Meet our new friend Cesar...

Meet our new friend Cesar.  He is one of the most joyful, curious, and resilient children we have ever met.  And Cesar needs your prayers….

Kris first met Cesar this past Wednesday.  We were told by our project coordinator that he had met Cesar and his family on Tuesday and that we needed to visit his family and weigh and measure both him and his siblings because it was suspected that he was suffering from severe malnutrition.  When Kris, Ricardo, Beth (an intern with us this month, working toward her Masters in Public Health at ETSU), headed to their house Wednesday morning, they found Cesar just like this- tied up outside of his house with a chain around his neck, no other adult or child present at the house.  After some questioning by Ricardo, we found out that this was normal for Cesar.  His mother was gone with his other brother and sister and since she didn’t want him to run away while she was gone, she chained him up.  He could easily get out of the collar, so they asked him why he didn’t let himself out.  He said that they would hit him if he did.  At this time, we realized that this sweet child was not only suffering from severe malnutrition but also neglect and maltreatment.

I (DeeDee) returned with Beth, Ricardo, and Katy later that evening to find that the rest of the family had returned.  In the one small house lived Cesar’s grandfather, his single mother Carmen with her three children, and Carmen’s sister Teresa, also a single mother with her own two children and one other on the way.  This time, Cesar was hidden back in the kitchen, and against the wishes of his mother and aunt, we requested that he come out to see us.  Although all of Carmen’s kids were poorly dressed, none were in tattered rags like Cesar, and after weighing and measuring all of the kids, we found out that Cesar was the only child in the family in the condition of severe malnourishment.   We found out from Ricardo that he was purposely neglected by the family because they believed he was “special,” related to a belief that when Carmen was pregnant with him, she saw a mentally disturbed homeless man on the streets and this apparently cursed Cesar in the womb.  As far as we could see, Cesar showed no real signs of physical or mental handicaps other than the normal signs of a child who is severely mistreated and malnourished.  He showed a desire to be loved, as he very willingly jumped up into Katy’s lap to be held.  He smiled and laughed and talked to us about things going on around the room.  And he gobbled up a peanut butter bar that is specifically made for malnourished children.  That evening, we left with his family three more peanut butter bars for him for the following day, as well as some mixes for a drink called incaparina that had lots of nutritional value for children, and we told his mother we would return the next afternoon.

After a trip into Coban to pick up a rental truck and buy groceries, we (Kris and I, Beth, and Ricardo) made our way back over to Cesar’s house on Friday afternoon.  We brought some clothes for the kids (from Katy’s kids), more peanut butter bars for Cesar, more incaparina for the family, and de-worming medicine for all of the kids, as well.  The family was having a church meeting at their house, but they graciously invited us in anyway.  Although Cesar came out with black lips and a little less responsive than the day before, reports seemed very positive at first.  Carmen told us that Cesar had eaten all of the peanut bars we had left.  So, we began to feed him another one.  He started as ravenously as the night before, but then slowed down.  After requesting some water for him, they brought some incaparina.  He began to drink this but then quickly vomited it back up along with the peanut butter.  A little later he vomited again.  We then asked if this had happened earlier in the day as well.  Yes, he had first thrown up and had diarrhea that morning, with the same thing following after each peanut butter bar that day.  This was not good- a sign that his body was rejecting the nourishment that was being offered to it, and a telltale warning that he was severely dehydrated.  We began discussion among ourselves about taking him to the hospital.  Ricardo seemed wary of the idea of first, but after we pushed the reality that Cesar’s life could depend on it, he helped us to ask Carmen if she would be willing to come with us to take Cesar to the hospital.  Thanks to God, she agreed to it, as long as she could bring along her youngest who was still breastfeeding.  Before we left, we asked for the church members to pray for Cesar and his health that night, and they insisted in praying over him in that moment.  So, with hands laid upon him and with a heightened sense of community accountability for this family, we all with one voice lifted up Cesar to our Lord.  We then packed into the truck, ran back to our house to quickly pack our overnight bags, and headed on our way to Coban once again. 

Cesar threw up once more on the ride, and slept the rest of the way.  We stopped first at the Health Center in Carcha and got a reference from the doctor there to take with us to the hospital in Coban.  Cesar was so amazed by the lights and sounds of the city- probably his first trip ever to an urban area- and still smiling and inquisitive as ever.  Once at the Coban Regional Hospital, we were immediately admitted to the emergency room around 9pm.  They asked a question or two, weighed Cesar, listened to his breathing (which caused Cesar to giggle) and pointed to space on the other half of a stretcher where a little girl was asleep.  But then we waited… and waited… and waited.  Cesar fell asleep.  Around 11:30, they finally started his paperwork and asked both us and his mother a series of questions.  We found out that his mom could not stay with him because she had the younger child with her.  So, knowing that we all needed some rest, and trusting the nurses when they said that he would be attended to and moved to a regular room shortly, we left around midnight and headed to our hotel.  After about five hours of sleep, we got up the next morning and returned to the hospital.  We found Cesar in the pediatric ward, cleaned up some, hooked up to an IV, with his arms tied to the posts around his bed.   He was fairly unresponsive, but we at least took comfort in the fact that he was in a safe place, he was warm, and he was being cared for.  The nurses told us that we needed to find a responsible caretaker to stay with him.

After this, we headed back into the Valley with a new plan.  We were going to encourage Carmen to leave her youngest with her sister and return to stay with Cesar in the hospital, hoping that she would take this opportunity to make Cesar a priority (perhaps for the first time in her life) and that she would learn from the nurses and mothers around her how to love and care for her son once again.  Again, by God’s graces, she and her sister both agreed to it.   After a very quick rest back at home, we made our third trip to Coban within 36 hours.  Back at the hospital, Cesar was asleep once again, but we were told by the nurses that he had eaten a very good lunch.  They also informed us that they planned to start a full evaluation with both the doctor and a nutritionist starting that evening and continuing into Saturday.  Carmen still barely looked at her son and hadn’t touched him since we first left her house they day before, but we knew that we had to leave and trust him under her care, with the guidance of the nurses and doctors.  We whispered our goodbyes and love to him. 

Today, after a much-needed night’s rest, Cesar is still on our minds and tugging at our hearts.  We are still questioning how a parent can neglect her child to such a degree, and we are still seeking wisdom as to how to best deal with the social situation.  Upon recommendation by Christian, Ricardo is putting in a report to the Guatemalan equivalent to DCS, and after Cesar is released from the hospital, we hope to find a spot for him in a nearby Recuperation Center for Malnourished Children, which apparently includes a teaching and training component for parents. 

I do not find it to be a coincidence at all that on Thursday when everything seemed to start heading south, this was the devotional thought in my Jesus Calling book:

“Let me help you through this day.  The challenges you face are far too great for you to handle alone.  You are keenly aware of your helplessness in the scheme of events you face.  This awareness opens up to a choice: to doggedly go it alone or to walk with Me in humble steps of dependence. … So, consider it all joy whenever you are enveloped in various trials.  These are gifts from Me, reminding you to rely on Me alone.”

And so we do rely on and trust in HIM completely as HE cares for Cesar and guides us to support him and his family in the coming days and weeks.  Please join us in prayer for complete recovery for Cesar- that he would be restored to good health, that he would be loved and cared for, and that he would be allowed to play and develop fully as all of God’s children deserve.

Sequixpur Water Project

Last week we were busy working in the community of Sequixpur.  Sequixpur has been a key community for a water project for a while now because they possess a spring large enough to serve several other communities in the Valley.  So, we first needed to fix and extend their existing system before we could consider asking their permission to carry their overflow to other communities.  Thanks to the design know-how of Mark McKinney, the beautiful concrete tank work of Julio, the assistance of Ricardo in dealing with several social issues, and the willing hearts and hands of a Knox Pro Corp team of 15 men and women, we were able to pull off this project just a few weeks after returning from our Christmas vacation in the States.

Enjoy these snapshots of our week below...

One of the team's favorite parts of these trips is working and laughing and getting dirty in the trenches with the locals.  Big John and Tim were having a fun time with these guys, teaching English and learning both Spanish and Q'eqchi' equivalents.

We have really begun to encourage our U.S. teams to train the locals in constructing and maintaining their water systems so that they take more ownership of their system and so that the system is more sustainable.  Once we passed on the responsibility of cleaning, sanding, and gluing pipe to these two locals, we found that we were getting pipe laid in half the time!

Edwin, Zach, and Jonathan are showing off their arm muscles, but it was definitely their legs that got the work out during the week, hiking up and down mountains, as well as dropping into and climbing out of trenches.

We were extremely thankful to have Brucito, General Manager of the First Utility District in Knoxville, return for his third trip to the Valley within the past year and a half.  His humor and leadership were an irreplaceable asset to this team.  Environmental Specialist and Youth Minister Ryan was also a great addition to the team, making friends with both the adults and the kids of the Valley.

One of many "descansos" (rests) after a long day's work.  After asking one of the water committee members Juan what he thought of the U.S. team members, he said yes, they work hard, but they don't last very long... and you can't blame them when the majority come from a desk job to working outside all day at a mile-high!

And these sweet faces are those mental pictures that stick with us long after the last stick of pipe is laid and the team has returned to the States.

Thanks to Kris's organizational skills and the help of the team, we used our first rainy day in Sequixpur to get all of our materials in order.

When we say that we were working on steep terrain, we are not kidding!

We cannot express the extent of our gratitude to both the locals and foreigners that composed our water team in Sequixpur.  As we spend the next couple of weeks finishing up service lines to houses and valve boxes, we hope to continue to shine the light of Christ through service in this beautiful Q'eqchi community.

The Lord Giveth and He Taketh Away…

I’m not exactly sure how to put Kris’s and my experience of the past few hours into words… but I’m gonna do my best because I feel it is a story that needs to be shared.

About noon Kris and I were busy doing some repairs on the Semesche water system, fully absorbed in our work (in more ways than one, since it was raining on us, of course), when Mark arrived in the car in the Semesche market, traveling at an alerting speed.  My first thought was, “Something has happened to one of the kids,” or, “Someone must have passed back in the States.”   I must admit I was extremely relieved to hear the real reason for the rush and to think, “Oh, it’s just another pregnant woman needing to get to the hospital… we can get her there… no prob.”  Kris and I had carried a pregnant woman to the health center in Carcha back last summer, and everything went smoothly… the woman seemed very calm and composed… and we got her safely to her destination, only to find out that there was no real emergency because the baby had turned on his own.

Today, when we arrived back in Benitzul with Mark, they had not yet returned with the pregnant woman, and we began to question whether it was a hoax and if they were really coming after all.  Then I heard the moaning and saw the stretcher coming down the road followed by a crowd of people.  “Wow, this must be pretty serious,” I thought, as the groans got closer.  I ran to get a blanket and some pillows to help make her as comfortable as possible.  I also remember thinking to myself with a bit of fear and excitement, “Am I gonna see my first live birth?!”  Once she was in, we squeezed in five others, including a health promoter and a midwife.  Kris did his very best to rush and be cautious at the same time, so as not to make the ride too bumpy.  I asked some questions to the one passenger that spoke some Spanish, finding out that the mother’s name was Rosaria, that she was eighteen (actually a pretty old age by Valley standards for her to be having her first), that the baby was turned cross-ways, and that the father was up north working on a farm in the Peten (migrant work: a very common practice of the men around here).   Kris and I tried to count the time between Rosaria’s cries, and found them to be about 3 minutes apart… everything to be okay at least temporarily.

Then the groans got louder and longer.  We kept looking back at the poor girl and trying our best to communicate with the midwife to see if we needed to stop or keep going or do something different altogether.  I think it was about this point that when I looked back, the midwife had the girl’s skirt up to check on her, and I saw the baby’s feet… very small, white feet.  That’s when everyone in the car finally said in either Spanish or Q’eqchi’ (I don’t really remember which), “Hurry Up!”  At that point, Kris put the pedal to the medal, and we were extremely thankful for the newly leveled roads at Semesche and beyond. 

About five or ten minutes later, we could tell that Rosaria’s pain and discomfort had increased significantly, and we were told that we were going to have to pull over to the side of the road.  I called Christian, the director of CAFNIMA who is also a doctor and has attended many births.  I told him what was happening, and he calmly walked us through all of the options of what could happen with a baby being born feet-first and what our responses could be.  We were very thankful that the midwife was there to attend to the actual birth, as we saw legs follow feet, and then the sternum, and then maybe a minute or two later (between Christian telling us different techniques and us trying to communicate them to the midwife) the head made its way out on its own. 

He was so beautiful.  Such a tiny little human being with a full head of dark hair. The time after his birth was a blur as we realized that the midwife and health promoter weren’t really jumping to do anything, so Kris (as led by Christian) tried to spank his bottom, then blow into his little lungs, then massage his heart, then check for a pulse, then try again.  I kept repeating to Christian, trying to keep my emotions at bay, “There’s no response…. There’s no response… He’s still not responding.”

The midwife just kept shaking her head.  And at some point we realized that all our efforts weren’t going to work.  And so we stopped.   And one of the older men with us cradled the sweet, lifeless form in his hands, saying, “Ahh, Dios,” over and over again.

At that point the tears were free to flow.  We gave the mom and all of her supporters some room.   And we went through all of the normal emotions of grief… from sadness to anger to questioning God or ourselves and back to sadness again.  We did our best to communicate our grief to Rosaria and those present with her… and for once I was almost thankful for the language barrier because we didn’t have to look for the most eloquent words…  “We’re sorry… our hearts hurt for you,” was about the extent of what we knew to say to a young girl who had just had her first child taken from her.  And as they were ready, at their request, we headed back to Benitzul… this time without quite the rush, with a deep sadness weighing us down. 

When we returned to Benitzul, many of our neighbors and community leaders that we know so well were all waiting.  They loaded Rosaria back on the stretcher to carry her back home.  We said our last words of sorrow and blessing over the stillborn child.  And we made our way back to the houses, allowing the tears to flow freely once again as we recounted to story to our friends.

As I have reflected on the experience even more so over the past few hours, I have realized that this was no abnormal or shocking experience for the other 6 people traveling with us in our car.  Child mortality rates are high in this part of the world… today those statistics that had been floating around in our support letters really hit home… poor or limited prenatal care is a reality for those we live with here in the Valley and for the majority of the world.  Death is much more real to these people, much more expected, and maybe even more so accepted.

As we were on the road back from Benitzul, I was thinking, “Okay God, what do you have to say about this?” or “So how do I understand or respond to this?”  I believe he placed two different scriptures on my heart that both helped to comfort me and helped me realize that we don’t have to answer all of the questions of, “Why?” and, “What if?”  And so I leave you, whoever might be reading this blog, with these words, as well:

“There is a time for everything… a time to be born and a time to die.”

“The Lords gives and the Lord takes away; Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

Agua Potable - Semesche

Beginning in the middle of last month our team began work on a water project for the community of Semesche.  We had been working for quite some time on the Semesche project, actually all the way back to February of this year.  Through various answered prayers and much time spent walking with the community, we finally arrived at a point to start construction.  Below are two pictures taken of the spring before any construction began.

During past water projects, all the construction work (concrete and pipe) had been done during a visiting team from the U.S.  This time around we decided to change our project management methods a bit and attempt to have all the "gray construction" done before a team arrived.  Below are a few pictures of some of the "gray construction".

Excavation of the spring site.

Forming up the Spring Box

Finished spring box.

Tank site.

Finished tank, two sides holding about 3000L each.

We also had all our PVC materiales ordered well before the team arrived to make sure we had everything needed.  This is a picture of our storage building for all the PVC parts.  

Another thing we have been focusing on doing better of is training our local team.  This is a picture of our local Water Tech Julio, giving a presentation to the visiting team on the Semesche Project Design.  Julio talked through all the main principle lines, service lines and valved boxes.  It was an amazing experience to watch and participate in this process with Julio. 

On Friday the team was scheduled to arrive in Coban and then travel to Semesche on Saturday to begin putting pipe in the ground.  Before leaving to head out to meet the team in Coban on Friday, I walked the system with the guys from the community.  By Friday at noon, we had just finished walking the line and no trench had been dug.  We had over 2km of pipe to get in the ground in 4 days, and it would be pretty tough to do this without trench.  By the time we arrived in Semesche around noon on Saturday with the visiting team, 91 men from the community had already dug over 1km of line... extremely impressive!  Pictured below is 2" principle line waiting to be glued and laid in the trench.  

Mark is pictured opening up the cleaning valve at the lowest point in the system while we were testing the water pressure on Tuesday.  An amazing amount of water!!

Here is water coming out of the spigot by the Semesche school.

Thanks the the KnoxProCorp team of December 2012 for helping us make the Semesche project a reality!!  

Eight New Libraries in the Valley

To go along with the season of giving thanks, I (DeeDee) have realized recently how lucky I was to grow up in a country that values and encourages literacy and that provides FREE education all the way through the twelfth grade (as compared to the 6 grades that are offered free here in Guatemala; afterward, a family must make substantial monetary and other sacrifices to pursue further education for their children).  This appreciation has been further emphasized though both my experience of speaking about literacy in the community health fairs and through my experience of helping to set up eight different libraries within the Valley... which I am going to post about today.

For the past year or so, I have been working to collect books in both Q’eqchi’ and Spanish for rural libraries here in the Valley.  I ended up with an average of 120 new books per library, ranging from a copy of the Guatemala Constitution, to several books on the history of the Mayans, to both Q'eqchi' and Spanish versions of the Bible, to a “how-to” booklet on gardening, to a collection of Q’eqchi’ recipes, to countless classic fairytales and other books for children.  You can see the books stacked behind me in the picture below.

I also spent a substantial amount of time developing a system of organization and classification for the libraries.  I chose to use a system of loaning using a traditional library card, and upon the suggestion of the director of ChildAid (a nonprofit organization that works with libraries in Guatemala), I decided to use a simple version of the Dewey Decimal system to classify the books.  I knew teaching the Dewey Decimal system to Q'eqchi' Mayans, some of which barely speak Spanish, would be a challenge, so I planned a day-long training session for the chosen librarians of each community.  In the training session, I also addressed making rules for the libraries (such as a small fee for loaning books that would help create some income that could be used to maintain the library and purchase more books) and ways to present the libraries to their communities.  

Below I am leading the training.  One of my favorite moments from the training was when we were talking about the Dewey Decimal system and having the books ordered by topic with a number on the binding to identify that topic, and one of the librarians lit up and said with excitement, "So you're saying that our books are going to be numbered and ordered, just like the libraries in the city?!"  It's the simple things...

After the day-long training, we had an afternoon in which we actually handed over the books to the librarians.  I gave a short synopsis of the subject material of each book, and then they touched each book as they placed a classification label on its binding.  This was also a very exciting time for them and for me.  I would assume that the majority of these people had never before placed their hands on so many brand-new books.  You can see them smiling and hard at work below.

Finally came time for them to carry their books and new metal bookshelves home.  We were able to help carry some of the boxes and bookshelves part of the way in Christian's truck, but some had to haul theirs the whole way on foot (possibly a two-hour hike up and down and up again!).  You tell me that the guys below weren't invested in the work of starting a library in their community!  (Yes, one man is carrying that large bookcase on his forehead!)

My defining moment of this whole process of establishing libraries actually happened yesterday in the community of Secaj.  We had told the librarians that we would love to be present to help support them when they presented their libraries to their communities.  Secaj was the first community to set their date, so yesterday Kris and I made the hour and a half hike in the misting rain up to their school.  We arrived a little late for the 1 pm meeting, only to find that not a soul was present.  After some phone calls, we found out that the meeting was actually scheduled for 2.  So we waited and waited and about 2:30 the librarian finally showed up, a few more people trickled in afterward, and we finally started the meeting at 3.  Right about the time that we were finishing up and ready to hike back, more and more people were finding their way into the little school room.  (Don't worry... this is very typical for a Valley meeting).  

What was beautiful about this meeting was that I opened up the meeting with some greetings and words to the community, but the librarian then carried it on in Q'eqchi', passing on his training in the classification and order of the books, the loaning system, the necessity for a list of rules (which he planned to make with the community leaders), and his plan to present the library to the rest of the community.  And you couldn't wipe the smile off of his face the whole time.  I could tell that he was really taking ownership of this project to promote literacy in his community... and the people present seemed just as excited.  He nor I could have been any prouder.  

I only pray that these books find their way into the hands of hundreds, if not thousands, of men and women and children in the Valley... and I pray that through the novelty of words on a page they will find a whole new world of knowledge and adventure opened up to them.