembled it, and it now passed the “wobble” test. We were pleased that this group had taken great pride in what they were doing.

Jim

… And they came to the mountain on a horse
As we finished the dental hygiene clinic, two little girls (ages 11 and 6) came up the hill to the village school riding on a horse. They jumped off their horse uphill from the school and conferred. The older girl being a bit reluctant sent her younger sister down to the group of North American missionaries. The girls had heard that the team was giving away toothbrushes and they wanted some for their family. They had ridden the horse for an hour down their mountain and up the mountain to La Montanita. Surrounding the little six year old with love, we learned the family’s sad story. Just after the 11 year old was born, her father abandoned the family. The mother eventually remarried and when the 6 year-old was 14 months old, her father was killed by a gang in San Pedro Sula. The mother again remarried and her youngest child was born. The mother could not accompany the two girls on their journey as she had to care for her son and the flock of newly born chickens. When we demonstrated the correct method of brushing and flossing, the six year old related that she knew how as her mother had taught the children. Finally, after meeting with the children’s grandmother who lived in La Montanita, the two girls mounted their horse for the hour’s ride home – a home on the next mountain top with no electricity – a ride the girls made twice a week to their grandmother’s during the school year. The team was amazed by the beauty, intelligence, and presence of the six year old who held intelligent and thoughtful conversations with adults she had never met before. There were lots of teary eyes during this encounter.

Alan

Personal Hygiene..the road to better health
Today Doctor Elsa gave the first chat on personal hygiene to the women of La Montanita. Eleven aspects of personal hygiene were discussed such as skin care, hair (checking for head lice) and ears. Many old remedies were questioned. The Doctor assured the women that brushing a cat’s tail over sore eyes won’t cure the problem.

Our team cheered as she reinforced the importance of dental hygiene and encouraged the moms to set a good example for their children. Doctor Elsa closed with words we all love of caring for one another and helping where needed.

June

Some thoughts about Honduras
We have been very busy and have met many wonderful people. It has not been all hard workt hough. This is an amazingly beautiful place. Imagine sitting at breakfast with a view of hibiscus blossoms and hummingbirds. As I write this I see a flock of cattle egrets. The mountain views are glorious. Two very friendly and capable women prepare our meals and do our laundry. The people here may lack many of our material possessions, but they seem full of joy.

Such a meaningful experience for us.

Carol


Mountain Crafts
Yesterday in La Montanita we were very pleased to have more than a dozen women & girls come to show us some of their handiwork – some embroidery and some hand sewing. They were quite interested in learning to crochet. We had some crochet hooks with us and were fortunate to find some acrylic yarn in Quimistan (35 cents for enough to make one baby cap). We found our pupils were fast learners and very interested. They told us they wished to learn to make artificial flowers and things they can use to decorate their homes so we are looking for supplies and ideas. Lovely, friendly folks to work with.

Catherine

Dinner with Martha
We had dinner with Martha on Tuesday night. She is the” hostess with the mostest”. Due to her kind hospitality we are sheltered and fed in luxurious surroundings. We have flowers in the yard, a soft bed in which to sleep and lots of good food and company! She is a remarkable person. As she related to me. She grew up barefoot and with one dress that she washed every night so she could attend school. She witnessed a relative who was assinated in front of his home for being of the wrong political persuasion. She was able to come to the U.S. because of the sponsorship of an American family. At that time she was marriend and pregnant with her fifth child. Her husband and children stayed in Honduras. They later divorced. Her fifth child was born in the U.S. She lived and worked for many years in the U.S. Subsequently she married an American man and settled in California and brought her four other children to live with her.

They returned often to Honduras and Quimistan. After they semi-retired they decided to return here to live and bring Christ to the people by helping them to help themselves. The reason she shows Christian missionaries such kind hospitality is that as a missionary to Honduras she was sleeping in a card board box and it was so cold!

Carol Hidlay

Martha is the Honduran woman and her husband is behind her.

Drinkable Water at Last!
How do you feel when you help save a baby’s life? We got a little taste of that feeling this week.

Water in many areas of Honduras is contaminated with E. coli, a primary contributor to gastrointestinal disease, diarrhea, and dehydration that cause many infant deaths. One of our health initiatives has been to identify contaminated water sources in communities in our mission areas, and to help the communities overcome the problems.

This week we tested several water samples from two mountain communities of 300-400 people each—La Montanita and Santa Clara. We used field test kits that show clearly in 24-48 hours whether a water sample contains E. coli, and roughly how much.

Water samples tested in La Montanita were all completely free of E. coli—veritable “pure mountain stream water.” Those results confirmed results from months ago. The president of the La Montanita Water Board was pleased to hear of the results. We even kidded about how he might be able to sell their pure water.

Results from Santa Clara showed dangerously high levels of E. coli in their community water system, again confirming results from earlier testing. The photo below shows on the left side what one family with nine children used to drink from a little spring at the bottom of the hill.  The two middle petri dishes show what they were drinking after they got tied in to the community water system.  The purple spots in each of the three petri dishes are E. coli colonies.

But here’s the good lifesaving news: Following that earlier testing in Santa Clara, contributions from various Foundation-related donors enabled three men of the community to build and install more than a hundred biosand filters (BSFs). Every home in the community now has a BSF.

Yes, the community water system may be loaded with E. coli. But after that water passes through the BSF, the E. coli has been removed. The petri dish on the right of the photo is water that was collected from the BSF in the home of the nine children.  None of the samples from the BSFs showed any sign of E. coli.

But what is the real test of whether we have been successful? How many kids now have to be carried to the hospital for treatment of extended diarrhea and dehydration? We were told that since the BSFs were installed in early November, there have been zero instances! How’s that for dramatic evidence? What a terrific feeling!

There are lots of ways to show God’s love and care for the people He loves. The people of Santa Clara are seeing some of that love. And so is our team. It’s tough to be silent about stuff this good.

Allen

I will pray, learn, and serve because Jesus loves me!

After a morning of participating with the AP students and their brothers, sisters and friends in their weelky Bible study(about 50 children), we came back to Martha's ranch for further religious instruction. The Bible verses used for the basis of the teaching were Mark 12:29 - 31

The introduction spoke about the word for love is "agape" and it means the love that Jesus showed to people. Agape means love that serves others - that brings out the best in people, love that can change somone's life for the better. The message to the children was that God Loves You! He loves all of

you. They then repeated the words Jesus Loves Me and I Love Jesus several times. They learned how to sign each of these phrases.



The "HAF Agape Players" with the help of the senior AP students, put on askit to help the children understand the how much Jesus loves them. They were also taught, for them to love Jesus in return, they must pray, learn and serve. Hand signs were used for these lessons too. At the close of the session, each child was given a bracelet with the saying, Dios te ama (God loves you). It was a wonderful experience to share this lesson with all of the children. The message seemed clear and the repeated use of signing the words helped them to get the true meaning of the words. As we prepared for additional break out sessions, love and understanding filled the room. The Holy Spirit was truly present with us all this afternoon.

Ken

God is with us

Domingo 1/16/10


Before we left on this mission trip, Holly gave a devotional at one of the team meetings which ended with the admonition to look for God in your life every day. Yesterday after our visit to Santa Clara, three of us were to go by taxi to La Montanita to work on desks. Also, Daniel our Interpreter was to follow us there in his pickup truck. Before leaving Santa Clara, his truck developed a truly ominous clunking sound. Daniel slowly drove the truck down the very rough road from Santa Clara and then slowly on the Guatamala to San Pedro Sula raceway to Quimistan. Upon reaching his intermediate destination, the Thomsen Ranch, the truck froze up and refused to roll any further. Oil was seen to coming from the differential and had been slung all over the undercarriage.

Where was God in all this? Breaking down anywhere along the way would have been far more hazardous, especially on the main highway and unable to move the vehicle onto the shoulder. You could consider this luck, coincidence or whatever, but this writer prefers to believe that God was indeed showing his hand in this case, particularly since Daniel was able to catch up to us in town and hitch a ride in the taxi. This was all followed by a very successful desk assembly training session.

Bruce

Work Begins for the Team

January 15 &16




We finally got an internet connection!

The team spent Friday scoping out projects for the rest of the trip. All 14 of us, plus a driver and helper, crammed into a mini-bus and became much closer friends during out trips. Our first visit was to a mountain village, La Montanita, about 45 minutes from Quimistan. This village is high on a mountain range and has about 300 residents. Their houses are very rustic and in poor condition. They get their water from a mountain stream about 3 km away. The main “industry” in the area is coffee bean growing.

Below is a summary of the potential projects for this village.

The latrines at the local school are “outhouses” which are dangerous for the small kids because of the open holes underneath them. These latrines are also near the end their useful lives. The teachers’ latrines are still “outhouses” but with porcelain “commodes” that empty into a cesspool.One of these was not functioning, but we corrected the problem quickly. The village leaders had expressed a desire for us to assess options to provide several homes with latrines that did not have them.

We also scoped out issues related to water pressure and water capacity in the village. Several water samples were collected for analysis by Allen Blancett while we are here.

Part of the team conducted a dental hygiene clinic for about 50 village kids. This included the proper way to use a tooth brush and dental floss. Poor dental hygiene and the resulting medical problems are major issues in this area.

Dr. Elsa, a local physician who works with HAF, conducted some initial mid-wife training for 2 women so that they could become community health workers.

We met with village leaders to help determine the priorities for future health, housing, and water improvements.

We visited several homes and chose 2 homes where Justa stoves will be built next week.

After we returned to Quimistan,we helped serve a meal to 50-60 kids as part of the “highway ministry”. These kids live in roadside shacks without running water or electricity.

This was a VERY LONG and tiring day!

On Saturday, our scoping and planning phases were moved into the execution phase.

We began our day with a 45-minute close-packed friendship-building ride to Santa Clara. There are about 90 houses in this mountain-side village. Most of the homes have running water, but it is not pure and this causes major diarrhea and urinary tract problems. With HAF, private, and church funding, all of these homes were provided a bio-sandfilter over the last few months. The filters were fabricated in Santa Clara for about $30 each. We were told that there had been NO diarrhea problems since all of the families started using the bio-sandfilters. Wow! What a great success story for bio-sandfilters!!

We collected input and output water samples from several bio-sandfilters to build a database on the performance of the filters.

We met with several families who were the proud owners of Justa stoves. With a private donation, about half of the homes now have new Justa stoves. These stoves use 30-40% less wood, provide much more cooking surface, and provide proper venting of the smoke and soot from the kitchen. A traditional cooking stove is not vented to the outside, which causes severe lung problems.

We conducted a dental clinic for 50-60 kids. It was fun to watch kids learn to use dental floss for the first time.

The construction team returned to La Montanita to teach the local villagers how to assemble new desks and benches for their local school. First Presbyterian provided funding to buy the materials for 20 desk/bench sets. We wanted to try to fulfill the HAF’s new philosophy of building self-sustainability instead of us doing all of the work. When we arrived, about 20 adult workers and an equal number of villager children, some of whom worked along side the adults. We worked closely to help them assemble the first desk or bench, and then partially stepped back on the second ones. Then, we sat down and watched them assemble 7 complete sets of desks and benches on their own. It was fun and very fulfilling to see them really take ownership of this job, and to see them really having fun while they were working. I seriously doubt if we could find a better example of a group of people who could fulfill the HAF’s new self-sufficiency philosophy. We were proud the three of ourselves because we only drove 2 nails, and those were driven by me!!

Jim

We have arrived and are spreading God's Love

Dear Friends, thanks to your prayers and great planing by the team leaders we arrived without a problem -- even early and no hassle with security.  We intended to update the blog upon arrival Thursday afternoon, but the internet connection has been down till today (Saturday).  All is well, much progress has been made and new endeavors are being started.  As we are just writing this at lunch and between mission visits, this will only be a short post, much more tonight.

Alan

January 2010 Mission Trip to Quimistan

A group of 14 people will be on a mission trip to Quimistan, Honduras January 14-23. June and Ken Blohm are the team leaders. Other team members are Holly Shoaf-Okula, Allen Blancett, Gerry Depo, Bruce & Maxine Eberhard, Jim & Lorraine Kelley, Carol Hidlay, Alan Moses, Carol Ryder, George Sewell, and Catherine Vandegrift.

The team will be involved in teaching local residents how to assemble 20 desks and benches for a village school, building Justa stoves, conducting a vacation bible school, meeting with the Agape Promises children, conducting various health tasks, such as eye examinations, dental hygiene training, fluoride and de-worming treatments, and water testing from bio-sand filters. Some team members will also teach some of the local women how to make several craft items that the villagers can sell.

The group will also survey the needs of nearby villages to assist the HAF board fulfill its long-term vision of helping the local population improve their health and living conditions in a way that creates a strong and sustainable sense of self-sufficiency.

The team met on January 9 to pack 14 trunks with dental and medical supplies, tools, and other items that will be distributed at Quimistan.

Jim is using some of the medical supplies to give Bruce a good check-up before we depart. I'm sure that this group will accomplish a lot on this trip and will certainly have lots of fun too.