A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

Saquiquib Bridge 2013

In April and May of 2012 Lipscomb Universities Engineering Missions Program helped us and CAFNIMA construct our first pedestrian bridge in the Ulpan Valley.  Designed by senior civil engineering students and constructed by the May 2012 team and the Saquiquib community this project was a huge success.  Pictured below is the May 2012 bridge still standing strong...

During the dedication of the May 2012 bridge in late-June, it was solicited by the community that we help build another bridge just down stream that is used by multiple communities for travel to the Pansamala market.  A few months passed and we received yet another solicitation from the community, yet this time a bit more urgent.  Come to find out, a young boy had slipped off the bridge when the river was extremely high.  In an attempt to save his son's life, the boy's father also dove into the river, but neither resurfaced alive.  We saw this as a pretty clear sign that God had a plan for us to build a second bridge.  Pictured below is the current site of the Saquiquib 2013 Bridge where CAFNIMA and Lipscomb's engineers will partner yet again with the Saquiquib community to enhance their abilities to carry goods and supplies to and from the market.  An additional bonus to this year’s project is that because this bridge site is used by multiple communities, there are currently three different communities assisting in the construction - Saquiquib, San Vicente 2 and Nuevo Amanacer… yet another opportunity to encourage these communities to work together for the common good of their people.

During the most recent team from Lipscomb (mid-March), we began site construction of the concrete bases on the east and west sides of the river.  What was first projected to be a 10-day project quickly became only a 4-day project.  Hiring a foreman from Coban that we had previous experience with, having anywhere from 15 to 45 men from the three communities as workers, and with Luke Burris, Stephen Dodson and their supervising team, what was simply drawn on paper quickly became reality. 

 

I, Kris, have had some of my greatest joys working in the valley come from projects of building bridges.  I remember beginning the process back in early 2012 for the first bridge.  I remember how many times the Saquiquib community members asked, “Are you sure the materials are coming?”  “Are you sure the metal is coming?”  “Are you sure the team is coming to help us build?”  It was not like the community did not trust us; it was more a result of the fact that in their past, they had been told things and that then just did not come to reality.

As we have begun the 2013 bridge project, I have heard no such questions, even from the other two communities that are now joining in the project.  Designing and constructing a project like a bridge is one thing, but having long-term relationships with people from the Ulpan communities has been something completely different.  It has been an experience where simple faces of men and women we used to recognize have now become people with names, friends that trust each other, brothers and sisters in the name of Christ, a Kingdom community.    

Dental Fairs

I, DeeDee, have been busy that past couple of weeks organizing and running dental health fairs in several communities of the Valley, with plans to visit all 16 communities by the end of April.  I was very thankful to have the Public Health grad student intern Beth and several members of the Spring Break team (including my former teaching associate and good friend Abigail) help me run the inscription and the sale of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and fluoride.  We organized the fairs very similarly to the health fairs of this past fall, with classes on proper brushing methods, causes of cavities, the food pyramid, and importance of sealants for molars of children.

Overall, I have been very pleased by the turnout at each of the fairs.  We have had impressive involvement from teachers and students of the schools I worked with last year, especially from those of Semesche.  You can see below examples of educational posters that the students of Semesche made in preparation for their community dental health fair.

 

We have also been very impressed by the quantity of toothbrush and toothpaste kits that have sold at the fairs.  At the fair in Ulpan 2, where we registered 65 adults and counted about 200 students, we sold 130 kits.  This assures us that in addition to providing dental health education and training, students and their parents are buying into the opportunity to make a difference and start brushing at home!

Saying “Hasta Luego” to the McKinney Family

As we said good-bye to Lipscomb’s spring break engineering team, DeeDee and I had something even a bit harder to prepare for – the departure of the McKinneys.  Having experienced this once before with the Colvetts, I think we had been a little more prepared for the transition.  (Not sure what’s up with DeeDee and I, but it just seems that everyone keeps leaving us J)

A few days before needing to be at the airport, we headed with the McKinneys from the Valley for one last relaxing break in Antigua.  After eating a delicious breakfast including croissants with nutella and strawberries (yumm!), we had some time to spend in the Central Park of Antigua, taking pictures and enjoying a bit of vacation from the rural lifestyle of Ulpan.

Re-visit to 2006 Bridge 

In 2006, just after graduating from Lipscomb, I (Kris) took my very first trip to Guatemala.  It was then we built the first pedestrian foot bridge in Lipscomb Engineering’s Missions Program.  Having the responsibility as a graduate (very recent at that), a few of us were extremely blessed to see this project come together and create a connection for the community.  When we worked on this project, I knew very little Spanish. It might be better said by my teammates back then that all I knew how to say was, “Estas bien?” or, “Are you ok?” During that trip, I met a young man about my age named Omar.  I am not sure what it was about my experience, but something bonded between Omar and I, even with the lack of communication.  Omar was a strong but a very calm person.  I truly enjoyed working with him. 

 

In August of 2008, when I made the first survey trip to Ulpan, we also had the chance to visit Health Talents International down on the coast.  During this visit we were able to pass by the bridge, but not for long.  

But just yesterday, DeeDee and I had the chance to revisit the bridge site again.  It was DeeDee’s first time to visit.  And because we had plenty of time and an old photo (above), we went asking around for a young man named Omar.  One other thing I remembered about my time at this project site was “the bread lady.”  Well, come to find out, she is still there, and it was at her store where we were able to ask for Omar.  After showing the photo to a few people at the store, we were escorted to Omar’s home, not five minutes walk from the bread store.  It was there we found Omar’s sister, who had just moments walked over the bridge before DeeDee and I.  She informed us that Omar was working as the helper of a foreman, learning the trade of construction. 

After walking back by the bread store and another five minutes more, we found Omar.  I’m not sure he remembered me at first, but after showing him the picture of us, memories flooded our minds.  It was a true blessings to see the bridge still standing, to see the bread store still hard at work, and to see Omar still working in his community learning to be a foreman.  It was a day full of blessings!! 

Vacation with Cata and Nina

We are currently enjoying Holy Week at the house of our good friends Cata and Nina in the community of Santo Tomas, close to the Guatemalan coast and much warmer than the mountains we are used to!  Over the past two years (and starting even earlier with connections with Cata through the Shermans), the Ixcol sisters have taught us Spanish, have helped us make connections with Mayan communities because of their Mayan heritage, and have become some of our closest Guatemalan friends.  We feel blessed to have this time with them, to get to know their family better, to see their coffee farm, and to eat their food (have we mentioned before that they are both amazing cooks?!).

 

 

Most Recent Update on Cesar

Below you can see the most recent picture we have of Cesar from our coordinator Ricardo’s trip to see him earlier this week.  As you can tell, he just continues growing and getting better… God has been so good!

Cesar Update

All we can say in these moments is that GOD IS GOOD.

DeeDee and I have had such an emotional past month or so beginning with the still-birth in our car, and when we found Cesar last week it got even tougher for us.  But God is so Good.  After leaving Cesar last Friday, we began to make plans to come see him again.  As the weekend unfolded, we were able to pair seeing him with getting some other things accomplished on Monday.  When we arrived at the hospital, they graciously allowed us to visit Cesar and Carmen out-side of there normal visiting hours.  Upon getting to his crib, we where amazed to see his strength and joyfulness. Below is a picture of Cesar on Monday morning...

On this visit we found out that the Doctor and Nutritionist would be seeing him that afternoon, and once he was healthy enough they would be moving him to a recuperation center.  We left the hospital very thankful and excited to see Cesar and his mother Carmen doing so well.

And then came Friday (yesterday).

We arrived during normal visiting hours, not knowing if he would still be there or not.  When we got to the nurses station, we could see that Cesar and Carmen where not at the same crib as they were on Monday, so I began thinking that he had already been moved to the recuperation center.  Then after investigating a bit more, we found out that they had just been moved around the corner.  When we got to his crib, we did not recognize Cesar at all!!  It took us a few moments to figure out if it was the same little boy, and then he smiled and we knew right away it was him.  His cheeks were quite a bit chubbier, and he must have weighed at least five pounds heavier... praise God! Below are a few pictures with DeeDee, Cesar, Carmen and me.  Also, at the end there is a pretty amazing video of me and Cesar talking about the cars and motocycles he could see out of the window.

I do not know how to put any of this experience in words that explain what is in my head or my heart.  We are so very thankful that the life and story of Cesar is improving, only by God's graces.  Even upon leaving, we witnessed his mom Carmen pick him up out of his crib and take him back to the window.  As we were outside returning to our truck to leave, we saw them looking out the window and both of them waved good-bye to us - a powerful experience of God's love.  God is so Good.  

Thank you to all who have prayed for Cesar and Carmen.  We ask that you would continue those prayers as their story will continue to unfold.  

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.