Day 2 in Guatemala. 

We were divided again today into three separate groups. Build a Stove: Cathy Kelly and Tim Septic Trench Digging: Dianne and Brian Prep for Church Service and Food /Clothing/Shoe Distribution: Juli, Doug, Suzanne, Diane and Lauren

Clothes

The Build a Stove group travelled to the village of La Hermita to build a stove. We arrived into the community and parked the vehicle at the top of hill.  There was a cow blocking our way. Mynor, our driver tried to walk by the cow and got attacked like a bull!  We walked down the hill with the supplies - about 75 yards.  We entered the home and proceeded to the cooking porch. We removed a table and took a pick to the ground to loosen the soil for the stove.  First we sifted five bags of dirt/rocks  into 1 bag of fine soil. After discarding the rocks/stones, we added concrete mix and water to create cement. This was used to join the cinderblocks to create the frame of the stove. We took the water soaked fire bricks  and a machete to notch a 2in x 2in corner of four cinder blocks to be used later. As the concrete cured we created a game with 29 pogs to entertain the four children at the home.

Goddie Bags

After that game we created a musical entourage where we recognized the talent of the children with their God given instruments. Kid number one was responsible for clapping, Kid number two was responsible for finger flicking, kid number three was snapping their fingers and kid number four was responsible for saying “IEIEIE”. Lastly the stick banger was one of our own Cathy from Seagrave. Tim was the conductor and yelled a number and the corresponding child played their instrument.

Once this was completed we filled the stove with ash and ran out. Therefore, we walked back up the hill with the family to carry another 250 pounds of ash back to the home where we then realized we only needed a quarter of it. The ash is used to raise the internal base as filler and also prevent heat transfer to the cinderblock frame. Then inserted the firebricks and the metal plate stove top containing three holes. (one for the chimney pipe and two for cooking) We inserted a door allowing wood to be placed into the fire. We then finished with parging the exterior of the stove. The chimney will be inserted after four weeks of curing.  A dedication and blessing of the stove will take place in four weeks. Upon completion of the stove everyone received an RP Oil hat and a kit full of goodies for the family.

The Septic Trench Partners completed the final 75 ft of trench for the Septic re-route. Little did we know that the final grade needed to be a foot deeper to allow gravity flow.  The original goal was to the existing driveway as we understood to allow traffic passage, but our foreman Mynor fired up vehicles moving them to the road side to allow us to trench the final 20 ft 4.5 feet deep to finish the task. Of course the tools of the day again were shovels and picks. (Advil PM required tonight). Luckily we had time to shower for the second half of the day.

The Prep group started off preparing for the food distribution that included creating the 186 food hampers that contained: rice, sugar, cooking oil, 2 soup mixes, two types of pasta, cup of soup, oatmeal and a gravy mix. (Sponsored families receive this food hamper once a month).  We sorted 300 pairs of shoes into sizes for boys and girls. We sorted the donated clothes into babies, boys and girls.

We were ready for lunch and regroup for our instructions for the afternoon. The “Build a Stove” group had a successful morning, but with their timeline had to have a late lunch, quick refresh and be at the “Centre of Hope” for their assigned details.

Church

During the afternoon the entire team were on hand to greet about 300 Guatemalans to “Centre of Hope” for both the Church Service and Sunday School.  The adults went upstairs for their 90 minute service, where at the end, we were able to do a hand made craft with the adults sharing a message of love and hope from Canada.  The team entertained 135 children for Sunday School. 

God's Eye

Activities included a God’s Eye Craft and story, Parachute games, Ball toss, and goodie bags distribution.  When the service completed the sponsored families registered for their food hamper which our team distributed, the families were then able to select one pair of shoes for a family member, one pair socks, two pieces of children’s clothing, one belt and one adult piece of clothing.  Any family with a baby also received a knitted hat. 

Juanito

Today was also a wonderful emotional day for our team members to see their adopted families that were in attendance.Tim and Juli got to see Luis, Santos, Miriam, and Maria and Mom Maria Sepherina. Brian, Diane and Lauren visited with Juanito and his Grandmother Suzanne and Dianne met up with Angela’s sponsored boy (2010 & 2013 team member) Julio. Each sponsored family member received a personal bag.  We were extremely pleased to see the progress each sponsor family members have made since 2013. With such a successful day, there was still clean up ahead. (100 chairs stacked down stairs on the porch, sweep all floors and mop, and supplies put away and ready for school tomorrow morning).

Boy, were we ready for dinner! Following dinner we got our instructions for Day 3 and the preparation began.

We were so ready for bed!