Friday, April 4, 2008

TEAM DEPARTS QUIMISTAN


TEAM WRAPS UP QUIMISTAN PROJECTS

Our team completed all of its projects on Thursday and Friday. Lee and Tommy completed installation of additional lighting in Pastor Anna’s office, and installation of a door on the storage room where Bruce and Jim installed shelving earlier. Bruce and Jim completed construction and installation of shelving and doors at the Light of the Valley elementary school. They, with help from Lorraine and Maxine, also completed construction of two large, stand-alone bookcases for the church office.

On Thursday, Maxine and Lorraine conducted two bread-making classes for local women. This was part of a test to determine the feasibility of providing locals a skill that they could use to earn an additional income. Other parts of this test include determining if adequate baking ovens are available, and if there is sufficient interest in such a venture by the locals.

On Friday PM, we toured several houses that had been constructed by Foundation volunteers over the last 2-3 years. And finally, we visited a local souvenir shop.
We depart for home Saturday AM.

Adios from Quimistan.

Jim

TEAM COMPLETES QUIMISTAN PROJECTS






Wednesday, April 2, 2008

TEAM VISITS SANTA CLARA 4/2

The team spent this AM in Santa Clara, which is the home of Arturo, one of our translators described in a previous blog. Arturo is Bolivian and his wife is Honduran. He worked in Miami in the financial industry, and his wife worked as a Peace Corps recruiter. They moved to Santa Clara in mid-2007 to establish a new church. As shown in the photos below, the church is an open-air structure that also serves as a kindergarten during week days. Arturo is the pastor of the church. His wife teaches the kindergarten.

One of their first initiatives was to engage the locals to pick up trash in the village and repair an unpaved road. The village was very clean compared to other towns.

They have worked with several locals to re-establish a brick-making and roof tile business. They mix the mud with their feet, fill the molds by hand, and then hand stack the brick and tiles in a wood-fired kiln. The bricks, which are about 2x larger than US bricks, sell for 3 Limpiras (about 16 cents) each. This skill had been lost in Santa Clara. Arturo recruited 6-8 “village ruffians” as workers. He said that this initiative is bringing some pride back to Santa. There did not seem to be any other businesses there.

Arturo and his wife plan to enclose the open-air church/ school structure. This couple is having a great impact on this small village, which has a population of about 500. It shows what a few dedicated people with a few resources can accomplish here.

Bruce and Jim started a new project to build 2 bookcases for the church office. Tommy and Lee started a new project to install additional lighting in Pastor Anna’s office. This, along with other electrical jobs that they have done, is complicated because very few breakers or disconnect switches are installed. Bruce invented a new fly trap made of an empty 2-L plastic bottle. He was very disappointed when I found that his idea had been stolen and the exact design was on the internet. No flies have been caught yet!

Jim

BACK TO WORK IN QUIMISTAN



TEAM VISITS SANTA CLARA






Tuesday, April 1, 2008

MISSION TEAM REPORT FOR APRIL 1

Tuesday is another beautiful, hot day in Quimistan. We enjoy seeing feedback on our blogs.

This morning Tommy, Lorraine, and Maxine visited Banderas elementary school, which is about 20 minutes from Quimistan. They took gifts of clothing, toys, and personal care items to the children. All of these items were collected in Aiken and brought here by the team. Forty-six children attend the one-room school house that has no running water or electricity. Because of the possibility of the children falling through the rotten floor of the outhouse, the children must go home or use a neighbor’s outhouse. The teacher’s desire for improvement of her school was very evident and obvious to the team members.

The main needs of the school are a new outhouse, renovation of the kindergarten room, and a better place to prepare lunch meals for the kids. Currently, each parent must provide lunch for all of the students on a rotation basis.

The only public source of drinking water in Banderas is from a hand-pumped well at least about 0.2 miles from the school. The photos below show how the locals get this water to their homes. The school is considering a project to pipe this water closer.

As a way to show their appreciation to the team, two boys pulled their shoes off and climbed a cocoanut tree to retrieve several cocoanuts and loaded them into the team’s pickup truck. .

Lee completed installation of ceiling fans in the women’s dorm. The fans make it much easier to sleep during these hot nights.

Tommy and Lee installed screen wire over several ventilation openings in the mission dorm building.

Bruce and Jim completed the first phase of the project to construct and install shelving and doors at the Light of the Valley elementary school. They will complete this project by installing doors on shelving that was built by a previous team.

Jim, Maxine, & Tommy

CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR PROJECTS CONTINUE




TEAM VISITS BANDERAS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL






MISSION TEAM VISITS LOCAL SCHOOLS






MISSION WORK AT QUIMISTAN CONTINUES

After the dental clinic was completed and part of our team returned home, additional projects were started while work continued on other projects. Roxanne took Maxine, Lorraine and Tommy to the Las Vegas Kindergarten and the Jicaro Elementary School. They distributed clothing and personal items like soap, lotions, shampoo, etc. to the children. Lee stayed behind to buy hardware for installing the fans in the ladies’ dorm. Tommy rejoined Lee after returning from the trip to the schools.

On Sunday Bruce and Jim completed the project to construct and install shelves in the church supply room. We had plenty of help from young boys who arrived early for Sunday school. The project to construct and install shelves in the Light of the Valley elementary school was started Saturday. It was decided the work of framing in the openings would be done on Saturday afternoon to minimize disruption of classes. After some communications entanglements we arrived at the school only to find the gate to the ten foot fence was locked. The key was in San Pedro Sula so all of the equipment, including a 75 lb generator, had to be transported over the fence. But the job got done and done safely.

On Sunday afternoon the crew had lunch with the Agape Promises kids. We had a nice meal that was prepared and served in the new cafeteria. Afterwards the kids were entertained with balloons, bubble blowing and kite flying. The luncheon was an opportunity for some of us to meet for the first time the child we are sponsoring and for others to become inspired to sponsor new children.

The shelves for the Light of the Valley School have been installed and work on the doors will begin Tuesday.

Bruce