Semesche Construction Update

We have been working with the leaders of Semesche all fall to develop a water system for their community. In December, all of our design work and training finally came together in the form of a construction week with  Knox ProCorps team.  I have developed a quick pictoral overview of our pogress.  

This is the owner of the land on which the spring was located (standing next to the spring)

The owners family using the spring before we built the spring box.

We hired a local contractor to lead the building of the spring box and a tank.  Local men from the village provided all the labor.  In this picture you see the spring excavated and the beginning of the spring box.

The completed spring box.

This is the beginning of the formwork for the tank.

Pouring concrete.  We used a gravity wall design that the local contractor and workers were familiar with.

Mixing concrete.  No mechanical mixer here. 

Here is the complete tank.

On December 7th, the Knox ProCorps team arrived.  We had just completed all the concrete work (spring box and tank) before they arrived.

Within two days, the men of Semesche opened up over 2 km of trench.

Julio, our local water tech, giving a presentation to the team about the design of the project, the materials on hand, and the plan for their week of work.

Some of our supplies.

The first day, we plumbed the spring box and tank.  Little man helping out.

Kevin Colvett was the engineer that was in the valley last year.  He led the Knox ProCorps team.  Little Man may have gotten a little vigorous on the sawing.

First drips of water in Semesche's new tank.

The men from the village did the digging while the team from Knox ProCorps glued pipe, fitted valves and fittings.

One day, the ladies of the water committee in the village provided lunch for us.  Tortillas with beans and coffee (very typical meal).

A view from the spring.  We ran water to the Baptist Church in the lower left, the Catholic Church just above that and the Mennonite Church at the upper right.  

Laying pipe down the hill from the spring box and tank.

Overall we have been very pleased with this project.  We had ample time during the construction to train the man who had been selected from Semesche to be their fontanero (plumber) and several members of the water committee how to clean the system and general operations.  All the churches and health centers now have water and we have hopes of extending the system at some point in the future to many of the homes in the village.

The best parts of the project for me:

1) Watching Julio as he participate in the construction of the spring box and tank.  We asked the contractor (Daniel) that we hired to train Julio how to build these structures.  Julio was there every minute and soaked up all the teaching from Daniel.  We asked Julio if he felt like he was ready to build two small tanks for the next project on his own and he said yes.  He then disappeared, returning about four hours later with a hand sketch of the tank and quantities of the materials he thought he would need.  Kris and I are elated with Julio's eagerness and abilities.  We have high hopes that Julio will be able to carry on the water work in the valley (supported with short term trips) when we leave.

2) Hosting the Knox ProCorps team was lots of fun.  Some of the folks were friends, others we had never met before.  Everyone worked extremely hard.  They did their work well and quickly, giving time for Kris to  train the local men in Semesche.  Our kids had a lot of fun having some more people around to "play" with and the everyone on the team was very gracious towards them.

In returning to the valley after Christmas, the system is operating well.  We look forward to walking with the water committee and the fontanero in the coming months.

Mark

We're Back!

Quick update from the valley.  We began our travels on Monday of this week - flying to Atlanta and then Guatemala City.  Little Man started becoming just a "Man" on Monday as he flew with a stomach bug and was throwing up on the plane.  He traveled really well and complained very little.  I was really proud of him.

We stayed the night in Antigua Monday night and then drove to the valley on Tuesday.  Dancing Beauty started throwing-up on the drive, but she also handled it really well with very little complaining.  I was really proud of her also.

The valley greeted us with clouds and rain.  Our cloud forest continues to greet us - we've yet to see the sun.  But in the mist of the clouds we have gotten settled back into our room.  We have made beds, unpacked bags, played with the new toys we got for Christmas, found a couple of mice, started school and started working.  My wife has also discovered hot water bottles.  She is staying much warmer at night with a warm bottle between her feet.

We have a team arriving February 15th to build a water project in Sequixpur.  I have been working hard on the design of this system so that we can place our order for materials next week.  I apologize for not getting  a work update done of the project we built in Semesche, I will try to make that happen this weekend.  

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it to the valley and that everyone is feeling better.  We seem to be over the pneumonia and the throw-up bug.  Thanks for all your prayers.

Mark

Name of the Game

If there is anything I have learned living in a foreign country, it is that the name of the game is FLEXIBILITY.  For that matter...the name of the game when you have four small kiddos is FLEXIBILITY!!!  This week has been yet another lesson in that, but it has been a week where we have been so thankful for the provisions that the Lord has laid before us.  Last Saturday, I posted about our team & said that we were gearing up to board a plane on Monday.  Well...that night, Shirley Temple had us awake for the majority of the night with the rapid breathing we have come to dread & recognize as the tell-tale sign of pneumonia.  So, Sunday morning, she & I headed over to Children's Hospital in hopes to get her the treatment she needed and be on our merry way early Monday morning, as planned.  But, apparently, that was NOT the plan.  She was indeed diagnosed with walking pneumonia & the ER doc looked at me and said, "This child may not fly to Guatemala tomorrow".  "Hmmm," I thought, "Would you like to call Delta & tell them that?"  So the decision process began.  My mommy-gut was telling me to listen to the doctor and change our flight.  After several hours on the phone with our pediatrician (one of my favorite people on Earth!) and Delta airlines, we made the decision to stay for an extra week & give Shirley the chance to rest and recover, and quarantine the rest of the family.  Oh....what a good decision that was!  By Tuesday, we had two kids who had been throwing up (for different reasons) and we found our selves SO VERY THANKFUL to not be on an airplane or in a car and be in a house with a washing machine, hot water and bathtubs readily available.  We went back to the doctor to have Shirley checked out again and took two others with us (Little Man & Dancing Beauty), because they were also showing symptoms of pneumonia.  By yesterday, all four of my children were on antibiotics!!  So...now our immune systems are strongly boosted, bags are packed, kids are tucked in, and we will be boarding a plane at 6:45 in the morning, Lord willing!

We would really appreciate your prayers as we travel again.  Specifically, because we changed our flight, our seats are now all over the plane.  Please pray they will have mercy on us and we will be able to sit with the kids.  Otherwise, we will have no small amount of tears, I'm afraid.  It is no small miracle that our travel experiences thus far have been very smooth and I strongly believe that is due to your faithful prayers.  We will stay tomorrow night in Antigua, reunite with Nina, and head to the Ulpan Valley first thing Tuesday morning.   We'll post again once we make it back to the Valley.  Thanks so much!!

Our Ulpan Team

I intended to write this post a long time ago in order to introduce our team to you--Christmas happened; and, it has taken me four months to pin them down long enough to get pictures of all of them.  I live in a house full of energizer bunnies who never stop!!   Let me introduce them to you:

Cesar serves as the Project Manager for the many facets of CAFNIMA’s work in the Ulpan Valley.  He is native to Guatemala and speaks Q’eqchi, but his family lives in a town about 2 hours away, so he commutes up to the valley during the week and shares the house with us.  This picture is of most of his family (minus his 8 year old son who has become a friend to Little Man) when they were with us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Ricardo works as an agricultural specialist in the Valley.  He also is fluent in Q’eqchi and, like Cesar, commutes to the valley during the week since his wife and 3 year old son live in another town about 3 hours away.  “Cardo”, as Little Monkey calls him, is lots of fun and has a great sense of humor.  It has been a joy to share a home with him as well.

Flori is a nurse whose native pueblo is 4 hours from the Ulpan Valley.  She is also fluent in Q’eqchi and has been a wonderful addition to the Valley team as there has been trouble finding medical staff to live here.  She works a lot with malnourished children as well as training health promoters from the 16 villages where CAFNIMA is involved.  She began our time here commuting to her pueblo every weekend, but, since she is single, she has begun to stay with us during the weekend which has allowed us a lot more time to get to know her.   Shirley Temple is a big fan of Flori.

Julio is native to the Ulpan Valley.  He is being trained and groomed to be able to maintain the water systems and basically serve as the water coordinator for the villages who have water systems.  His family lives in a village about 45 minute walk from our house.  We are so very thankful for Julio—he is a man of God who is developing in to a wonderful leader in his community.  Men like him are exactly what the Ulpan Valley needs.

Roberto is also native to the Ulpan Valley.  He is a hard worker who is really great with communicating with his own people.  He has worked a bit with water systems and also as a promoter for the women in the valley—helping with literacy training, libraries, dental training, etc. 

Kris and DeeDee are our American teammates—from Nashville.  We have loved getting to know them and share life with them.   The recent team that was here described them as spark plugs…that is the truth.  They have more energy than anyone I have ever known.  They also have a huge heart for the Ulpan Valley and have poured so much of their lives into this place.

Nina is my right hand and she is who makes life work for us in the valley.  It is a pleasure to have her live and serve with us this year.  We have learned so much from her:  Spanish, how to make tortillas, how to wash clothes by hand, what it is like to grow up in Guatemala, how to live much simpler, and how to be thankful for ALL we are given.  She helps our family so much and is one of the best cooks you will ever meet.  After her year with our family, she really wants to go to culinary school.  You can pray that she will be able to do that.  She is a woman of faith and we are thankful to have her in our lives.

We are so thankful for an incredible team that we have the privilege of working and living alongside in the Ulpan Valley. 

Our last few days in Guatemala we had the amazing privilege of spending a few days with them in Antigua!  CAFNIMA had a staff Christmas party, so after Mark & I brought the Knox ProCorps team down on Thursday, Dec. 13th, Kris & DeeDee brought the Ulpan Team down Saturday morning, Dec. 15^th, for the Christmas party in Guatemala City.  The drive is long, so we decided it would be best if the team spent one night in Antigua before heading back to the Valley. 

The amazing part was that for them (especially Julio and Roberto) to visit Antigua was more culture shock than for us to visit Antigua…and it is their native country.  Watching their faces as they experienced that quaint, beautiful city was delightful.  We also had a wonderful meal with them (all in Spanish J) and had very deep conversation, sharing our hearts about the ways we have grown and been shaped by the experiences of the last year.  Overall, it was a wonderful few days of team building and giving our teammates and opportunity to see a part of their own country they had never seen before.

As we look ahead to returning to work with these friends on Monday (Jan. 14th), we are thankful for the time we have been able to spend here in Knoxville during the holidays.  Though it has been extremely busy, we have been loved on, encouraged, prayed over, fed (a lot), and nourished both in our bodies and spirits.  Thank you!!!