Water in Pueblo Nuevo

We have always known that, just like the rest of Guatemala, Pueblo Nuevo has a serious problem with contaminated water. Without asking too many questions, I assumed I knew the answers. Beginning in December, families will begin receiving water filters through AAB's water filter program. In order to provide accurate information to those interested in supporting families in Pueblo Nuevo through water filters, I had to get more details about the water situation so I spent a while during my trip a few weeks ago searching for answers to tough questions. Sadly, most of my assumptions were correct.

This is Pueblo Nuevo's water tank. Water is pumped from a river into the tank. Anyone in Pueblo Nuevo can have access to running water if they pay 100Q ($12.50) for connection, 500Q ($62.50) in advanced payments and 25Q ($3.13) per month. Some people in Pueblo Nuevo do not have pipes run that give them access to running water or have chosen not to have running water for a number of reasons (can't afford it, do not want it, etc.), but most families do have access to the public water system. Once the water is pumped from the river, it is held in this unsanitary tank. According to those living in Pueblo Nuevo, the tank is "cleaned" no more than once a year.



















There are varying degrees of poverty in Pueblo Nuevo. Having access to running water does not mean that a person is not living in extreme poverty. That is so something I would have thought years ago. With so many people in the world not having access to water at all, having running water must be a luxury. Wrong. Not when your water looks like this.

Fortunately, the above picture is not someone that has access to running water. This is water that they collect from neighbors that have running water and it then sits in their pila (sink) where disease carrying insects breed as they wash their food and clothes in it. This is also their drinking water.

Not everyone in Pueblo Nuevo has a bathroom. Most families that do have one have only a toilet hidden in a corner behind a shower curtain or somewhere to the side or behind their home. Others have bathrooms like this. Without any type of plumbing, they are forced to discard of their own waste behind their home, down the mountain.

One of the biggest contamination problems comes in how and where the drainage pipes lead. All water and waste from pilas and toilets in Pueblo Nuevo goes back into the river. And the cycle starts over again. It is pumped back out of the river into an unclean tank and into homes.




















Like I said, I already assumed this was the case and it has always been hard to watch our kids in Pueblo Nuevo drink water. But it was so much harder to stand their listening to the disgusting details while watching children drink. At one point, I became so overwhelmed with the thought of these sweet children literally drinking someone else's waste that I had to fight the urge to vomit.

Having access to CLEAN water, not just any water, but clean water, is one of life's basic necessities. We can continue to work on a number of things to try to alleviate poverty, but until we begin meeting basic needs that will start eliminating preventable diseases and do this on a wide scale, nothing will ever change. We can continue to run around fighting fires and working ourselves into a frenzy, never really getting anything accomplished or we can begin to focus on one or two things at a time and work until those issues are solved before moving on. That is what I believe must happen and water has to be one of our top priorities (along with education and other disease preventing efforts). The more partnerships we form in different areas of concentration, the more work we can do and the faster it can be done. It is not only possible, but easy, to provide every family in Pueblo Nuevo with a water filter and a lesson in hygiene. It costs $50 to provide one family with a water filter that can produce 10 gallons of clean water every 24 hours for two years. After that, filters are replaceable for $24 every two years. We will begin distributing filters and providing hygiene classes in December. After that, one of our primary focuses will be water filtration and working to develop some type of sanitation system and we will not stop until every person in Pueblo Nuevo has access to clean water.

It will cost an estimated $10,000 to provide every family in Pueblo Nuevo with a water filter. I have never been one to dream small. It is my personal prayer that every person has access to CLEAN water by the end of 2011.

Pueblo Nuevo Update

As with Tropical Storm Agatha and any other disaster that may strike Guatemala in the future, we are aware of the torrential rains and mudslides that the country experienced last week and are continuing to monitor the situation in Pueblo Nuevo. Fortunately, just as the situation was with Agatha, Pueblo Nuevo did not receive as much damage as some other parts of the country. Damage is to be expected and homes continue to be flooded during this extremely rainy rainy season, but we are thankful that as far as we know, no lives were lost and so far there has not been widespread damage reported in this area.

More Repairs

Instead of kitchen sinks and washing machines, most families in Guatemala have pilas. Every thing is done in the pila...washing dishes, washing clothes and it is also where the refreshment of a glass of contaminated water comes from if you are not fortunate enough to have a water filter or bottled water delivery. (Only a few families in Pueblo Nuevo use bottled water and no family has a water filter, though that will begin to change in December. More on water a little later...)

This is the pila at Marta's house.























I am not sure exactly what happened here. It was obviously installed incorrectly years ago. It wasn't established on a base and there was no drainage for it. The result was a lot of contaminated water sitting around, never drying up, being constantly added to and breeding a serious amount of mosquitos and other disease causing insects. But even before I thought all of that, I thought about the very small children that often stay there alone and knew that this large amount of water (it was more and deeper than it looks in the photos) was a big safety hazard for the toddlers that were running around it.

The materials needed to fix it, to create a base for it and create drainage, was delivered the next day. The men in the family are now working between rainy days to fix it.

Marta's home is also in need of other repairs. She needs an entirely new kitchen and some repairs in their bedroom (the only other room of their house), just as most in Pueblo Nuevo do. It was hard to tell her that I do not know when we will be able to help her with that because we cannot do every thing that needs to be done at once or in a short amount of time. All I could do was add her to the growing list, promise to keep praying and working on their behalf and promise to not forget her family.

For now, her home is a little safer than it was two weeks ago, but having to walk away from unmet needs that I know are creating dangerous situations for entire families weighs very heavily on me.

Agatha's Wrath

I am not sure where to begin with pictures from this trip or how to go about writing all that I think is important for people to know. I could do one LONG post, but maybe shorter ones with one topic each are better.

One of the main reasons for this trip was to help make repairs on homes damaged by Tropical Storm Agatha and begin working on other home repairs. We have always known the overall condition of homes in Pueblo Nuevo, but this trip involved a lot of close inspection and time on my hands and knees peering into dark corners which also meant coming face to face with what appears to be a rodent infestation (mice. were. EVERYWHERE! this time.)

We already knew that Carmen had the most damage from Agatha. Her home is divided into two separate rooms. One small room is the family bedroom that includes three mattresses, a dresser and their clothes. The other is their kitchen, where Carmen cooks and where they have a very old table and a couple of worn out chairs. I was told that so much land had been washed away from her property that her kitchen was beginning to slide down the mountain. They were trying to keep it up with sandbags, but it was steadily continuing to slide.


















I wrote about Carmen right after our last trip. I do not want any of our families to go through more difficult times than they already face every day, but when I heard that Carmen's home was the most damaged, I was crushed for her. I cannot imagine looking every day at my home, knowing that it may be the last day it is standing and having no way to fix it or rebuild it when it falls. So of course the first place I had to go in Pueblo Nuevo, the first person I had to see was Carmen.

It was true. Her kitchen is literally sliding down the mountain. Just standing in her kitchen made me uncomfortable because it could slide at any time (and because mice were running around everywhere). At this point, I am praying every day that it makes it through each day of this very rainy rainy season. Each rain causes more land to slide away from it. They continue to add more sandbags, but they are not going to be able to hold it up much longer.

There is no way to repair her kitchen. No reinforcement is strong enough to hold it on such a steep angle. A new kitchen has to be built further down on her property where it is flatter. AAB is providing the materials needed for rebuilding. Her husband along with other men from the church will do the construction. Unfortunately, because of the rain, construction cannot begin yet. Once rainy season is over (in October), they will prepare the land by flattening it more, and we will provide all of the materials so that she will have a strongly reinforced new kitchen in December.

Another problem caused by Agatha and the mudslides that it produced is flooding. So much packed dirt has been washed away from homes. This dirt once filled in large gaps at the bottom of homes. When it washed away, huge open holes were left and the homes in this part of Pueblo Nuevo are being flooded every time it rains which is pretty much every day now.

Carmen's house is one of those that is flooding. Every. Day.

Several houses, including Carmen's, are being repaired. AAB provided the materials and the men in the community are working with large amounts of cement to create a longer lasting solution than more packed dirt would provide.

I have so many pictures of damage that I could post and so many stories of individual families. In the end, I simply do not have time to post them all because even homes that were not damaged by Agatha are still in need of major repairs just to be considered safe enough to live in. Over the next few days I will post some of the more extreme stories.

Wrapped Up

If you are here to read more about Pennies for Pencils, scroll to the next post or CLICK HERE.

By the time I arrived at the airport Sunday morning (Aug. 22), I think I was as calm as I had ever been before a flight. Remember a long time ago that I thought God and I had a deal. I would do anything He asked, follow Him anywhere, as long as it didn't require flying or public speaking.

Um, yeah. Just forget I ever admitted that and move on. And learn from my mistake. Don't EVER try to make a deal like that because you are SO going to end up doing what you said you would never do. Anyway...

Being totally calm before a flight isn't like me, though I think I hide it pretty well (or maybe not). I didn't even cry when I walked away from my guys at the airport. That was a first. Of course I was still a little nervous about the trip, but I was so excited and just ready to be back in Guatemala, if only for a few days and the two days leading up to the trip really brought a lot of calm and comfort to my very anxious self.

Both flights were smooth and I am still thanking God for that. After the drama that took place on flights during the December and May trips, I NEEDED uneventful travel this time. I loved getting so many text messages and emails while I was literally waiting for takeoff from friends praying specifically for that...uneventful travel.

Once in Guatemala, Naomi from Rehoboth picked me up and we spent a while shopping in the city before heading to Parramos. It was a great travel day. Naomi and I seemed to click instantly (until then we had only spoken by phone and through emails). It was just a wonderful day. There was no reason not to be calm; no reason to fear. I haven't been afraid to be in Guatemala since my first two weeks fostering in 2007.

But then came the night.

In a place much different than Antigua.

And I didn't even have a home in a gated community with 24 hour guards or a hotel with 24 hour staff to run to.

It all started at 8:30 when we had to walk the dog.

It hit me that we were the only two North Americans in town. It didn't matter that the police station was just a block away. If anything were to happen, it is likely that no one nearby would help us, not even the police.

I was fairly certain that a middle of the street attack was imminent. But again, I think I hid it well while casually mentioning that I thought walking around outside at night in this part of Guatemala was not the safest thing to do. I was nervous and extremely cautious, but not in a panic. Yet.

Until we got back inside and Naomi went bed.

I shuffled into the guest room and climbed into bed becoming instantly paralyzed with fear. What was I thinking? Had I really been asking God to give me a glimpse into what life will look like for my family when living in Guatemala? Had I truly believed that I could do THIS? Live outside of a gated community, close to the people we are serving, not in a luxury vacation type home? Did I really always ask Him to lead me into situations that would force me to rely only on Him? I never once questioned being in Guatemala or even in Guatemala alone, but I did question the decision I made to step out of my comfort zone of staying in touristy Antigua so that I could see what this type of missionary living (the type that I believe is right for our family) looked like and the decision I made to fore go having a personal driver with me all day every day to avoid a great deal of expenses. Whenever we live wherever we are going to be living, we will not be returning to luxury every night and we will not constantly have a driver and translator with us. Until now, we have taken mission trips. I wanted to forget that I was on a mission trip and see what real life would look like.

I didn't like what I was seeing because it terrified me.

Go figure. Me. Scared. To the point of panic.

What to do in a situation like this? Pray and reach for your Bible, of course.

So of course that is NOT what I did.

No, I just sat there in the middle of my fear, unable to move, as the fear took over and began to breed the most horrible thoughts and worst scenarios imaginable.

The gate at the bottom of the stairs would not keep someone out, nor would the locked front door. And forget the lock on my bedroom door. What purpose would it serve? I didn't even have a roof to jump off of as a last attempt escape from the gang of people I knew were going to break in at any minute. Once I had thought of every thing horrible that was going to happen, I grabbed my journal and in handwriting that is so shaky it is almost not legible wrote:

"...The anxiety, this intense fear has returned. I am afraid to stay here in Parramos, outside of my comfort zone. Afraid of being one of only two gringo(a?)s in this town. Afraid of the crime that grips this country. Afraid of violence. Afraid of what tomorrow holds. Afraid for my life. But mostly I am afraid of being afraid and what it means is happening to me again..."

Finally. It took a while, but the last sentence made sense. I realized what was happening so I continued to write:

"God did not create this fear in me. God, help me trample over it. I know you hear my cry..."

Still trembling and wondering how I was going to make it through the night, my mind raced back to just the day before and the picture that had been painted in my mind...

"Blankets...His arms...wrapped up...holding you tightly...peek out over the top...you are safe."

As clearly as I recalled Angela speaking those words, that still, small voice came through to calm the storm.

"Don't you know who you are? You are My child. No matter what happens in this life, you are safe. I already know the rest of your story. Believe Me. Trust Me. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. You can do this. You will do this. And I will never leave your side."

I am so thankful that He never fails to meet me in all of my messy brokenness. Any kind of fear is wrong. Never have I given into it so much that it has kept me from doing something I knew I should do, but I do allow it to consume too much of my mind. Too much of my life. But after so many years of fear, it felt like something began to change that night. I wasn't sure exactly what, but I did know that no amount of fear would keep me away from that place (Guatemala) or whatever it is we have to do there. For as long as I can remember fear has been one of the enemy's biggest footholds in my life. It took me this long to realize it and there would be no better time than this trip to lay that burden down.

As always, I felt almost crazy for being so fearful. We all know that Guatemala is not the safest country in the world, but it certainly isn't the most dangerous. There was no reason for me to have such intense fear, but it was helpful to hear the next morning that I'm normal. Apparently a lot of people go through this. It just isn't talked about often. Yes, I was being irrational, but we all have our own battles and this irrational fear thing is one of mine.

Obviously I made it through the night. I popped in my ear buds and hit shuffle all. I'm convinced that He has fun playing with my shuffle settings. The first song could not have been more fitting (and I do not think it was a coincidence). I'll post it below or HERE if you're reading on Facebook (just because I'm a music fanatic and I think everyone else wants to hear the music I love). And as crazy as it may it sound, I curled up with my Bible and fell asleep. I sleep best in Guatemala. That night was no different. I woke up the next morning still holding on to my Bible, smiling at the thought that He was there, keeping watch all night. I had prayed that He would show up in a big way and make His presence powerfully known during this trip. So far, He was on it.

It was time to get to work and I couldn't wait to get to our families in Pueblo Nuevo. First stop...waiting for a chicken bus...

Pennies for Pencils Kickoff

Today begins our month long change drive, Pennies for Pencils. To kick it off, our family decided to donate what is in what Tommy calls "the money bank".

We talked about cashing his change in and giving it away so our friends in Guatemala will have school supplies.

























At 3 1/2, he is getting interested in talking about Guatemala a little more. Maybe because he hears us talk about it so often or maybe because he just wants to ride in an airplane again. Whatever the case, he was excited that his money was going to Guatemala.
























His first response when I asked him how much he thought was in the bag? "Forty dollah."
























Was he close?
























Not quite...even better!



















$79.87!

























I met with the principal last week. He told me that there are currently 400 students enrolled in school. Only a few leave Pueblo Nuevo to attend school (a private school in Parramos) and there are children that do not attend school at all. He expects 400 to enroll again in December. Their school supplies are very basic. Each child is required to have a notebook, a pencil and a pen in black, blue and red. He mentioned repeatedly that it is the responsibility of "the fathers" to purchase school supplies and because there are a growing number of children in Pueblo Nuevo that do not have fathers, less are able to enroll (or stay) in school if their mothers cannot provide their supplies. Even some fathers are unable to purchase supplies.

Supplies cost about $5.59 per child if purchased in Guatemala. It is typical for families in this area to make $2 a day or less. The average number of children per family in Pueblo Nuevo is 4 or 5. A family with 5 school-aged children would be expected to pay nearly $30 for school supplies. For some, this is an entire month's wages.

We want to relieve this burden and make sure that every child that is allowed to attend school enrolls this year. We are praying for school supply funding that will cover 450 students with one notebook (the specific notebooks required are expensive), three pencils and three pens each. Yes, we could easily collect the required school supplies and ship them to Guatemala, but we will not do that. If we ship these supplies from the U.S. instead of purchasing them from the local school supply shop in Pueblo Nuevo, we will be hurting two of our families. By purchasing these supplies locally, two families that own the small school supply store will benefit GREATLY.

We're off to a good start with $79.87. Just with the spare change in our house, more than 14 student's supplies are fully funded.

It is not too late to get involved! So far we have a couple of schools in Mississippi, possibly one in Florida, a couple of teachers in Alabama, a business in Atlanta and girl scout troops in my hometown collecting. I am still talking with several churches and teachers/schools that may get involved, but we need more help. You do not have to be a part of a school or other group to participate. Individual families can do what we did. Gather your change, exchange it for cash and donate it to us to be used to purchase school supplies. If you are interested in participating, individually or as a group, email me at
terry @ across all borders.org.

Beautiful

I so want to remember as many details as possible about last week's trip. This doesn't surprise those that know me and know that I am all about the details. I love to share details and love to hear details from others. So I'm going to have to spread posts about this trip out over the next few weeks, in between other posts. That is how much of an effect this trip had on me. I have so many things written down that I want to remember. Even if it is only for me, compiling it all here makes sense. Some of it is all about Guatemala, families in Pueblo Nuevo, what took place there during the trip and plans that have been made for the next one. Some of it is just me sharing my heart and how God used this short trip to say so much to me.

I can't begin writing about the trip without telling you about the days leading up to it.

Several months ago I leaned about a women's conference (the Beautiful conference) that would be at our church the day I was scheduled to leave. Angela Thomas was the speaker; Kari Jobe was leading worship. I love Kari Jobe's music. LOVE. IT. So much so that I delayed traveling by a day so that I could attend the conference.

To be honest, I was more interested in the worship part than sitting through the speaking part. I was excited about both, but I could not wait for the "concert" part.

By the beginning of the conference Friday night, I was in full trip mode. Pumped up, prayed up and ready to go, or so I thought. And as always, constantly on the verge of tears, but refusing to let them fall. I have not hidden the fact that I do not like leaving Danny and Tommy here while I work in Guatemala. Only God is strong enough to make me leave them for Guatemala, even for a couple of days. So I am super emotional any time I have to travel without them. Even being away from them for a few hours right before the trip was hard, but for some reason I felt like I really needed to be at this particular conference so I reluctantly went through with it.

Kari Jobe opened with a few minutes of praise and worship. Wonderful. I couldn't wait until after Angela Thomas spoke for a while because then I would get to spend an hour worshipping with some of my favorite songs. Angela spoke for an hour. As I sat there listening to her testimony of how she got to where she is, I realized that I was going to hear something specific from her that I needed to hear and could not wait until the next day to find out what it was. Kari returned and spent an hour leading us in worship. It was an amazing experience. I do not think that anyone there could deny the powerful presence of God and in some way be touched by Him. A friend and I left refreshed and excited about the next day.

We returned the next morning anxious to find out what God had in store for us. Kari opened with another few minutes of worship. I had to work even harder to keep the tears in for fear that if I started to cry I would be unable to stop. Then Angela began speaking.

This conference was about how much God loves us. Simple enough, right? All Christians would say that we know God loves us. But I think we, as women, are often so hard on ourselves and sometimes we need a verbal reminder that the Creator of all loves us each individually. He thinks we are beautiful. And His loves for us goes far beyond just basic love. The God that brought us into being is so deeply in love with us that we cannot comprehend the depth of it. Sure, we say we know it, but He wants us to feel it. I was enjoying Angela's time with us, but it wasn't until close to the end that she said something that struck me.

"Picture God's arms as being huge blankets. He has you wrapped up so tightly in those arms. You are totally surrounded by Him, safe in His arms. Only your eyes are peeking out over the top. Nothing can harm you because you are His baby girl and He is protecting you and all the while screaming, "I LOVE YOU! You are beautiful! As long as you are wrapped in my arms, you have nothing to fear!"

Mental image. Me. Physically wrapped up in the arms of God. Peeking out over the top, confident that in Him, I am safe.

Very few people know the anxiety that I have been battling over the past few months. I won't go into detail. Only those closest to me know all about it. Intense is the best way to describe it. I have spent so much time begging for deliverance from it all. But I was too busy holding on to the wrong thing while crying out for help. I learned that my life long battle with fear had a stronger hold on me than I realized and it was totally consuming me. For a while I felt as if things were spiraling out of control. I know that I was in a spiritual battle and giving in to Satan's whispers...his lies and deceit. It was not the first time I have experienced this and it will not be the last, but I spent a lot of time trying to stand firm in my own strength while feeling like I was in a constant earthquake. All of my anxiety stemmed from fear and questions that I do not need the answers to. And I was terrified (TERRIFIED!) of this trip. So many people call me brave. I am not. A lot of people tell me that I am strong. Wrong again. I am just another person that believes following hard after God means walking through a lot and for me, it has meant often dodging big fears to get closer to Him.

As I listened to Angela paint this picture, I wondered what the enemy must be thinking. Surely he was not at all happy with the fact that the image of God's protection around us was taking the place of the images of fear that he had planted in our minds. It is so simple, but have you really ever pictured yourself physically wrapped up in the arms of God? If you haven't, I would encourage you to stop reading right now and take a few minutes to picture what that looks like for you.

At the time I had no idea how important this mental image would become over the next few days.

Kari returned to lead our final hour of praise and worship. By that time there was no way to stop the flow of tears, nor did I want to keep them in any longer. Two of her songs struck me in a different way. I will post them below because they say so much. I have been singing them for so long, but sometimes God shines a new light on old things. What had become just words coming out of my mouth and emotionless s0-called worship became new. I spent the hour in all out worship and prayer and rarely did the tears stop. By the time we left, my spirit had been so refreshed and the Lord used every part of the conference to fully prepare me for the week ahead.

Looking back I know that had I not had some very specific moments with Him during the conference, the trip would have been much different. It was an amazing way to start a 4 day journey back to Guatemala.

Below are two of my favorite Kari Jobe songs. (If you are reading this on Facebook, you can find them here and here.) Enjoy! :)