|
The major project that we had this year
was our "water project". If you haven't gotten the details about
the water project yet they are at www.bocacostamm.org, in the
letter section. The basics are that only about half of the
village of Paquila had water. With the sponsorship help of Mt.
Tabor UMC in Winston-Salem, NC, the hard work from the people of
Paquila, we were able to complete a project in June to bring
clean pure water to 221 homes, 1700-1800 people. This used over
35,000 feet of pipe and lots of digging. The people of Paquila
were so happy that I think a new holiday has been created "water
appreciation day" July 20. It is our hope that better health and
the easing of the burden of fetching water will be felt for many
years to come.
The "project" for the coming year is in the village of
Chuisamayac. We have started having regular scheduled clinics in
this village 2 days a month. We work in a small 2 room building
beside the Methodist Church. This coming year we hope to add a
third room, patient waiting area and a bathroom. We would then
have 2 exam rooms, pharmacy and waiting room. The first
construction team is scheduled for the end of February. So far
the only down side is we only have one other team signed up. So
here is an opportunity for all of you builders of the world.
In our area of the Boca Costa there are 3 Methodist Churches in
villages about 3-4 miles from each other. They are in Paquila,
Chuisamayac and Tzampoj, and us being Methodists, we have kind
of adopted them or they have adopted us, whichever. We try to
help the pastors and with some of the needs they have. This year
we have made donations to rewire one of the churches, build a
retaining wall beside a church, stucco and paint the inside of
one of the churches, etc. This is the only detour from our
health and education mission that I can think of, but there is
so much need and we are Methodists so forgive us.
This is getting a little long and I would like for you to finish
the year end report before the end of the year. There is a
little story I would like to share with you. We are doing the
rice, beans, candy and toys the last 2 clinic days before
Christmas like we did last year but we also decided to decorate
a bit this year. We decided to put two strings of white lights
around the front windows at the clinic. The other day after our
clinic I was up in the window putting up a string of lights.
There was a little girl about 4 years old standing outside
watching. No big deal, we are always watched here. When I was
finished I plugged in the lights and I watched her as her eyes
got big. Then she started to smile, then laugh, then scream then
she started to jump up and down. Her spirit was in control of
her body. I wished I could have gotten it on camera and shared
it with you. This may have been the first time she had ever seen
Christmas lights. I have thought about her many times and I have
changed my mind about the camera. I think God meant this special
moment to be only in the heart of a little girl and the memory
of an old man, or getting to be old.
Stay in prayer for us and for our US children who have had some
difficult times, and in some cases feel like we have abandon
them for some crazy idea in Guatemala. Stay in touch, we
appreciate all of you so much. Christmas and New Years fall on
clinic days so we'll be taking a couple of weeks off.
Feliz Navidad from Guatemala,
Jim and Dianne |
|
