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.