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Greetings from Boca Costa Medical
Mission to our friends across our beautiful planet. From Denmark
to Alaska to Costa Rica and all points in between. It has been
quite awhile since we sent out a newsletter but we are both
doing fine. When we got back to Guatemala in April we moved from
Xela at 8,000 feet plus to Mazatengo (Mazate) 1,200 feet.
Bananas, coffee and sugar cane and only about 20 minutes from
our clinic in the Mayan village of Paquila. We found a very nice
house in a nice area. On a clear day we can see 5 volcanoes.
Some of you may remember us mentioning "the water project". The
first day we were in Paquila, back in February 2003, we found
out that only half of the village had water. It was from a
source that was unreliable in the dry season and not clean in
any season. The whole village was sharing this water which at
best causes many health problems. As time went on we heard more
and we asked more questions. About 3-4 years earlier a rotary
club from the U.S. did a study on bringing water to Paquila from
a fresh water source up in the mountain. The idea went no
further than the study.
As God would plan it, a 1-week building team from Mt. Tabor UMC
in Winston-Salem, NC came to Guatemala to help our Methodist
pastor, Gaspar, in Paquila with an addition to the church. They
had been to Guatemala about 4-5 years in a row and, in fact, I
knew many folks from that church as they were a big supporter of
the United Methodist 'early response' team in our conference. I
spent many weeks working with them "down east" after hurricane
Floyd. During their week here they also became aware of the
water needs and the project. Not long after they went home they
contacted us and said they would be interested in doing a fund
raising for the project if we could work up construction costs,
a construction plan and would oversee the money and
construction. In August of 2003, when were back in NC for a
visit, we presented their committee with the plans and costs. At
the time the goal was to put water to 215 homes at a cost of
about $8,400. This is Guatemala, so I figured a 10-15% overrun
so a budget of about $9,500 is what we were looking at. Around
the first of the year Mt. Tabor contacted us and said they had
commitments for the $8,400, Dianne and I were going to
contribute the balance, so "the water project" at long last was
a go.
Well, I thank our Lord everyday for plans. For without plans we
wouldn't have anything to get fouled up. The first meeting with
the water committee when we got back was kind of interesting.
They were supposed to get the first portion of money to build
the holding tank at the water source. The contractor, who was to
build the tank and oversee the construction, changed his price
from $750 to build the tank to $2000. He also changed the amount
of pipe needed to do the project. All of a sudden we went from
$8400 to $10,500 and the first shovel of dirt hadn't been
turned. Dianne and I prayed and discussed the project for a
week. Two things came out of praying, discussing and negotiating
with the committee. First, it was agreed that each family would
be charged $6.25 to be hooked up to new water. Don't laugh, when
the average wage is 1-2 dollars per day $6.25 is a chunk of
money. The second thing, Dianne and I agreed that the water was
so important to the village that we couldn't let it fail. So we
agreed to back any future short falls, (this was almost a huge
mistake).
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