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

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!!

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

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 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.

I can not believe it is Wednesday and I have only one more day in Q town this summer! What a joy it has been to be here for the past nine weeks. I have had some great experiences and have learned a lot.

Monday, I spent the day in San Pedro Sula, my third full day of driving around the city in pursuit of a variety of items. Driving a Ford Expedition in a city with few, if any traffic laws, has given new meaning to the concept of defensive driving and I do not believe any class could have prepared me for the reality of it. God was so good to watch over us just as we prayed for Him to do prior to the start of our day…for example, when I needed to back into the street from a parking spot, a driver wanted my spot despite the fact that others were vacant, so he/she stopped the traffic in the lane so I could back out! Only one of many examples of His grace during the trip.

Tuesday was spent doing laundry and computer work….just like at home…well, almost:)

Today began another day of interesting driving experiences. For those of you who have been to El Pinal, you can appreciate my nervousness over the anticipated trip. But what you do not know is that I have been stuck four times since the arrival of our car to Honduras.

• The 1st time was in an area of mud and cow dung on the way to the waterfalls. I will spare you the details but if you want them, talk to Cecelia or Ardyn:)
• The 2nd time was in a ditch in Quimistan…they have been installing a new sewer system down the road to the ranch and as the work progressed the route home changed daily necessitating going one more block to get to the main road. One day, it was one more block too many and the tall grass was deceptive. PTL, the municipal workers took pity on the ‘gringa’ and used the tractor to haul me out.
• The 3rd time was in Santa Clara when visiting and needing to go up the road to the soccer field to turn around the big beast of a vehicle….never made it to the soccer field due to getting bogged in the mud. This time, I was rescued by the wonderful people of SC.
• The 4th time was this past Sunday en route to SC again. While staying on my side of the road in anticipation of oncoming traffic around the curve, I hit a soft spot in the road and spun into the ditch….which was better than into the valley on the other side of the road. Once again, the kind folks of SC helped pull me out. Upon my late arrival to church when apologizing to the children and telling them why I was late, Ronnie sweetly and honestly stated…” and she was stuck the other day too”. As I am always seeking ways to tell about Jesus, I used theopportunity to tell them that their town helping me was a just what Jesus tells us to do…. treat each other as we treat ourselves and we should always be looking for ways to help each other as Jesus would.

I share this so you can appreciate why I was so nervous about driving to El Pinal on a muddy, rocky, trench filled, terrible road. God is so faithful as we had no trouble which is exactly what I prayed for prior to our departure. This was to be our final fluoride, de-worming visit and I could not take the thought of being stuck again.

El Pinal is a pueblo in the mountains above Quimistan with no running water nor electricity. The school enrollment is 65 students.

These 4th – 6th graders were working very diligently upon our arrival.

These 1st – 3rd graders were at work as well in the

classroom built with HAF donations.

And, these are the kinder children.

Maynor, giving directions ONE MORE TIME!

Do you think they are enjoying this?

Perfect timing once again…

Attentive kinder students.

A great idea for decorating a shelter from the sun.

Good bye from the gang:)

And good bye to fluoride, de-worming meds for the next 6 months. Maynor and I are glad to have completed the ten locations. I pray that they understood when I shared with the students that the reason the missionaries care about them is because Jesus first loved us and it is His love that makes us love them.

Upon our uneventful return to Quimistan, I visited the location of the kitchen construction at one of the local kindergartens. Olbin and Hector were hard at work and as you can see, making good progress.

From Q town, Roxanne

This morning, Sunday, I was on the road again headed for Santa Clara. Due to a run in with a ditch, Sunday school was under way when I arrived.

Following the lesson, these children surprised the others with dancing and a drama depicting several of Jesus’ miracles.

Ronnie, playing the role of Jesus.

The next series of photos are the dramatic portrayal of Jesus’ healing upon the request of a father.

And the multitude rejoiced. Alleluia!

Sunday school was followed by the celebration and southern tradition of ‘Pounding’….giving of gifts which include pounds of sugar, flour, beans, etc. and a family Bible to Guillermo and his family as they are about to move into their new home.

After a prayer of blessing, each member expressed their gratitude and happiness for their new home. And of course, I told them that God is to receive all the thanks…..not HAF.

The day progressed to yet another celebration…that of Kimberly, Nelson’s daughter, and her first birthday.

No party is complete without a pinata and a princess at that!

As is typical of parties for a one year old, the honoree had no idea what was going on but her family members and friends were having a good time.

The last photo for today is a sober reminder. I have watched this house being constructed over the past few days…..sticks and mud. It will provide some shelter for a family once it is complete but …….(I’ll leave it to you to complete the thought.)

In Christ, Roxanne

A view of the Quimistan Valley en route.

Peeking in to see what is going on:)

A total of 65 patients were seen today and most of them were women and children.

One is a coconut for decoration and the other our ‘ help’:)

This young man, Johnnie, has a smile despite the condition in which he lives. Neither he nor his brother attend school.

Preparing to receive lunch which was delicious!

Johnnie was eager to climb a tree to chop some fruit for us. Note the machete in the back pocket….I was glad we had a doctor on site but thankfully, we did not need her.

Dr. Elsa, her son, Carlos, and Jacob enjoyed the creek….especially Carlos.

Our host family, new friends, in Teoxintales.

Hola de Quimistan! It has been a few days since my last post. On Thursday, I had planned a trip to SPS with Maynor to purchase supplies but due to the teachers striking and taking the road, we had to turn around. And guess what we did with our unexpected time? More fluoride and anti-parasitic administration! I did not have my camera but you can look at previous photos to get the picture of this activity. The faces change and remain precious but the activity does not. Only one more school to do to complete this 6 month’s need….Alleluia!

Yesterday, Friday, I was off to visit Santa Clara. My first stop after avoiding a stampede of 3 wild horses in the road was the kinder. On Friday, it is activity day and today was play dough day.

I have never seen 9 boys sit so quietly, play with such contentment and share the play dough toys. They were enthralled with each creation….as was I, of course.

This young 5 year old, was showing me from his notebook where he is learning to read and write. He then recited some of the multiplication tables he has learned…..muy inteligente!

Although, it hurt me, I took this sweet photo for all my friends in Starkville, MS:)

( I now must go home and see if I can get some CU bags ….orange is such a prettier color.)

While the children learn, Lencho and Otto continue to work very hard on the project.

As you can see, they have made good progress without the planned help of the missionaries.

For the June and July groups, we made a very muddy trip to the farm just for you:)

This is ‘your’, ‘our’, ‘their’ bean field in bloom.

And we even have beans growing! To God be the glory as we surely did not know what we were doing as we ‘helped’ plant the seeds.

When we returned from the farm, I delivered a sewing maching which had been donated for the women’s microinterprise effort, Spanish books for the kinder and a few other supplies. Then is was time to vist with my especial amiga. Another sweet gift from my Father.

Upon return to Q town… as it was Friday……another trip to the Barrio of Tejeras for the Highway Feeding Program:

We were thrilled to see them set up and meeting at the new shelter. They were singing a song of greeting upon our arrival. 69 children and youth were fed …..PTL!

And I was so glad that I had taken ‘bubbles’ to give to the children. It was a good ending to celebrate their new shelter. Thanks to my sis-in-law for donating what was left from her son’s wedding……the heart on the top expressed Jesus’ love for them all.

Prior to going, I had counted them and only had 58 but somehow, every child that wanted one, got one and Omar got the last one for his wife. God is so good and I love it when He reminds me in such a sweet way.

Many of the homes are made of adobe and sticks.