More Pics & Update - iam1ru Guatemala

A pic from volcano trip.

The lava flow is huge.

Looks like Dave is apologizing to his wife Barbara...

"I am sorry that I forgot the hot dogs...no barbecue until we get down off the volcano dear"

The team took lots of teddy bears to give away to children.

Waiting for Team Canada.

There is always time for a siesta!

Al Primmer & Don Welten doing some reno work at a local orphanage for children with special needs.

Jesse Wright having a siesta of his own with "old yeller".

Some of the team playing soccer with local children.  It looks like the game got a bit rough....lol.

Getting ready for Food Distribution #2!

Food Distribution #2 - Tuesday, March 8th....in full swing.

I am going to include a post that John Teskey made on FB.  It describes the day pretty well.

So since there’s no houses ready to build we visited a local special needs orphanage to help with some their maintenance that needed to be done. There was some grass cutting to be done, Painting to be updated, concrete removal and some pluming work. The team split off and I headed to concrete (it was the furthest from painting). Unfortunately we needed more painters so I grabbed a roller and jumped in. When Don and Al spelled me off I went back to the hammer verses concrete. Some of the girls help with painting (Pastor Kathy on a ladder makes me nervous) and the others helped out and played with the children while the remainder were cleaning machines. We also see a need of their garbage box needing some TLC. So we restructured for strength and put a new steel roof on it. Then once again off to a food blessing at another community. John King the local missionary informed us that this would be a much different group of people. He explained that they would be dressed much like us and you might wonder why they are there. He informed us that this is just a façade they will do everything to appear normal and there nothing behind it. He explained that pride is very import thing in Guatemala and appearance is very much part of this. It was a different experience because of this. It was a good fun feeling giving to these people. They we very open to handshakes and smiles. I was standing waiting while they were arranging the line and there was a cute little girl kind of looking at me so looked at her and gave her a big smile. She then hid behind her mother and whispered in her ear and cam running over. I kneeled now to say hi and she came right up and kissed me on the cheek. Unfortunately nobody caught it on camera for me to share it with you. For me there is no photo necessary I don’t think I’ll ever forget that little girl running up and kissing this stranger just to say thank you.

I can’t wait for today. We are going to have ceremony giving the keys to each of the homes in the morning. In the afternoon it’s block party time. We have arranged a cotton candy machine and bouncy house. If you see this community I can pretty much guarantee they have never had a bouncy house. I'll make sure to get lots of pictures.

A few pics from last few days....

Pic of the team with the Volunteer Firefighters (Bomberos) and the EMS folks.  They were pumped about the dinner and all the supplies.

Liam Frape sliding down the pole and giving Phil a ride on his shoulder.

John King (in red....our leader from Guatemala) stood up and hit his head on something and needed our medical team to attend to his head wound.  Dr. Doug May (Guelph) is treating the wound.

This is the van full of the Medical Team.  Oh my.  Quite a crew.  Here is a cool story about the medical team that happened yesterday.  Remember that most of the clinics are held in a local church as it is a meeting point that many in the villages know about.  Here is the story...

Last night John rec'd a phone call that the church that was supposed to hold the clinic today cancelled the event.  (tension in the church)
So, John made a call to another local pastor to ask if we could set up a clinic in their village - he agreed but said that no one would know, so it wouldn't be very busy.

This morning(Monday), on the way to the clinic a man came up to the van desperate to find out when there would be a doctor nearby. When they told him "today"...he couldn't believe it.  He said I'm going home first to tell my family and neighbours.

So, the medical team thought they would be having a slow day today - but instead, saw over 250 patients!! (with NO promotion ahead of time!!)

Medical Clinic set up in a local church.

Dr. Nori Frape doing a checkup.

Angie Morris working with the Medical Team handing out teddy bears to children waiting in line.

Dave Wright handing out food to a lady at the Food Distribution on Monday Afternoon.

John Teskey (Petrolia), Wendy Pauls (Baden) & Kelly Deschamps (Espanola) handing out food at Food Distribution.

Here are a few quotes from a couple team members that were said at a team meeting...

John Teskey (aka Little John)  made a witty comment tonight (referring to their incredible productivity - completing 2 more houses!!)  He said, "Another day....another 2 houses"

Don Welten (aka Sparky) -During sharing time said, "We have an amazing building team....and that's all I'm gonna say."

Dave Wright talked about the Food distribution and the impact on the families...and confirmed his earlier comment, "that's what it's all about" 

Saturday March 5th & Sunday March 6th

This is a picture of all the supplies donated to the volunteer Firefighters and EMS crew.  The team also served them dinner.

Some of the team also got to slide down the Fireman's pole.  This is a bit blurry but it is Kathy Mizen from Windsor.

Early on Sunday morning those of the team that were going to do the volcano climb arrived to a group of horses ready for them to begin their journey upward.

Nothing like a trail ride up the side of a mountain/volcano.

Dave Wright just found out they had marshmallows for roasting.  He is a very happy man!

Kathy Mizen heading up the trail to the lava flow.

Here is the team at the edge of the lava flow. 

Nothing like roasting some marshmallows over a hot air vent from the volcano.

Dave Wright shared this story during a team gathering a couple nights ago...

"When we were driving away from the worksite, a teddy bear fell on the ground of the van - we weren't sure where it came from.  But we looked ahead in the road, and there was one little boy just standing there so we stopped the van to give the bear to the little boy. He broke into a huge smile from  ear to ear and I nearly lost it.  Building the houses is neat, but THAT is what it's all about." 

Here is a really cool story that Rose Gass (Simcoe) found out about and wanted to share...

I have to tell you the story about the village we are currently working in. Many of the homes are built on the hillside. The homes are built of tin sheets; the floors are dirt. Walkways up into the homes are carved into the hillside. I can’t imagine what a river of mud this must be in the rainy season which lasts from May until November. Several years ago a man came to this village and promised the villagers that he would come and build homes for them. How they must have anticipated this improvement in their circumstances! Families gave $500 to this man with his promise to come back and build. $500 is a fortune in a country where the average wage is about $1 a day. This money was probably their life savings -- money they needed in case of an illness, or other emergency in the family. The man never returned.

Then arrives another man, John King a Canadian missionary, who promises that a team will come and build homes for them. How this other promise must have stirred up feelings of distrust and possibly anger at remembrance of what had been promised before. But this time supplies arrived -- timber, tin roofing and cement. Hope. Anticipation. Can you imagine the excitement of the families who were going to receive a new home! And best of all, the families were going to receive these homes free -- paid for by Canadian donors.

It was the local pastor who decided which families were in the greatest need of a home. While John and the pastor were walking through the village, an older man approached them. This man had been very angry at what had happened to him previously and was very distrustful of strangers promising new homes. John, however, felt moved to listen to this man. John felt in his heart that this man and his family needed to be blessed with one of these homes.

God had a plan of good for the wrongdoing done to these villagers.  I feel so humble being part of God’s blessing to these families. Myself, our team, and the Canadians who have contributed to make the dream of home ownership come true for a remote village in Guatemala.

Now that is what I am talking about!

Saturday March 5th in Chimaltenango

Cathy Hughes loading up groceries to prepare the dinner for the Volunteer Firefighters and EMS folks.

Sloppy Joes, Potato Salad, Angel Food Cake with fruit and whip cream.  Yummy!

Sometimes you just have to pause and give the local kids a shot.

Sometimes you will catch them laughing, and posing for a picture!

You see a lot of this all over in Guatemala.  Carrying sticks on the back.  You can see a house in the background made from branches and such.

Tabitha Wright keeping the local kids busy.  She looks like she is having a blast.

Al Primmer mixing concrete for the floor.  That's right folks...no cement mixer...you mix it right on the dirt and then spread it.

Tyler Field looking for some more sun screen.

Wayne Lipski on the move looking for something.  Maybe he is looking for sunscreen for Tyler!

That is right. There is no flat ground in Guatemala.

I love Kelly Deschamps!  He is never too busy to take time with the kids.

Another house close to completion.

Okay...so they have been working for two days and have 4 houses completely finished.  Yes, you read right.  I knew they would be good but c'mon now.  This team is a bunch of Freaks!

I may have to put out a request for more funds to build a few more houses.  You can build one of these in Guatemala for $400US.  Imagine that.  I think they had enough money for 6 houses.  I am going to check and see.  Here is a note from Colleen Lipskie about the medical team...

"What an amazing day!! Our first clinic day and we saw over 200 patients. Our team of 14, along with our 3 interpreters, were wonderful. There was no job too small or unimportant for anyone. Every member was willing to do anything and everything...and when John King gave himself a gaping head wound the entire ER staff sprang to action!"

 John stood up quickly and banged his head open on something hanging - blood was dripping down.  He's fine but I hear the reaction was pretty funny.

Today(Sunday) the team is taking a break and will be visiting a "live" Volcano and also doing some shopping in Antigua and enjoying a nice supper at Loco Moco, which I have always called the "Funky Monkey" restaurant.

Stay tuned fro more reports!

Updates from Guatemala Team

Friday,  March 4 - our first full workday....and we survived! Today the medical team joined the building teams as they set out to build two new homes in a village just outside of Chimaltenanga. 

The people in the village were very excited and many were standing near the building site when we arrived. Tabitha (age 14)  along with a few other members of the team,  kept the children entertained some pencil crayons and bubbles.(both were a big hit with the kids who stayed gathered around for hours) .  Both teams faced some challenges (uneven surfaces, re-digging post holes) but they worked things out and both houses are ready to have the cement floor poured!
Despite the size of this team (33 including our hosts, the Kings), everyone is working well together - stepping up to serve and sharing the workload.  It's going to be a good week!

Friday, March 4th in Chimaltenango, Guatemala

Here is one of the building teams.  Looks like a crazy crew!  That is Barbara Wright (Quebec) in the front with the iam1ru tshirt on, holding the post hole digger.  Looks like she is ready to start digging!

Quite a good days work!  I am told they got this house 80% done yesterday and only need to do the concrete floor and a front door.  That is Kelly Deschamps from Espanola in the red tshirt and yellow hat.  

The owner of this new house in the guy in the bottom right in the white hat.  Tyler Field from Petrolia is in the grey tshirt in behind the house owner.

Don Welten getting stuff out of the truck.  Al Primmer(Petrolia) is on the left with the grey tshirt and white hat on.

Thats right ....31 people.....and about 60 bags in total!

Imagine going through the airport with this load?

The roof going on the house.

There it is, the house on the hill.  It may not look like much to you, but when your previous house had walls made of cornstalks, and an old beat up piece of tin as a roof...I am thinking they are thrilled with this new dwelling.  Way to go Team!

News from Guatemala Team

Hello folks!  I got a short email from Wendy this afternoon letting me know all was good and that she would send me an update later on.